Opera North on Tour: The Lowry Theatre, Salford Quays, Salford, UK 19.6 -  23.6.2007 (RJF)

 

For their final tour of their first season since returning home to the refurbished Leeds Grand Theatre, complete with its new superb rehearsal facilities and air conditioned theatre, Opera North really took the bull by the horns and had a grand finale of five different operas, of very diverse genres, all of which they took on tour to Nottingham, Salford, Newcastle, Sheffield and Bradford. I caught up with them at The Lowry, Salford which unlike Sheffield and Bradford had already been  visited by the company in their autumn and winter tours: I  had therefore had the chance to see the Rigoletto and Magic Flute productions. Cast changes in important roles are always interesting for the critic however, and none more so than that with the eponymous Rigoletto in Verdi’s opera and Papageno and Tamino in Mozart and fellow Freemason Schikaneder’s 1791 pantomime with Masonic overtones,  which was first up.

In my review of the winter cast in the revival of Tim Supple’s production of The Magic Flute, first seen at Leeds in April 2003, I eulogised about the Papageno of Roderick Williams, daring even to think him not unlike the young Thomas Allen whom I had heard in one of his earliest portrayals of the role more than forty years ago. The flip side was finding Riccardo Simonetti, the Papageno for this tour, stronger on volume than characterisation and rather monochromatic as Belcore in the following night’s performance of Elixir of Love, albeit acting with conviction. Any worries about his singing or assumption of Papageno were quickly dispelled however. Despite not quite matching Roderick Williams he sang with clear lyric tone and diction. He played Papageno  more  as a Lancastrian country yokel overtaken by events and really only concerned at his continued bachelorhood:  a valid interpretation well realised. The other cast change was with the role of Tamino sung with clarity, vocal elegance and exemplary diction by Peter Wedd.  I stress their good diction of both singers because the performance was sung in English and  there were no surtitles, so the presence of a signer meant that deaf people in the audience better chance of following the details of the plot than the rest of us.

No matter how good the singing of the three ladies, or the boys, particularly when in unison, it was impossible to follow the English text and for  those not wholly conversant with the work the words sung  by both groups in the first scene are vital to understanding everything that follows. As in the earlier performance,  Noriko Urata’s Pamina was well sung and acted, the role now well into her voice. Penelope Randall-Davies as the Queen of the Night once again  sang a far better Act II Der Hölle Rache than her earlier O zitt’re nicht. Keel Watson and Charne Rochford repeated their well sung characterisations and Andrew Clarke’s Monostatos  looked even more lithe and muscular than before: he also  sang his character aria very well. One of the biggest improvements however was in the lower voice sonority of Chester Patton, also a physically imposing Sarastro. After a scrappy start Paul McGrath found form with Mozart’s magical creation. But the confused ending in Tim Supple’s Flute still owes nothing to Mozart or Schikaneder!

Rigoletto

In the initial run at Leeds the role of Rigoletto was sung by Alan Opie who did not take in all the touring venues. On the night of the celebratory opening of the refurbished Grand Theatre he made apologies for vocal difficulties, not that any were very obvious. As I said of him at the time, Alan Opie is currently one of our foremost Verdi dramatic baritones and a perfectionist. During Opera North’s restricted years of having to make do with semi staged and concert performances he sang a formidable Nabucco  (See Review)  which he repeated on the Chandos recording that followed (Review). On this return to The Lowry he was in pristine vocal form which together with Linda Richardson’s Gilda made watching Charles Edwards’ silly sets and production more of a pleasure than it might have been. Linda Richardson had sung Mozart’s Countess with Opera North during their spring tour a year ago on which occasion I suggested she was perhaps moving to a heavier fach. Gilda is a role she has sung with English National Opera in the large space of the London Coliseum and while  I may be correct about the move of fach, this does not  imply ay all that she cannot still do full justice to Gilda. Her voice is not a tweety coloratura, but a lyric soprano with secure coloratura and trill and a wide range of colour and expression which she uses to build a consummate interpretation vocally matched  with skillfull acting.  Leah-Marian Jones also sang well as Maddalena.

