The Spring Season has been themed this year under the title Free Spirits. That makes some sense in the combination of David Poutney’s productions of Lulu and The Cunning Little Vixen, though slightly less so for Madama Butterfly.

David Poutney provided an impressive introduction in the programme book which now, sensibly, includes all three operas and provides convincing links between them. It also helps the many members of the audience who will see all three to feel some continuity rather than bump from one performance to the next.

Since the release of the third act of Lulu we have come to realise what a masterpiece the work is and how thrilling it can be in performance. David Poutney follows the circus theme closely as the narrative unfolds. Where many productions drop the animals after the introduction, here the masks are maintained and used at key moments. There is constant interplay between the animalistic nature of the humans and the failed civilising and social controls which surround them.

Lulu herself remains an enigma. Marie Arnet has the bite and range for the role but often seems distant from her male admirers. This can work to her advantage, but makes her death less sympathetic than it can be. I did wonder if the production was deliberately taking a Brechtian approach, insisting we distance ourselves from the action, remaining uninvolved even when Berg’s score rises to romantic heights.  

The large cast is drawn from strength with Richard Angas adding unexpected weight to the Animal Tamer (appearing somewhat unexpectedly as Wotan) and a raddled Schigolch. Peter Hoare has the sensitivity as well as the power to make Alwa a fully-rounded character and Paul Carey Jones was impressively at ease – though a late substitute – as Dr Schon. Lothar Koenigs found nuances in the score which constantly delighted as well as maintaining a narrative sweep to drive events towards their fatal conclusions. I had not picked up before the Wagnerian allusions both in the score and text – references to Parsifal and Meistersinger as well as the inference towards The Ring.

The final act was particularly successful in drawing all the earlier elements together. In this Johan Engels design, somewhere between a portable circus and the skeletal frame of a gas-holder, had a stark simplicity which clashed effectively with the over-sophisticated costumes. The only minor problem with this approach was the omission of any sense of social decline in the last act.

I hope we get a chance to see this again as there is a great deal here to both enjoy and consider.

Two days later brought us the revival of The Cunning Little Vixen in a production from 1980 by David Poutney which is as fresh today as it was when it was first staged. The simplicity of the set, with its easy movement between animal and human environments, and the highly effective lighting, gives a near-perfect environment for the subtle inter-play which Janacek creates. The very large cast were as good as one might wish for, with children charming but never cute or mawkish. Sophie Bevan’s Vixen was the best I can recall of the many productions I have seen. Her immediacy and joy in life seemed to make her sudden death all the easier to accept. It was simply a part of the great cycle of life. She lived every moment to the full.

The closer the animals get to humans, the more concerned and joyless they become. The dog is ill-at-ease, the chickens grumble, and the humans moan into their beer. Only the Forester, splendidly sung by Jonathan Summers, comes to accept in the final scene that nature itself can bring him joy, even in the face of death.  

The production involves a number of dancers who are fully integrated into the action, with Naomi Tadevossian a beautiful Spirit of the Vixen. A small point, but both Lulu and Vixen included nudity. In the first case it was uncomfortable (possibly intentionally so), in the second totally apt as a symbol of the Vixen’s freedom and beauty.

Lothar Koenigs brought vitality and shimmering life to the score, with some ravishing solo playing, and waves of sound which surrounded and lifted the action.

It was difficult to believe that the production of Madama Butterfly predated the Vixen by only two years. Dating from 1978 Joachim Herz’ production looks both tired and old-fashioned. It was not helped by some poor lighting and the continuing use of the earlier version of the score which makes Pinkerton even more racist and objectionable than he is in the later version. Gwyn Hughes Jones sings Pinkerton with aplomb but seems to go out of his way to make the character as nasty as possible. Not even Alan Opie’s sensitive Sharpless can ameliorate what is a very uncomfortable situation. Cheryl Baker’s Cio-Cio-San is more than a match for him in terms of her maturing stature as the work progresses, but this is often at odds with the text. Other parts were adequately sung but the production does nothing to lift them above caricature. Maybe it is time to consider a new production. The audience seemed full and obviously happy with the musical side, but they deserve better, given the quality of the other two operas.

The idea of presenting themed seasons will continue next year, which will open in the autumn with The Tudors, but before then we have Lohengrin and Wagner Dream.

Full details from www.wno.org.uk