Kino Teatr, St Leonards-on-sea, 4 June 2016

Sophie Pullen’s delightful operatic evening was entitled Mozart in Russia but could as easily have been called Wanderings in Opera-land. It seemed to assume we were all opera buffs – well, some of us are – and that we would recognise arias not only without introduction but also without translation or programme notes.

She made it easy enough for us at the start. A bright confrontation between Suzanna and Marcellina in Mozart’s Via resti servita and Suzanna’s gently seductive Deh vieni, were easily recognisable but the following duet for Lisa and Polina from Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame was less familiar though beautifully sung. Olga’s act one aria from Eugene Onegin suited Amanda Martikainen liveliness and sense of humour but the leap into the Barcarolle from Les Contes d’Hoffmann seemed to lead us in an entirely different direction.

If most of the opening arias had been based on intimate characterisation we were back on firmer ground with Donizetti’s All afflitto e dolce il pianto from Roberto Devereux. This is a wonderful work which is performed all too rarely and this lovely aria gave a brief hint of its real strengths.

The first half came to a close with Mira o Norma, which would be familiar to most, and another tribute to the fine duet work from both singers.

The second half gave up all pretence of logic and simply brought us a clutch of pieces, splendidly performed. Bernstein’s Candide is fiercely difficult to sing but they made light work of Little Women and the old Lady’s aria Easily Assimilated.  I had hoped Sophie was going to sing Glitter and Be Gay – some other time perhaps? She did however give us two arias by Massenet, one from Manon and the other from Werther – neither of which I could trace easily, but both were easy on the ear. Amanda gave us a conversational rendition of the Seguidilla from Carmen, and the evening closed with the Flower Duet from Lakme, which presumably everybody knows if only from TV ads! The encore proved lively but incomprehensible.

Helen Ridout had provided the accompaniment from the piano throughout and was allowed to show her more personal style in fine performances of Debussy’s L’Isle Joyeuse and Ginastera’s  Danzas Argentinas I and II, the latter adding a little spikiness to an otherwise romantic programme.

The Kino Teatr is a fine building, remarkably comfortable and welcoming. It is a pity the acoustic is hard and could show up the tiniest flaws in any voice. Thankfully this was not a problem for Sophie Pullen and Amanda Martikainen, whose ample voices often over-powered the space but never uncomfortably so. It would be good to hear it for a lieder recital. Anybody offering?