Perhaps the most pertinent article in the programme book to accompany the Faith performances this summer was by Karen Armstrong who argued perceptively on the difference between faith and belief. The two operas which WNO are currently staging – to be joined shortly by two versions of Edgar Alan Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher – are both deeply concerned with the dichotomy which any religion faces of making practical decisions on the basis of spiritual or numinous understanding.

Schoenberg’s masterpiece Moses und Aron has waited far too long for another professional staging in Britain. We were at the first performances at the Royal Opera House in 1965 in the staging by Peter Hall under Sir Georg Solti, and they made an indelible impression. Thankfully the new staging by Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito, while radically refocussing the work in the modern world, manages to maintain the spiritual complexity of the composition and the constant dilemma for both Moses and Aron.

Where a conventional staging might have given us a more ethereal visual image we are here presented with a strongly naturalistic world within which any spiritual forces will have to fight for acceptance. John Tomlinson’s magnificently troubled Moses is constantly out of place with his tantalising glimpses of the unseen god – a god whom the more practical Aron wants to accept but at the same time wants to make more easily accessible to the people around him. Sacrifices, action, prayers and hymns are far easier than trying to deal with an unseen, undetectable, omnipresent god.

While Moses is present the action remains focussed on the tight dialogue between Moses and Aron. However, as soon as he leaves to meet with god, the situation rapidly falls apart.

In the second act Aron gives in to the demands of the people and shows them a film. We only get to judge its content through the lengthy reactions of the chorus. I doubt if the chorus have ever been as challenged as they were here, but their responses, individually and collectively were utterly convincing. The worship of the golden calf becomes an excuse for a breakdown in any moral authority. It is as if, with no strong leadership, they are incapable of maintaining any moral authority for themselves.

Schoenberg was unable to complete the planned third act and the work ends with Moses great cry of despair as he realises he will never be able to turn his vision into words – or words which can have any practical reality.

Mark Le Brocq took over at short notice as Aron, and his finely honed characterisation, together with a virile but lyrical approach to the score made for an exceptionally convincing reading. The large number of smaller parts were all cast from strength and the chorus was on better form that I can recall. The score is extremely difficult but they sang it as if it were the easiest operetta.

Lothar Koenigs maintained a tight grip of the many groups involved, particularly the off-stage forces, and the whole was so smooth one had to recall how difficult a work this actually is to bring off.

I would love to think we might see it again.

The following night was the first night of a new production of Nabucco. Rudolf Frey had made a good job of Maria Stuarda last year so there was nothing to prepare us for the staging we actually experienced. I felt sorry for the many strong soloists whom WNO had drawn together. For much of the evening, if you closed your eyes, the music was fine. Open them and things could go very nastily awry, even if one was not reduced to outright laughter – as happened to some around me.

An empty black box was gradually peopled by a chorus in modern dress who wandered aimlessly about until the singing started. It was unclear who they were or where they were. According to the normal narrative line they were Hebrews, but there was little indication of this. A few men wore kippahs but most did not. There was even one obviously Muslim women who drew attention to herself by walking with a limp – but she disappeared after the interval.

Once we got to Babylon the vast stage area was surrounded by gold lame curtains, and when Abigaille became enthusiastic about gaining the throne, the stage looked like something out of Britain’s Got Talent. Singers frequently walked around carrying chairs for little apparent reason. Wherever possible, the director opted for the most obvious of clichés, with Nabucco as a South American dictator and the spies all carrying ammunition slings.

In addition the lighting was deliberately expressionist, switching drastically to change the point of focus, all of which was distracting to the action and particularly to the music.

Xian Zhang conducted with flair and brought considerable enthusiasm to the pacing of the evening, and the chorus were as good as they had been the night before for Moses und Aron. Kevin Short was a strong Zaccaria though the hand-jive did not suite him. Robyn Lyn Evans has a fine lyrical tenor for Ismaele but was required to perform like Brad from the Rocky Horror Show and Mary Elizabeth Williams was a confusing Abigaille. The voice is large and powerful but her mannerisms became annoying and her insistence on turning everything into a comic act meant we had no sympathy for her at the end and her death scene went for little.

Hopefully the two Poe settings will bring us back to the fine standards of Moses und Aron and we can quietly overlook Nabucco.

Mote Hall, Maidstone, 17 May 2014

Arriving at the Mote Hall in daylight, with no need to avoid muddy puddles or half-hidden pavements, it must be the end of the season – and what a season it has been. The range of works we have heard and the quality of the soloists has yet again demonstrated the vigour and talent of the orchestra as a whole and the dynamic strength of Brian Wright’s leadership.

The final concert brought us firmly into the early twentieth century with the upheaval of jazz and ragtime, which seemed to permeate all of the works we heard. Ravels’ Suite, Mother Goose served as a gentle hors d’oeuvre with the piquancy of Laideronnette a highlight at its heart.

