From the first nippy, crisp note of Mozart\u2019s best overture you know that this production is in fine hands. Glyndebourne\u2019s tour orchestra, under Stephanie Childress\u2019s baton supports it beautifully with lovely work from the timpanist getting the hard sticked Enlightenment mood perfectly. In places at the performance I saw, the harpsichord accompanying the recits wasn\u2019t always quite in time with singers, but it\u2019s a minor gripe.<\/p>\n
Although this was my first encounter with it, this production \u2013 dynamically directed by Michael Grandage and, for this revival, by Ian Rutherford – has had over 500 outings but it still feels glitteringly fresh partly because of Christopher Oram\u2019s grandiloquent but simple sets. We are definitely in Spain with four glorious amber and berry toned Alambra Palace-inspired spaces in the big house where the entire action is set in a single day. And it\u2019s the 1960s so the costumes are quite literally gorgeous with lots of velvet, bright colours and bold patterns.<\/p>\n
Soraya Mafi\u2019s Susanna is petite, pert, passionate and totally convincing from the moment she first hugs her fianc\u00e9 in the room they\u2019re preparing to live in to the final moment in the garden when she and he are united \u2013 all those rising fifths to connote forgiveness and reconciliation – in the garden after nearly three hours of plotting and misunderstandings. Her soprano voice is suitably sweet and gently elegant.<\/p>\n
Opposite her as Figaro, Alexander Miminoshvili, sings all his set piece numbers (especially in Act 1) with aplomb. His bass voice manages to get the passion, anger, confusion and, often humour very entertainingly. Ida Ranzlov\u2019s Cherubino is stage-commandingly louche \u2013 every inch the randy, long haired teenager in denim jacket and butcher boy cap. She ranges vocally from effervescent to miserable and it\u2019s pretty effective.<\/p>\n
Nardus Williams is outstanding as the Countess. Her Porgi amor in Act 2 brought a huge round of applause and I was moved by the beauty and poignant timing of Dove sono. And she looks fabulous in her flamboyant silk dressing gown. Of course she\u2019s essentially a tragic figure \u2013 a good woman who really doesn\u2019t deserve to be saddled with the Count and we hear all that ambivalence and anguish in Williams\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n
George Humphreys has terrific stage presence as the dastardly, authoritarian, sex-obsessed Count. He\u2019s a head taller than anyone else on stage and that is visually very effective. He sings his early numbers with plenty of bass force but, at this particular performance, his voice diminished notably during the show to such an extent that I wondered if there was a medical issue which, maybe, accounted, for the unexplained delay at the start of Act 2.<\/p>\n
I was delighted to see and review this highly enjoyable account of what is probably the best known and loved opera in the repertoire. I wonder, though, how many opportunities there will be for thousands of people to enjoy work of this quality in places like Canterbury, Milton Keynes, Norwich and Liverpool in future? Arts Council England has axed the money which supported Glyndebourne Touring, now in its 54th year.<\/p>\n
Susan Elkin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From the first nippy, crisp note of Mozart\u2019s best overture you know that this production is in fine hands. Glyndebourne\u2019s tour orchestra, under Stephanie Childress\u2019s baton supports it beautifully with lovely work from the timpanist getting the hard sticked Enlightenment … Continue reading