Charles Edwards’ set, with costumes designed by Brigitte Reiffenstuel, aims to bring the opera up to date. In my review of the opening evening I questioned the virtues of the production in that it does not reflect either Verdi’s music or the libretto. Though I was not as scathing as The Times critic (who described it as a witless production in a glorious venue) more than anything I worried that Edwards had neither considered  Verdi’s battles with the censor to get Victor Hugo’s plot on stage, nor the need to present it in a  period when Monterone’s curse, La maledzione, would have induced real  terror in the jester.  Part 3 of my Verdi Conspectus for MusicWeb International mentions these important issues and also recounts how the composer felt so strongly about the period of the work that he nearly withdrew the premiere.

Never let it be said however, that directors never listen, because Edwards made several detailed changes for this revival including some reduction of the gratuitous brutality and 'groping.'  Not seeing the beefy thighs of Rafael Rojas in boxer shorts was one significant  improvement although his singing of the Duke had a good deal too much beef. He may not be ready for Otello yet but his voice has outgrown the Duke, a role that calls for more lyric vocal skills than he currently seems to have at his disposal. Clive Bayley was no match, visually or vocally, for his predecessor and having Sparafucile walk past Rigoletto, sat at his office desk and in full light does not work either. Rigoletto meets the assassin in the dark lane outside his home and is a troubled by the likely threat when he asks fearfully  who is there; directors should listen to the music! Whatever Charles Edwards might have wanted to do with his production is severely restricted by the cut off caravan that initially represents Rigoletto’s home and later, and more particularly, Sparafucile’s den. The silliness of having The Duke climb on the caravan’s roof, even if half drunk, to sleep as Verdi’s storm music blazes still seems the ultimate incongruity but  as I have noted the singing and acting of both Alan Opie and Linda Richardson gave the  audience much pleasure, as did  Mark Shanahan's conducting.

Katya Kabanova

Katya Kabanova was the first of the season’s new productions presented. I had not seen the work since Opera North’s traditional 1983 production by Graham Vick and I awaited this performance with particular interest as the director, Tim Albery, is scheduled to on take three of Opera North’s new productions for the 2007-2008 season.  In costumes, and evocative representational sets by Hildegard Bechtler, the evening in Albery’s hands was a veritable dramatic tour de force and was not far short of matching last autumn’s award winning Peter Grimes as gripping theatre.

Aided by Peter Mumford’s lighting, and the flexibility of the set, each scene had its own subtle character to fit the music and the action. Janacek’s music is heavily scored and makes massive demands on the role of the ill-fated Katya herself. Giselle Allen’s gleaming soprano cut through those textures with clarity and accuracy and her acting as fated wife, lover or when intent on suicide, was also superb. Hers was an assumption to go alongside Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts’ Grimes as among the highlights of Opera North’s year. The casting department had been in top gear all round for this new production with excellent singing actors in the key roles. Sally Burgess played a stiff backed, stern faced implacable mother in law from hell. She sang with her usual full tone and if her warm vocal quality belied the character, that  was only a minor fault. The casting of the three tenor roles was not skimped with John Graham Hall’s tall Ticon well contrasted vocally with Peter Wedd and Asley Catling. All sang faultlessly and were fully involved in their roles. They also did their best diction-wise despite the heavy orchestration. Wendy Dawn Thompson acted well as Varvara, her light soprano flexible and expressive. With Richard Farnes on the rostrum, the orchestral playing was of the highest quality, managing the contrasts of mood and modulation with great aplomb. The rather sparse Lowry audience received the performance with justifiably warm applause.

At the pre - performance talk on Katya the issue of following the text came up. A lady present said she would have preferred the performance to be in the original language, not for any matter of the balance of the prosody of the language and music, but because it would then have been presented with surtitles which would have made life easier for the audience many of whom would be new to this particular work. The principle has been accepted at English National Opera and perhaps needs considering by Opera North. The presence of surtitles would certainly obviate the visual distraction of a signer, so disturbing to many in performances of Peter Grimes.

