SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Mozart, Così fan tutte: Soloists, Orchestra of Scottish Opera. Conductor: Tobias Ringborg. Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 19.6.2009 (SRT)

Fiordiligi – Violet Noorduyn
Dorabella – Caitlin Hulcup
Ferrando – Joel Prieto
Guglielmo – Ville Rusanen
Don Alfonso – Peter Savidge
Despina – Marie McLaughlin

Orchestra of Scottish Opera
Chorus of Così fan tutte
Tobias Ringborg (conductor)

Production:

David McVicar (director)
Yannis Thavoris (designer)
Tanya McCallin (costumes)
Paule Constable (lighting designer)


Our generation continues to be fascinated by the myriad possibilities that Così, Mozart’s most grown-up opera, has to offer. As Robert Thicknesse said in the programme note for this evening, it can be played as anything between farce and tragedy. Just why are the men so keen to take part in the bet? Are the girls really fooled by those disguises? Do they get back together at the end or have they done irreparable damage to their relationships? It is entirely characteristic of David McVicar that he should find so many ways to highlight the work’s murky uncertainties. The marvellous set is an idyllic holiday scene including a trompe l’oeil effect of a turquoise sea with distant limestone cliffs jutting out of the water. A concertina wall allows us to move effortlessly between indoors and outdoors and with very little scenery to get in the way there is nothing to distract from the intensity of the intimate drama. On the surface all is sunny and bright, but McVicar’s skill in directing his actors points up a hundred suggestions that in fact the game has got out of hand, such as the disappointment in Ferrando’s posture when his first attempts to woo Fiordiligi have been unsuccessful, or the bitterness that Guglielmo feels towards both of his “lovers”, even after they have been reconciled. Intriguingly the two pairs of lovers keep swapping, right up until the serenade in Act 2, when it is Fiordiligi who chooses to go off with Ferrando, and Guglielmo is left with Dorabella by default. There is so much to see and so many suggestions floating in the subtext that this is theatre to captivate the mind as well as the ear.

Happily the ear has plenty to enjoy too. The young quartet of lovers are all excellent. I had some early doubts about Violet Noorduyn’s Fiordligi who seemed to attack from under the note in her opening duet, and she was rather distracting in Soave sia il vento, but she rose to the challenge of Come scoglio with grandeur and Per pieta was quite marvellous. Caitlin Hulcup’s Dorabella was dangerously interested in the Albanians from the very moment of their first appearance, and her lighter voice suited the younger sister’s flighty fickleness. The contrast between the mood of Smanie implaccabile and her landroncello aria was very well judged. It was the men who stole the show, though. Joel Prieto, who won Domingo’s Opealia competition in 2008, was a most mellifluous Ferrando with a golden tone that really caressed the role. Un aura amorosa was highlight of the evening and, if he faded a little in the second act, he was back with vigour at the end. If he looks after his voice then in a few years time he will be a Mozart tenor of the highest distinction. Ville Rusanen acted Guglielmo with darkness and a touch of malice but his voice was young and exciting, well contrasted with his friend. The house lights came up for Donne miei so that he could address it to all the women in the audience. The older (wiser?) couple were played with wit and skill, and they made a virtue of their more mature voices, contrasting wonderfully with the naïve young quartet. Peter Savidge’s Alfonso was cynical but witty and generous in his victory, while Marie McLaughlin came dangerously close to stealing the show as Despina. Her costume looked as though it had been borrowed from one of the cigarette girls in Carmen, underlining her subversive, devil-may-care attitude, and she acted all the comic roles very well. Her darker, huskier mezzo stood out in all the ensembles and added a good deal of colour. But magnificent as all the performers were, this is predominantly an ensemble opera and it was fitting that at the curtain calls the sextet took their bow together before they did so individually.

There was plenty of excitement in the pit as well, helped by natural trumpets and timpani which lent an authentic colour to the sound and were genuinely surprising for the sit-up-and-take-notice first chords of the overture. Conductor Tobias Ringborg played around with the tempi at times but didn’t distract on the whole, and he played his part in pointing up the characterisation of the roles, such as Stelle, un baccio?! at the end of Act 1, which carried altogether less conviction the second time around. The freelance chorus did their singing from the pit, but did so very satisfyingly.

All in all a hugely successful evening, confirming Scottish Opera’s recent upward trajectory. Public booking is now open for their new season(click here for details), which promises to be as exciting as this one has been. Così fan tutte plays at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre until 27^th June. 

Simon Thompson


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