The long awaited performances of György Kurtág’s opera Fin de Partie took place at La Scala, Milan and the result is a summation of a lifetime’s work. The production was directed by Pierre Audi and conducted by Markus Stenz.
Further performances will be at Dutch National Opera and other companies, with details to be announced.
“The vocal parts are brilliantly sculpted — refined by Kurtág and the singers over years — and resemble recitation with instrumental support. Hamm, the wheelchair-bound tyrant, is threateningly sung by Frode Olsen. Clov (Leigh Melrose), his grimly limping servant, is deeply anguished.”
Financial Times, 25th November 2018
“…Clov no se sienta un solo momento y Leigh Melrose, bien conocido en Madrid por sus recientes apariciones en el Teatro Real (Death in Venice, Das Liebesverbot, Gloriana y Die Soldaten), compone un criado atrapado en esa relación de dependencia y destrucción mutua con su amo que resulta absolutamente creíble en lo escénico y que arropa su despliegue actoral con una altísima calidad técnica en lo musical y una voz flexible y rotunda. Kurtág le reserva dos monólogos, aunque cuenta con menos oportunidades que Hamm para definir su personalidad. Melrose aprovecha cada nota y cada silencio para perfilar a este pobre paria que no logra desasirse de ese vínculo ponzoñoso con Hamm que lo condena a la autodestrucción.”
El País, 16th November 2018
“Shuffling around nervously, Clov (the robustly gruff baritone Leigh Melrose) is characterized in jittery blots of music, as if he consists entirely of punctuation marks .”
The New York Times, 18th November 2018
“Hamm bullies, but relies on his “knight”, Clov, who cannot sit down – performed with ferocious cogency, each heaving step an effort, by the British baritone Leigh Melrose ”
The Observer, 24th November 2018