Dido and Aeneas and Les Noces

The final presentation of Opera North’s week at The Lowry was the double bill of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas of around 1693 and Stravinsky’s Les Noces premiered in 1923, both new productions. In fifty years of opera going, this double act juxtaposition beats any I have ever encountered. The commonalities between the pieces are dance - and Opera North’s desire to collaborate again with Aletta Collins who had previously worked with the company as choreographer and co-director - and  the fact (as the programme note suggests)  that both works are loosely concerned with marriage.

How to get a period piece and a 20^th century one conducted equally ably must have been a challenge for the company until Nicholas Kok was decided on. He has form in both early and contemporary music and it showed in  his handling of these diverse works. In the Stravinsky, with four pianos, the orchestra  sat in raising tiers in the form of a semicircle with cut out body-profiles echoing the dance at the front of the stage. Although the work was sung in Russian by Gwyneth-Ann Jeffers, Clarissa Meek, John Graham Hall and the basses Paul Reeves and Anthony Cunningham there was no attempt at interpretative surtitles. All interpretation  was left to the considerable visual impact made  by the dancers and highly proficient they were too.

For the performance of Dido the period band were in the pit with some members of the chorus seated behind them. The set comprised a double tier of curved blocks to the rear of the stage, much as the setting of Roman or Greek theatre, complete with a broken-armed statue at the rear. A backdrop of a turquoise sea and a large moon provided a base for changing moods, as did Bruno Poet’s evocative lighting. Cloud formations changed the perspective of the moon as the storm music approached until it was blanked it out  Bodies rolling over the back blocks to represent the lapping waves of the sea was very effective and left the front of the stage  free for the action of the opera and for  more dancers who supported the sung drama. In modern day dress,  most of the focus was on the superb interpretation of Susan Bickley as Dido whose account of the famous lament was heart rending. Her singing was well supported by  Adam Green as a firm toned Aeneas,  Clarissa Meeks sorceress was notably taken role and   counter tenor James Laing made  a strong impact as the spirit. Though this double bill might  have seemed a strange marriage at first, the presentation of the two diverse works in tandem made for a very entertaining evening. The performers were very warmly applauded at the end albeit by a disappointingly small audience, many of whom were obviously knowledgeable about dance. 

So, how might a headmaster’s report read on the Opera North’s first full season working with  the benefit of  superb new rehearsal spaces? Nine works have been presented in all,   of which  no fewer than seven were new productions:  a very big challenge to the Company, even with improved facilities. The repertoire has been very interesting  with premiere dates for the works presented  extending from 1607  to 1945.  With only three operas from what might be called the central repertory, the selection has been esoteric and adventurous although the how the box office has fared as a consequnce may be  an important consideration.

As to the productions themselves, Phyllida Lloyd’s Peter Grimes won the prestigious Royal Philharmonic opera award, and justifiably so. The flip side was the disastrous travesty of Christopher Alden's Orfeo which deserved a turkey at best and it's to be hoped that public reception and critical opinion will influence future programming decisions in Leeds. Ranged between these extremes were the textually faulted Rigoletto and the fine Katya Kabanova at the Lowry. The winter Elixir of Love was a fine updated version somewhat in need of more care in casting and choice of language for the bel canto repertoire. So a decidedly mixed start, but with the possibility of better to come in the future.

Next season will open with a new Butterfly in Leeds on September 15^th arriving at The Lowry on November 13^th.  The winter season will include revival of Peter Grimes to provide an opportunity for those that missed it first time round. That premieres at Leeds on 17^th January and returns to The Lowry on 13^th of February. It will also go  to Belfast as well as to  Sadler’s Wells, London. But perhaps the biggest excitement of next year for  Opera North supporters is the proposed  Shakespeare year extending into autumn 2008. This will include Verdi’s Falstaff and Macbeth, Britten’s A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream and Gounod’s Romeo and Juliette, with Bellini’s take on the same story following on in autumn 2008. There will also be a co-production with Minnesota Opera of Keiser’s The Fortunes of Croesus, probably the British premiere of this German Baroque work, and the world premiere of Jonathan Dove’s The Adventures of Pinocchio. I hope to post a more detailed preview in August.

Robert J Farr