Peer Gynt at SF Symphony
I loved it! It was a semi-staged version of Ibsen's play with the orchestra playing Grieg's famous music plus selections from Alfred Schnittke and Robin Holloway. It was fascinating to hear the music in context with the play. The tattered scrim on the right was used to project shadowy figures and atmospheric images, especially during Holloway's extended tone poem about Peer's round the world adventures before he winds up back with the inexplicably faithful Solveig at the end. Solveig and the chorus sang in Norwegian instead of the usual German, a nice touch.
Peer is not a likeable person, quite the charmer but entirely lacking any moral compass. There's an interesting thread running through Isben's play that he has wasted the raw material of his life and is destined to be recycled. Uplifting if you view it in the karmic sense, though Solveig wasting her life waiting for him (and welcoming him back at the end!) is depressing.
Still, the performance was excellent. It was a last minute decision to go, and I'm so glad I did. Two more performances, tonight and tomorrow.
P.S. Just for an alternate point of view: calimac hated it.
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