Glass' s Fall of the House of Usher at the Munich Opera Festival .

Roderick Usher: Harrie Van der Plas
Madeline Usher: Ella Tyran
A doctor: Hans Kittelmann
A servant: Sebastian Campione

American composer Philip Glass is likely the chief representative in opera of what has been called minimalist music and on with those by John Adams, his deeds are well known at many important opera houses. Suffice it to think that his opera Satyagraha was performed at New York Metropolitan during last season and leave be revived again next season. The Fall of the Home of Usher was premiered in 1988 in Cambridge (Massachusetts) and it is not among the composer`s most popular works, despite being based on the celebrated narrative of the same title by Edgar Allan Poe. Philip Glass`s music is interesting and fiiting for Poe`s atmosphere of secret and the answer seemed to me far better than I expected, considering that I would not take his music with me to a desolate island. The opera was offered here in a German translation.

The product by Venezuelan director Carlos Wagner is very appropriate to the plot, creating an excellent atmosphere of mystery from the outset. The present shows the Usher mansion portrayed as a whale skeleton with a staircase, in which all the process takes place. The present direction by Carlos Wagner is honorable and draws in the care of the interview at every moment.

Lukas Beikircher offered a well conceived reading from the pit, revealing a complete cognition of Glass`s music and acquiring a respectable performance from the orchestra.

The opera offers three primary characters, the Usher twins - Roderick and Madeline - and William, their childhood friend, who presents the story. After he receives a letter asking him to visit the twins, William becomes a viewer to what the story of ownership and an end that happens in the haunted ghost house. Baritone Gregor Dalal was a well - cast William, Roderick Usher was tenor Harrie van der Plas, who gave a right interpretation also, while soprano Ella Tyran was Madeline Usher, the primary stress of care for the audience. She only vocalizes through the opera, but she was impressive doing it.

The field was about 60 % of content and the final reception was very enthusiastic.

Jos M. Irurzun