Arnold Schönberg: Moses und Aron

This extremely difficult "choral" opera is given here in a fascinating production. If you know the work, then this one is for you. Brilliant (and I've seen Moses und Aron in Berlin, London, Scala, the MET)..... this production is way at the top.

This opera, never fully completed, is hard to play and hard to sing....and therefore there are not many productions.

Interesting staging of this 20th Century masterpiece.

Written entirely in the twelve-tone serialism method invented by the composer, Moses und Aron is extraordinarily difficult to interpret and perform. It's also a work that was never finished by the composer with only two of its three acts scored, all of which might account for stage performances of the opera being relatively rare. Despite this and despite a rather abstract and often incomprehensible concept from Romeo Castellucci, the Paris production clearly shows that Moses und Aron is still a work of enormous power and certainly one of the most important works of the 20th century.The central conflict in Moses und Aron, and between Moses and Aaron, is the difficulty of the representation of the word and mistrust of the image. Consequently Moses leaves it to his brother Aaron to find a way of bringing God's word to the people without resorting to idolatry while he contemplates the "invisible, incommensurable, infinite, eternal, omnipresent, all-powerful" God who has revealed himself in the form of a burning bush. Language and expression to convey the infinite and indefinable without words or the use of image is a difficult concept, and even musical language has baggage associated with it, so Schoenberg would invent a new way of composing music for Moses und Aron in the form of twelve-tone serial music, preaching the new gospel of dodecaphony and giving it its greatest and most convincing expression in this opera.Representation of the word and mistrust of the image is always going to be at the heart of Castellucci's production, but that still doesn't entirely account for the spectacle that is presented on the stage of the Bastille in Paris. There's little that could be said to be a literal enactment of the stage directions, but Castellucci very much adheres to the intent of the word rather than its literal depiction in untrustworthy images, which is evidently the key concept here. Moses encounters God here not in a burning bush but in a tape recorder unreeling black tape. Moses's staff meanwhile doesn't transform into a snake exactly, but becomes a long revolving technological object of uncertain purpose that converts the water of the Nile into blood. Words, initially from the libretto but later more random, are projected onto the screen.Practically the whole first half of the production takes place behind a white heavy gauze screen (not great for viewers watching in HD), the chorus dressed in white like lab technicians creating a haze of undefined shapes. In the second half the screen is lifted but the imagery remains obscure, Castellucci finding increasingly strange ways to represent the rituals that Aaron and the Jews enact in the licence of Act II's frenzy of sacrifice, murder, idolatry, drinking, dancing and orgy using ritualistic movements and dance. A huge live yellow bull is led out onto the stage during the worship of the Golden Calf and tar-like black ink is poured over it. A river likewise opens up in a ditch on the stage into which the followers are bathed in black ink. The ink is also the blood of sacrifice of the four naked virgins, spread and smeared across the stage. It's all very messy.It may be hard to pin Castellucci's concept down, but that's only to be expected in a difficult, complex and unfinished work that incorporates many of the musical ideas and personal issues with religion and Nazi oppression that Schoenberg himself was grappling with at the time of its composition. If that makes Moses und Aron sound intimidating and unapproachable, Philippe Jordan makes the intricate musical qualities of the work wonderfully accessible and utterly fascinating. There's a beautiful flow to the work as a whole but Jordan is also attentive to the richness of the detail. Thomas Johannes Mayer's 'Sprechgesang' Moses is perfect here alongside John Graham-Hall's impressive high lyrical tenor Aaron, but it's in the remarkable chorus work in this Paris production that the true force and magnificence of the work is revealed.

Stage Director Romeo Castellucci has turned the fact that Schoenberg's final work Moses und Aron is unfinished into a major source of imagery and narrative drive for the two acts that remain. Mystery becomes a source of meaning, much as it does for other visionary artists like Cocteau and David Lynch. Moses's last words, the final ones in the opera, are "Oh word, thou word, that I lack." "More than a limit", Castellucci says, "it seems to me that the unfinished state of this opera is a clever philosophical strategy meant to overthrow the linear perspective of the path, of the exit." We begin on a gauze-covered stage with Moses (Thomas Johannes Mayer) speaking with the Burning Bush, now a Kubrick-style tape recorder spewing magnetic tape in which he becomes entangled. Soon he begins the opera-long dialectic with his brother Aron (John Graham-Hall). Once the gauze is lifted things really become interesting.Musically this is an exemplary performance. Mayer's Sprechgesang (speech-song) is contrasted with the lyrical and very musical tenor of Graham-Hall, while the chorus plays a central role in the music and the drama. Philippe Jordan keeps the action flowing, making sure that Schonberg's musical ebbs and flow, and not Castellucci's stage business, moves the entire theatrical experience forward. One must mention the shameless scene-stealer in the cast, however. It's the very large live bull, playing the Golden Calf, who brings immense dignity to his role. A star is born!

