SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Bellini, I Puritani:  (Concert Version) Soloists and Chorus, Orchestra of Scottish Opera.  Conductor: Francesco Corti. City Halls, Glasgow, 29.3.2009 (SRT)

Elvira – Sally Silver
Arturo – Mario Zeffiri
Riccardo – Benjamin Bevan
Giorgio – Hidekazu Tsumaya
Enrichetta – Julia Riley

Chorus of I Puritani
Orchestra of Scottish Opera
Francesco Corti (conductor)


This performance saw a double first for Scottish Opera.  This was their premiere performance of I Puritani, albeit in a concert version, and it was their first performance in the newly renovated Glasgow City Halls. It isn’t the first time they’ve presented opera in a concert version, but from his programme note I suspect that General Director Alex Reedijk will be experimenting a lot more with this format as another way of delivering more opera to the people of Scotland.

During a conversation I overheard at the interval, one man wished they were doing it in a fully staged production now that they had such a good cast, but the other pointed out that perhaps the reason they have a good cast is that it’s only for one concert performance.  Concert opera definitely carries its problems, but vocally speaking this was a superb afternoon.  Sally Silver returned after her successful outing in Lucia di Lammermoor.  She has the pinpoint accuracy required for successful bel canto singing, though she can be a little low on power at the top.  Her mad scenes were compelling and moving, especially the one at the end of the first act.  In Act II Qui la voce was languid and poignant while Vien diletto was exciting and sharp.  She kept plenty in reserve for the final scene, though, and those climactic top notes were thoroughly secure.  Mario Zeffiri, making his company debut, had the bright, clear tenor voice required for the stratospheric role of Arturo. Perhaps unusually, he seemed more comfortable in the upper registers of his voice: his C-sharp in A te o cara was confident and ringing, though the opening of the aria seemed a little less secure.  His acrobatics in Act III were very convincing, however: in fact he included several ornamentations which took his voice higher than Bellini’s writing. It was a little surprising, then, that he didn’t attempt the top F in Credeasi misera, but it’s better to have a rock solid D-flat than a fluffed top F and it made a solid conclusion to his assumption of the role.

Japanese bass Hidekazu Tsumaya, also making his company debut, was authoritative and resonant in his portrayal of Giorgio, especially in Cinta di fiori which was sweet and beautiful in its melancholy.  Benjamin Bevan’s Riccardo was mellifluous and virile, making him more human than the one-dimensional stock character of the libretto.  Lesser roles were taken well too, especially the dramatically exciting Enrichetta of Julia Riley. I wasn’t convinced by the decision to place the soloists behind the orchestra, however: tenor and soprano were able to (literally) rise above the instruments, but all too often the baritone and bass were drowned in the wash of sound.  Great moments like Suoni la tromba were simply lost, a real shame considering how easily this could have been avoided.

The orchestra sounded fantastic in this venue.  The warm, close acoustic suited all the military effects at the beginning, especially the opening horn calls, but quieter moments like the pianissimo string tremolos during the mad scene were also clearly audible.   Music director Francesco Corti was also on good form, keeping the pace moving so that things never slowed down, and the clipped, precise phrases of the opening came across as a fantastic curtain-raiser.  It was a mistake to pause for applause (which never came) after Son vergin vezzosa, however, as this interrupted one of Bellini’s most successful transitionary phrases and broke up the dramatic flow unnecessarily.  Still, these quibbles aside, this was a hugely enjoyable performance and a great way to inaugurate the work in the company’s history.  Let’s hope it’s not the last time that Scottish Opera bring it to us.

Simon Thompson


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