Peter Eötvös: Love and other Demons haunt Glyndebourne
TobiasA couple of factors turn “Love and other Demons” into a special opera for Peter Eötvös. It is is his first stage work to be conceived with a libretto from a novel. Secondly, the inclusion of the London Philharmonic Orchestra allowed Eötvös complete freedom in terms of composing: “I know that the London Philharmonic is the highest class orchestra, as I have conducted them myself, so I can write what I want as everything is possible for them”, he said in an interview for the folks at Glyndebourne, “In Love and Other Demons, I use a standard sized orchestra but I have divided it into two halves, left and right, like stereo speakers. Many dramatic possibilities come from this idea. For example, the principal wind players are all on the left and the second wind players are on the right so this creates a dialogue. Not a duo but a permanent dialogue situation between two orchestras. Glyndebourne is so wonderful acoustically that this was my first idea.”
And finally, as with all of his operas, “Love and other Demons” was written especially for the Glyndebourne Festival. “I know the Glyndebourne audience as I have conducted here (The Makropoulos Case /Festival 2001)”, .Peter Eötvös explained, “I had considered many other ideas but Márquez's story is one that will touch immediately the Glyndebourne audience, especially the central issues of faith and different cultures. Most interesting of all is the element of fantasy. My other operas Angels in America and Le Balcon were more theatre pieces – theatre with music, cabaret – but in Love and Other Demons I tried to avoid concrete elements.”
The care put into the pre-concetr presentation by the Glyndebourne is – frankly – amazing. Next to biographies on Peter Eötvös, Marquez and all of the cast, there is also video footage of conductor Vladimir Jurowski and Eötvös talking about production details. Firmly rooted in Internet culture and with a well-maintained Facebook profile, Glyndebourne is set to take “Love and other Demons” straight into the next millenium.
Image by Helmut Stürmer
Homepage: Peter Eötvös
Homepage: Glyndebourne Festival
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