Opera

Opera News (USA), 01. February 2000
Helped by a taut reading from conductor Hartmut Haenchen, director Pierre Audi gave Alceste a completely contemporary interpretation, stripping away some superfluous scenes and ballets that Gluck was obliged to write for his second (French) version to accommodate eighteenth-century tastes and turning the drama into a Strindberg-like confrontation between a man and wife, who, suddenly faced with death, discover the frailties and boundaries of their relationship. (...)

Paul Korenhof