King Roger

The libretto is strange but the music voluptuous in Karol Szymanowski's 1926 opera, which receives top-notch treatment in this production from the 2009 Bregenz Festival in Austria. The story opens in the 12th-century court of Sicily, where Queen Roxana (Olga Pasichnyk) falls in love with a young shepherd (Will Hartmann) accused of heresy (he professes to be a divine messenger from the Far East). Roxana accompanies the shepherd to his native land, whereupon her husband, King Roger (Scott Hendricks), renounces his crown and pursues the pair, discovering them in the ruins of a Greek temple, where the boy is revealed as the god Dionysius. After an ecstatic dance of the deity's followers, everyone disappears, leaving the erstwhile monarch alone. This odd scenario is infused with late-Romantic music of astonishing opulence, full of orchestral color from the Vienna Symphony under the baton of Mark Elder. The vocals are excellent as well, with fine performances by the leads, backed by the Polish Radio Choir Kraków and the Children's Chorus of Musikhauptschule Bregenz. Beate Vollack's choreography is nicely paired with David Pountney's staging, which features a simple set of terraced steps, flowing costumes in black and red (although Hartmann is totally gilded in the third act), and color changes in the lighting that effectively suggest emotional shifts. King Roger deserves to be better known, and this offering—presented in DTS 5.1 and PCM stereo on DVD, and DTS-HD 5.1 and PCM stereo on Blu-ray—does it proud. Highly recommended. (F. Swietek)