Schoenberg: Moses und Aron - Opera National de Paris (2015) [Blu-ray]

Moses und Aron, Arnold Schönberg’s masterpiece, at the Paris Opera in a glorious and poetic staging by Romeo Castellucci and conducted by Philippe Jordan, now available on DVD and Blu-ray! A profound, powerful and yet unfinished opera, Moses und Aron ends with an admission of defeat: « O Word, thou Word that I lack! », Moses’ last cry, is also the last phrase the composer has been able to set to music. Recounting the story of Moses, who has experienced the immensity of God, and of Aron, who tries to speak of it; casting doubt upon the adequacy of tonal and traditional musical language; Moses und Aron questions the possibility of a True Speech. Following in their wanderings the children of Israel, a stateless people lost in the desert and looking for signs and images, Moses und Aron symbolizes the challenges encountered by a community looking for her own identity, torn between spiritual ideal and material needs. The Paris Opera Chorus and Orchestra who, thanks to his musical director Philippe Jordan’s work, has pierced all the secrets of Schönberg’s audacious score, reveal with grace and accuracy all the emotion contained in this anxious, overwhelming and unforgettable masterpiece.

Castellucci, with his bull and his ink, has managed somehow to make indelible images out of an opera in which images are the greatest evil of all.