Garsington Opera @ Wormsley, Sunday 17 July

Last year Garsington Opera linked up with the RSC for A Midsummer Night’s Dream; this year brought us a more complex presentation when they were joined by Ballet Rambert in Haydn’s The Creation. As Haydn’s text has a strong narrative line it would have been too easy to simply demonstrate the story in dance and Mark Baldwin used his dancers to reflect on and help us to see other aspects of the score as it progressed. Just occasionally the long lines of dancers – there were forty in total from the company – could be seen as fluid reflections of the elements, but for most of the time the dance seemed a more abstract emotional reflection on the unfolding descriptions. This was often highly effective. Awake the Lyre and the final chorus were particularly apt, as were the gently enfolded duos which seemed to lie at the heart of the interpretation. To take just one example – at the creation of Adam two male dancers gave us a sense of Adam awaking to the possibility of his own soul. It was very moving.

If I have started with the dance it is because the stage layout encouraged us to engage with it first. The large stage area was split by a vast gothic rood screen. Behind it the orchestra was placed, and the chorus were in raised galleries on either side. The gothic arches allowed the soloists to appear when they needed to sing, and Douglas Boyd was literally the centre of things under the central arch. As a result the musical impact was splendid throughout. James Glichrist was a thrilling and impactful narrator in the earlier scenes while Neal Davies and Sarah Tynan came into their own as Adam and Eve.

The chorus were obviously loving it and sang with fresh enthusiasm throughout. I can’t recall The Heavens are telling ever before sounding quite so much like Beethoven in its nobility and impact.

Douglas Boyd drove the score swiftly throughout though there was never any problem with diction or clarity for the text.

This was the last night of a fine season at Wormsley. Next year sees a another new departure for Garsington with plans to work with the Philharmonia Orchestra in a new production of Pelleas et Melisande, and a new community opera.