Iphigenie en Tauride, Christoph Willibald Gluck

1 December 2007, 1:30 matinee
Metropolitan Opera, New York City

Featuring Susan Graham as Iphigenie and Placido Domingo as Orestes, this was only the second Metropolitan Opera production of Gluck's senuous 1779 opera. (The first was in 1917!)
The opera is full of beautiful arias and choruses. I thought the highpoint was the final chorus followed by the reconciliation scene.
Beside the lovely music, the staging was particularly effective. I especially liked the split-screen effect that helped keep the two narrative strands parallel, even as the characters were ignorant of each other's movements. The most striking image occured in the final scene, when the priestesses lined the sacrificial alter with flower petals as they sang praises to "Diana, Chaste Daughter of Leto." A (daring?) moment occurs after Iphigenie has learned Orestes' identify; quietly mourning for the death of her mother (at Orestes' hands), it is momentarily unclear whether she will actually reconcile with Orestes. The reconciliation becomes evident only only once she drops her mother's green scarf then embraces Orestes.
This particular production make wonderful use of a smart, 10-person ballet troupe.
All the all, the production fit the opera: simple but opulent.