SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Minnie – Susan Bullock

Johnson – Carl Tanner

Rance – Juha Uusitalo

Nick – Colin Judson

Ashby – Brindley Sherrat

 

This year’s Festival theme is Oceans Apart, and Puccini’s Wild West opera is probably the most famously bizarre example in music of new world meeting old. I think the time has finally arrived however, when we no longer feel we need to apologise for Faniculla. Sure, it’s cheesy and a little racist on occasion and the dialogue is dreadful in parts, but the drama is among the most compelling the composer ever set and it’s one of his most forward-looking scores.

 

A concert performance helps to strip away the sometimes awkward trappings and, when all you have to deal with is the music, I would challenge anyone to come away from this opera unconvinced. It helps when you have a performance as dedicated as the one tonight. Nowadays Susan Bullock is most closely associated with carved-in-granite roles like Elektra and Isolde, but she started her career with roles like Pamina and Butterfly and her performance here was a revelation. She is fully in tune with Minnie the firebrand who takes control of her male-dominated world, but her voice had warmth and tenderness that found us sympathising with the character’s vulnerability and the dilemmas of love. Almost more importantly, Bullock acted the part as if she were on a theatre-stage, even producing a hand of cards at the key point in the poker game. The role tends to lie more in the middle of her range so that lurches to the top can feel a little forced, but few singers alive can avoid that touch in this music, and her cries of victory at the end of Act II brought the house down. Opposite her Carl Tanner’s Johnson had a fantastic ring to the top of his register. He took a while to find security in the middle and lower range, but by the time he got to the great love scene of Act II he was fully there and Ch’ella mi creda was burnished and heroic. Like Bullock, Juha Uuistalo is better known for his titanic Wagner roles, but his voice suited this Italian repertoire surprisingly well. In fact the darkness in his voice was perfect for the flawed sheriff. He sang with black intensity in his aria of avarice towards the end of Act I and in the poker game he was chillingly malevolent. Brindley Sherrat’s Ashby was marvellously characterful, rivalling Uusitalo’s baritone in places, and Colin Judson’s Nick was bright and clear, standing out well among the male textures. The other minor roles were all well cast, presumably from members of the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, who were all having a great time, acting the part of rough miners as well as singing Puccini’s music beautifully.

 

Perhaps the finest accolade should go to Francesco Corti and his orchestra, though. They sounded more confident than I have heard them in a long time, pressing the drama on and conjuring up miraculous clarity in the big climaxes: the sheen of the opening chords set a high standard which they maintained for the whole evening. Corti kept the evening going with a keen eye to the drama, pacing the action with well-judged theatrical sense and controlling the unfolding tension very skilfully: towards the end of Act II you could have cut the tension with a knife. It is great to see Scottish Opera back in the festival on such triumphant form. Let’s hope it isn’t too long before they’re staging full works in the EIF again. This evening saw them at their finest.

 

The Edinburgh International Festival runs until Sunday 5^th September in venues across the city. For full details and to book tickets go to www.eif.co.uk.

 

Simon Thompson

 

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