The benefit of the flat floor is that it allows for the rapid placement of the piano and how pleasing to see and hear a full grand Schimmel. Pianist Tom Poster obviously relished the range of tonal qualities he could coax from it and his performance of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was masterly and absorbing. Brian Wright took a somewhat relaxed approach to the opening pages – there was no hint of the Big Band here, rather the heady influence of jazz on a committed classical composer. Time and again individual soloists tried to break free into ragtime or jazz riffs, only to be gently contained within the orchestral format. The tension was compelling and the overall effect highly exciting.

If Ravel’s Bolero is somewhat over-familiar then hearing live can come as something of a shock. Ravel’s orchestration is very sensitive and looking at the orchestra one is aware of the tiny moments of support given by individual instruments, moments which go unheard when simply listening to a CD or worse still on the car radio. I noted the harp in the very early sections, plucking individual notes and then, later, the upper wind doing the same. Each adding, little by little, to the texture we are experiencing. That the orchestra has such accomplished musicians is a tribute to them and this whole evening drew on their strengths.

After the interval Tom Poster returned for Ravel’s Piano Concerto. Possibly the least familiar piece in the programme, the quieter, introspective passages were particularly impressive with a lovely section for piano and harp. The brass came into their own later in the work, seeming to be warming up for the following Gershwin. The jazz elements, always latent across the evening, exploded in the last movement bringing the whole to a joyous conclusion.

As an encore Tom Poster played his own wistful arrangement of Gershwin’s Someone to watch over me.

The evening, and the season, came to a brash conclusion with Gershwin’s An American in Paris. Brian Wright found an effective balance between the sentimental and the raucous, encouraging his players to give of their all.

They will be back in October for the start of a five concert season for 2014-15, and tickets are already on sale. If you can’t wait until then, Brian Wright and Tom Poster will be opening the Bexhill Arts Festival at the De La Warr Pavilion on Sunday 1 June.

PS The Mote Hall is obviously not a concert hall which has advantages and disadvantages. On this occasion – a hot evening – the roof was opened to let out the hot air which was pleasing. However the lighting seemed to be in the hands of the work experience student and was about as unsubtle as one could imagine! 

London Coliseum, 16 May 2014

The most recent WNO production of Cosi set it in a run-down seaside town and boarding house. It was not particularly gripping though it rarely upstaged the music. ENO has gone one further. Phelim McDermott sets his production in an American fairground and motel, and does his utmost to undermine any subtlety that Mozart and Da Ponte are attempting to create.

The overture is swamped by the belly laughs and applause from the audience as various members of the skills ensemble pop out of a box and hold up flash cards. This sets the tone for a very uneven evening. The producer seems to have no trust in either librettist or composer. Dorabella’s Smanie implacabili is made to seem like a joke – as if her emotions are not serious – and Fiordiligi’s Come scoglio is reduced to farce by a constant coming in and out of doors. By turning any aria into situation comedy the psychology of the character is deeply undermined. Ferrando is allowed to sing un’aura amorosa without interruption but this was a rare moment of calm.

Having created a situation in the overture where the audience are encouraged to react, the evening was constantly being halted by applause. Many years ago now Sir Peter Hall at Glyndebourne developed a Mozartian style which allowed the action to unfold almost breathlessly, flowing through arias and recitatives without pause and so maintaining the impact of the narrative line. Here, unfortunately, any excuse for a laugh was highlighted and the interaction of characters left to fend for themselves. If one removed the extraneous detail there was little of any consequence happening on stage.

There were occasional good ideas. Using the magician’s cage for the end of act one was at least logical and amusing. Used within a tighter context it would have been even more effective. However, with so little character development, by the time the end came we were indifferent to the outcome as we had not be drawn to care about these people.

That the singers managed to cope so well was a tribute to them. Kate Valentine and Christine Rice made a well contrasted pair of sisters but were never allowed to develop their individuality with any subtlety. Marcus Farnsworth was a bluff Guglielmo but Randall Bills sounded rather tight at the top of the voice, though this may have been first night nerves. Mary Bevan’s Despina was turned into a chalet maid but she seemed born for better things. Her singing and acting was almost too intelligent for her situation.

Roderick Williams is a consummate performer and has the potential to be one of the finest Don Alfonso’s. He certainly sang the part with humour and panache, but the Sportin’ Life style characterisation was inappropriate throughout.

The orchestra under Ryan Wigglesworth seemed to be on form, even if timing was often adrift between stage and pit.

One noteworthy point to conclude. The surtitles were off on this evening and we all had to concentrate on what we actually heard rather than respond to the words floating above. As such, reactions were far more concentrated on what was actually taking place, and the diction from all concerned was impressive.