User Reviews

As much as I do love Orfeo Ed Euridice, I have been listening to Iphigenie En Tauride a lot recently and have been awe-struck by the gorgeous music and emotionally intense story. I found this Met production of Iphigenie En Tauride spectacular. My only complaints were the inactive staging of the Act 2 furies ballet/pantomime, I get that Oreste was meant to be tormented psychologically but I personally would have preferred if they were present on-stage rather than the singing being done off-stage, and the cut of Contemplez Ces Tristes Apprets which made the end of the second act a little too abrupt for my tastes.

Other than that, it is a highly atmospheric and beautiful-looking production, both in the costumes and sets. The lighting is also highly effective. The staging works a vast majority of the time, with my favourites being Iphigenie's dream, the haunting ghostly visitation from Clytemnestre and Diane descending from the rafters. I also felt the stillness worked, the production unfolds slowly, and considering the characters' states of mind, all the better for it.

Musically, it is superb. Gluck's music is both beautiful and emotional, and the Met once again do a fine job. Iphigenie En Tauride generally is much more authentic than the Met's productions of Orfeo Ed Euridice, which sometimes sounded musically swamped as well as having some questionable sets and choreography, and Rodelinda, a production that treats its opera with intelligence and respect but not feeling like Handel in the process. The orchestra are very balanced and don't sound too swamped(considering as I've said many times how huge the Met is), sending up an emotional storm at the start and giving O Toi, Qui Prolongeas Mes Jours a dance-like feel.

Patrick Summers does a very impressive reading as conductor, every bit as good as his conducting for the Capriccio segment of the Opening Night Gala and more subtle than his Madama Butterfly and Salome.

Susan Graham is a superb Iphigenie, still clear, firm and flexible despite her cold. The dance-like feel of O Toi... allows her to give the aria her usual delicacies and lovely stylistic and rhythmic touches. Her acting is outstanding, intense and moving. Vocally, this is not Placido Domingo at his best, apparently he also had a cold and it shows with some hoarseness here and there. That said, he does give a very brave performance, his trademark burnished sound is still evident even with the interference and like Graham he embodies his role of Oreste.

He and Graham have wonderful chemistry together, with Acts 3 and 4 intensifying until the drama was very edge-of-your-seat stuff. Of the support cast, Paul Groves as Plyade came off best, loved the lyrical tone of his singing. Overall, spectacular dramatically and atmosphere-wise production of Gluck's masterpiece. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I really enjoyed the Met's 2008 production of Orfeo ed Euridice but, despite the best efforts of Director Stephen Wadsworth, I felt that this production of Iphigénie en Tauride was a Gluck too far.

I have seen three other Gluck operas and they all end with a Deus ex Machina. This must be the Ancient Greek version of winning the lottery. Just as you think that your life is a disaster, a god descends, sorts out all your problems and everyone lives happily ever after. We do not often see Euripides' dramas on stage these days and I, for one, find his plots, when transposed to the operatic stage, rather hard to swallow. Maybe this is just my problem. I love opera but it is not until the 20th century that something like humanist opera starts to appear. Prior to that most operatic characters behave as though their every action is being watched over or controlled by God or alternatively, the Gods.

The ingenious set splits the stage in two. Three quarters of the stage is the Temple of Diana in a riot of red and orange. The other quarter is an inner chamber in subdued blue light. Characters move freely from one part to the other, thus avoiding unnecessary scene changes. This opera is a sequel to Gluck's Iphigénie en Aulide. This production starts with a sort of Previously on Iphigénie…We see a dumbshow of the ending of the earlier opera with Agamemnon killing his daughter watched by his wife Clytemnestra. Iphigénie is now a priestess on Tauride and it is her job to sacrifice any strangers. Her brother Oreste and his friend Pylade are shipwrecked and Iphiénie spends the rest of the opera trying to avoid sacrificing them before Diana comes to her rescue.

There are two good tenor roles for Plácido Domingo and Paul Groves as the shipwrecked friends. I enjoyed Domingo's Le Calme Rentre Mon Coeur which is sung softly with a frenzied orchestral line. Susan Graham is Iphigénie and I particularly enjoyed her aria O Malheureuse Iphigénie. The orchestra sparkles under Conductor Patrick Summers in an opera where the orchestral accompaniment is often more interesting than the vocal line. The opera comes in at under two hours but it seems much longer than that.