White Rock Theatre, 30 January 2018

The great strength of Ellen Kent’s touring production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly is its simplicity. Where recent presentations have highlighted the problems of child marriage – she is after all only fifteen in act one – and the more pressing importance of American Imperialism, this production concentrates on story-telling and the development of character, a potential strength when many of the audience may be encountering the opera for the first time.

The initial visual impact is of an idealised, almost fairy-tale, Japan, with bright colours and everything clean, crisp and new, and this does not change, though the second act is at least three years later. Consequently we are caught in a timeless Japan within which the events unfold, concentrating on the tragic implications of a thoughtless young American. Giorgio Meladze cuts a strong figure as B F Pinkerton. His singing was well focussed throughout and he makes much of Amore o grillo and Dovunque al mondo, bringing a brashness to his admission that he will marry Butterfly today but will get a real wife when he gets back to America. That his singing of addio fiorito asil in act two is far more hesitant and reflective gave a sense of genuine remorse for a situation now totally beyond his control. That he was booed at the end (very much tongue-in-cheek from an audience who obviously enjoyed his performance) because of his caddish behaviour, was a tribute to his acting.

Maria HeeJung Kim brought a naivety to Cio-Cio-San which was gently convincing in act one. Her oriental gestures helped to create an obvious disparity between herself and Pinkerton, and one which even love would find difficult to conquer. Their passionate duet at the end of act one was all the more impressive for the lack of physical contact. This was as much an emotional overwhelming as a physical one. Her strength came through in act two with a finely sung Un bel di and a moving relationship with her son, making her suicide inevitable and noble.

There was nothing her maid Suzuki, sensitively sung by Zara Vardanean, could have done to prevent the outcome; however Iurie Gisca’s, Sharpless must take some of the blame as his warnings were off-hand and his inability to read the letter reflected his own embarrassment rather than the reality of the situation.

Other parts were well sung with Vadym Chernihovskyi visually impressive as Yamadori. It made even less sense that Butterfly would not marry him under the circumstances. The small orchestra under Vasyl Vasylenko provided solid support, with the harp particularly impressive.

There was a greater problem with the chorus. Though they sang well they looked as if they had just walked in from a production of The Mikado and were very much at odds with the rest of the cast.

As a way to learn, and encourage others to enjoy, opera for the first time, Ellen Kent’s productions have much to offer.

The company return to the White Rock Theatre on 29^th April with Verdi’s La Traviata.

St John the Evangelist, Pevensey Road, Hastings Saturday 27 January 2018

Sometimes there can be advantages in going to a rehearsal for a concert when one is unable to attend the event itself and it was a pleasure to sit in on Hastings Sinfonia the afternoon of their recent musical offering at St John the Evangelist, Pevensey Road. The orchestra was originally brought together by Polo Piatti as a group of local players, many of them amateur, and supported by a few professional musicians who have connections with the town.

Derek Carden is their professional conductor and knows both the pleasures and the occasional pitfalls of working with dedicated local musicians. The benefits are very obvious. Rehearsal times are more plentiful, but also more intensive, and they were able to have a number of sessions with pianist Howard Southern in preparing Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto – a rarity within the fully professional world where the soloist jets in at the last minute and there may not be time to go through the whole piece once, let alone iron out any little blips along the way.

Most of the minor problems related to tempi and the time available enabled some entries to be honed in a way which is normally not possible. In this way the hushed opening of the second movement of the Beethoven improved greatly in its impact in a relatively short space of time.

Before moving on to the second part of the concert there was time for a full tea, prepared by a willing team of supporters who work closely with the orchestra. Once the rehearsal had been completed they were all due to go to the house of one of the supporters for a buffet meal and time to relax and change before the evening – such is the value of local support and enthusiasm.

The Sinfonia’s repertoire is deliberately on the light side – even allowing for the fact that the Emperor  was the most ambitious undertaking of a full concerto so far – and followers of Classic FM would find the second half much to their taste. They were joined by soprano Thomasin Trezise in familiar arias by Mascagni, Gounod and Bizet, whose fine soprano easily rode both the romantic orchestra and the full acoustic of the church.

The one novelty, if it might be called that, was the inclusion of Polo Piatti’s The Old Forest.  This is a full-bodied romantic tone-poem, with the composer playing the important piano part,  which opens like the slow movement of a piano concerto but builds to an explosion of power and nobility. Though this is very much Polo’s orchestra, his own works have a perfectly valid place within its repertoire and let us hope we will hear more of them.

Opus Theatre has now issued a full programme for the coming year and Hastings Sinfonia will bring A Fabulous Night of Film Music to the Opus on Saturday 12 May. Full details of all events can be found at www.opustheatre.co.uk

Brian Hick

Kino Teatr, Sunday 21st January 2018

What better way to cheer up a dull, wet January morning that Beethoven’s Spring Sonata. Published in 1801 as Sonata No5 in F major, Op24, it has an openness and sense of light which radiates throughout, even when it allows moments of a darker reality to seep through. Violinist, Jane Gordon and pianist, Jan Rautio – familiar as members of the Rautio trio – brought real brightness and superb balance to the opening Allegro and an unexpected intensity to the following Adagio. This gave way to the bounce and attack of the lively Scherzo, marked and here played Allegro molto, before the gently flowing optimism of the final Rondo. Some of the audience had clapped after the first movement and Jane Gordon had quite rightly pointed out that this would have been perfectly acceptable in the early nineteenth century and so was equally permissible today!

An unexpected interlude was squeezed in here in the form of the Cantabile JS Bach wrote as part of a revision of his sixth violin sonata. It stands alone quite happily, forming a more formal bridge between the happy brightness of the Beethoven and the much darker world of Debussy’s Violin Sonata in G minor. Introducing this, Jan Rautio pointed out that the composer was going through a bit of a rough time – in fact he was dying – and this may account for the very dark moods that emerge and the fractured structure of the work itself. It may have the conventional three movements of a classical sonata but the content and musical ideas are far closer to the modern music which was emerging early in the twentieth century. The opening movement has many rapid changes of mood as well as texture, and the skittishness of the second movement, marked Intermède: Fantasque et léger has many moments of frantic intensity before coming to a sudden calm conclusion. If in the Finale the sun does not quite shine there are definite moments of optimism which were finely caught by both musicians as Debussy passes the point of focus between them. The only minor drawback at present is the lack of a really good piano for performers of this quality.

The Kino Teatr is a fine venue for chamber music, its close acoustic supporting the players while providing the audience with a comfortable sense of intimacy – the croissants are excellent as well!