Lohengrin

It's hard to imagine what possessed Peter Konwitschny to stage Wagner's 1850 romantic opera—about a medieval knight and the woman he defends from charges of killing her brother—in a cluttered schoolroom with decidedly middle-aged choristers playing rowdy students in short pants enacting the story, presumably as some sort of history lesson. But whatever the idea behind the concept—an essay in the accompanying booklet tries to justify the approach as one that liberates the work from “statuesque chivalry and paralyzing solemnity” while making it politically relevant—in practice it just looks silly. But the visual miscalculations don't solely ruin the performance, the substandard music helps. Granted, the orchestra of the Gran Teatre de Liceu in Barcelona plays well, even if Sebastian Weigle's conducting is rather rigid and metronomic, but the choral work is messy (perhaps as a result of all that running around), and the solo singing is mediocre to poor, with the four leads—especially John Treleaven in the title role—presenting voices that are pinched, wobbly, and slightly sour (a fine turn by Reinhard Hagen as King Heinrich is the sole exception). This production not only misses all of the nobility inherent in Lohengrin, but it also comes perilously close to travesty. Presented in DTS, Dolby Digital 5.1, and PCM, this is not recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)