It’s too bad, because this Der Freischütz had good musical qualities. It was sensibly and sensitively (if not thrillingly) conducted by Opera Boston’s Gil Rose and well cast. Getting the biggest applause: soprano Heather Buck, a charming, vividly characterized Ännchen; Boston baritone David Kravitz, a commanding Price Ottokar; basses Andrew Funk, the villain Kaspar, and resonant Herbert Perry, who was both an amplified Devil and an otherworldly Hermit (he played Leporello opposite his twin brother Eugene’s Don Giovanni in Peter Sellars’s famous Mozart production); and especially Edward Jones and his outstanding chorus. Soprano Emily Pulley and tenor Daniel Snyder (Jimmy in Opera Boston’s powerful Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny — staged by Helfrich) sang well as the lovers without creating memorable characters. A concert version might have given us more of the real Freischütz.
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Topics:
Classical
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