Moses und Aron is a fine and interesting work if you are happy with Schoenberg's atonal writing, which I am. This production boasts fine singing, conducting and orchestral playing. Musically it is well worth having.The production starts quite well with the general effect fairly white and misty and very atmospheric. However, everything descends into (unintentional) farce in the second half when Moses is communing with the burning bush on the mountain. To represent the reversion of the Israelites to false gods, the entire cast is covered with black paint. This extended sequence looks and feels uncomfortable. It is a boring distraction. Added to this, there is a large bull led around the stage by the nose. This also makes me feel uncomfortable. When Moses appears with the tablets of stone they are not tablets at all, but the horns of the golden calf. Why? Well, maybe I could work that out if I was less repelled by the antics on stage.I think a traditional production would have suited this unfamiliar work much better.

Written in the 12 tone scale, it works very well for atmosphere and mood, and as the work progressed i found it blended so well to the text and the staging that I stopped noticing.The sets are somewhat surreal, from misty white background with just a hint of the Israelites in background, gradually becoming sharper to total clarity later on.There are only two major roles Thomas Johannes Mayer as Moses, who has to talk in rhythm and John Graham-Hall, who sings conventionally as tenor, and at times is asked to venture into counter tenor range. They are both very good.There are other solo roles mainly brief but all up to standard.The chorus works very hard as the Children Of Israel, and does a very good job. I am quite impressed.The story is that Moses has Gods word but not the ability to bring it to the people, but Aron sells it to the populace as best he can.The trouble is that the people want a physical image to centre upon but Moses message is purely spiritual, Aron has trouble selling this, and when Moses goes to the wilderness for 40 days, the people drift back to their old gods, signified by the golden calf. Some calf he is too, and a brilliant piece of casting.Things get a bit messy, the Israelites start off dressed in white, but as they revert to their old religious ways they turn black, literally by being rolled in black gunge, or having it poured over them, or even having a bath to walk through. This I take to being symbolic, but it did not quite dawn on me to the second run through.Be sure to have the subtitles turned on as it would be pretty meaningless without, and try to ignore the subliminal words flashing mid screen in act one, as it is then easy to miss the text if the eye gets drawn.The booklet gives sections and timings, a synopsis, and some background information.This could be staged better as at times it just seems to be gratuitously messy, but it does have an intangible something going for it.Having now seen it through four times I have decided that I am a glutton for punishment.. There are two better versions available

Superb singing and an interesting production. In my view it beats all other DVD productions of this opera

A superbly sung performance of Schoenberg's masterpiece. The staging is strange, unique, but very effective. A first choice, I think.

Moisés lucha por llevar un Dios invisible a un pueblo que exige verlo: el director / diseñador Romeo Castellucci, en el Acto I de su hermosa producción de la Ópera de París de 2015, convierte esa idea en imagen.La ópera se abre con una gran lona blanca que cubre el escenario. Al principio, Moisés aparece frente a la malla tratando con la voz de la zarza ardiente (presentada como una grabadora de carrete ), la voz ordena a Moisés que libere a su pueblo. Moisés, que no es fácil de hablar, acepta la orden porque puede confiar en que Aron hablará con la gente. Aron explica tres milagros para convencer al pueblo de que Moisés es un profeta poderoso en quien se puede confiar.En el acto 2 se levanta la lona blanca. La gente comienza a ponerse nerviosa por este Dios extraño e invisible. Aaron les devuelve su ídolo favorito, el becerro de oro. las gotas de alquitrán sobre todo y todos, simboliza la degradación de la humanidad por la idolatría de la imagen. Finalmente, después de 40 días, Moisés regresa.