Rigoletto, Royal Opera House 20 September 2014

Copyright Donald Cooper/PR

My Royal Opera House season got off to a great start with a double whammy of contrasting operas - Rossini's Barbiere di Siviglia on Friday evening, rapidly followed by Verdi's dark drama Rigoletto at the matinee performance the next day.  If this blog concentrates on the Verdi, that's no slight to Rossini's sparkling comedy which was everything I hoped it would be - hugely enjoyable fun with some fabulous singing to boot.  Go see!

It's very easy to take middle-period Verdi for granted at times and among the twittersphere there was a definite sense of ho-hum about Royal Opera's autumn season offerings - a lack of star singers in some cases or just a lack of excitement about the operas scheduled. To a certain extent I can definitely sympathise - on paper certainly there seemed little to get the operatic juices flowing - at least compared to the upcoming Winter season.  First night reports of this Rigoletto did not ease misgivings as singers were reported as being out of sorts and the conducting somewhat erratic.  One of the reasons why I mainly give first nights a miss!

This David McVicar production from 2001 is no romantic costume drama rather a bleak dystopian nightmare - the first scene especially is stuffed to the gills with debauchery and copulation of all varieties - not a production for your granny or any small children!  While not a prude in the slightest (even if the boob count was on the high side) it was all a bit too hectic, with too much going on and I found my attention wandering and not concentrating on the music - toning down the manic element a little  wouldn't harm the depiction of the overall licentiousness of the court of Mantua.   But overall this is a very dark portrayal of the opera indeed - there is no light at the end of the tunnel and the only truly sympathetic character is Gilda - and look what happens to her! 

The set is essentially a huge dark edifice set on a revolve which serves as the set for all acts.  It works as most of the opera is set in dark gloom but there were some pauses between scene changes didn't aid the flow of the drama.  Luckily the singers compensated for that.

Saimir Pirgu as the Duke is a fine tenor although I'm not really sure that he captured the essential character of the Duke - there seemed to be little differential between his romantic 'Gualtier Malde' interactions with Gilda, and his altogether more nasty alter-ego.  Not that I've seen many other tenors get to grip with this conundrum - they all seem rather more keen on the romantic side of the role than the real meat of the character - a reluctance to play nasty perhaps? For me, this character should have the face and voice of an angel...but the morals of a tom-cat.   Of the more recent tenors I've seen in this role only Vittorio Grigolo has convinced me as truly despicable....make of that what you will!  Vocally Pirgu took a while to warm up and the voice was a little 'one-note' to start with but things improved by the second act and the money notes were all there. I'd just like a bit more acting and more honey in the voice.

Aleksandra Kurzak is a new voice to me although pretty much established at the Royal Opera, having made her debut in 2005.  Again, her voice took a while to warm up but when it did I found it extremely beautiful and perhaps with a little more heft to it than most Gilda's - more lyric soprano than true coloratura. She returns to ROH later in the season as Fiorilla in Il Turco in Italia something I will definitely look forward to.  Her acting here was touching  and convincing - which can sometimes be difficult in a plot that is, to say the least, far-fetched in places.  Her scenes with Simon Keenlyside were especially convincing.

Ah yes,  Perhaps I'd better admit that besides my abiding love for Verdi, the main reason for booking this opera is that I was intrigued to see and hear how one of my favorite baritones would fare in this most taxing of Verdi baritone roles. This was a house role debut for Simon so I'm guessing a lot of the critics and regular audience were also wondering how he would fare.  Despite dark rumblings after the first night performance, I found his performance mesmerising and in the end deeply touching.  Vocally he may not command the typical Verdian heft but I found nothing wanting in the overall tone and technical accomplishment.  He managed the transitions from snarling, cynical jester at the Duke's court, to loving, over-protective Father in his duets with Gilda magnificently.  Physically too he gives it his all, staggering, crawling and generally heaving himself around on two sticks as the situation demands - I have no idea how you actually sing while doing that!  Rigoletto is one of the few operas where I don't actually cry at the end - not sure sure.   But on this occasion there was a definite lump in the throat.  Just superb.

The smaller roles were none too shabby either with fine contributions from Brindley Sherratt as a cavernous voiced Sparafucile and Justina Gringyte as a wonderfully convincing Maddalena. Now, I've never really had cause to notice Monterone in this opera before but Sebastian Holecek  brought a real character to the stage along with a commanding baritone voice.  Is this a future Rigoletto perhaps?

So then a dark and interesting start to the season and a useful reminder for me that even when you think you know an opera very well - and this is very familiar music to me - even I can be surprised at Verdi's achievements.  The conventions are still there (cabalettas and slightly improbable plots combine for inadvertent amusement) but at the heart of it there is a dark tale to be told and I'm betting that baritones give thanks to Verdi for such an amazing title role to play!

The Magic of Mozart - Die Zauberflote, ROH 27 April 2013

Before I review this performance I thought I'd better give you a little insight into my operatic adventures to date. I suppose I grew up listening to operatic music in the home on a fairly regular basis.  My late Mum loved the opera and listened to singers ranging from Mario Lanza to Placido Domingo and Pavarotti and most singers in between - but she never really had the opportunity to see live opera on a regular basis - due to geographical location and lack of funds.  So for me the music was there in the background and something that over time I came to love myself.  However, again due to geography and funds, I let my live performance going slide and contented myself with DVD's and recordings....until a couple of years ago I found my enthusiasm renewed - and lo and behold I was in the right place (just outside of London) and with just enough disposable income to indulge my love for all things operatic.

I write this as quite a lot of my reviews will undoubtedly start with the words 'this is my first performance of....etc etc'.  So let's just say that I'm making up for lost time when it comes to live operatic performance.


So, taking the above into consideration let me start by saying that this was my first experience of Zauberflote (Magic Flute) in the theatre and it was with a little trepidation that I settled myself into my seat and waited for the music to start. Don't get me wrong, I love Mozart although mainly his orchestral works it has to be said.  For me, as with Wagner, there are some unacceptable dramatic longueurs in Mozart opera even though the music is sublime. Luckily my slight misgivings evaporated almost as soon as the overture sprang into life in the capable hands of Julia Jones, our conductor for the evening. Sometimes you can just tell from the overture when the performance is going to be a good one and that was the case here.

It's almost impossible for me to single out any of the performers as they were pretty much all equally good.  Charles Castronovo as Tamino brought a rich lyric Italianate tone to the role and some pretty convincing acting to what could be a stock 'romantic fairy tale prince' sort of role.  Tenors are not on the whole the most interesting roles in Mozart opera - he had most fun with sopranos and baritones, but Castronovo almost convinced me that Mozart tenors aren't such a bad lot really.  I now look forward to seeing him in Puccini's La Rondine in July.

But as I said, all of the cast were equally good - Ekaterina Siurina in gorgeously lyrical voice as Pamina, Brindley Sherratt noble and persuasive as Sarastro and a special mention to Albina Shagimuratova as the glacial Queen of the Night who threw off the stratospheric high notes and coloratura with ease. I've never encountered Christopher Maltman before (my loss) but as Papageno the delightfully dumb bird catcher, he gave us a funny but still touching portrayal of a man looking for love in all the wrong places and his bewilderment in being caught up in events beyond his control was evident.

David McVicar's production is colourful and magical with some now iconic images of the Queen of Night, the serpent and the Three Boys who fly over the stage in a wooden go-kart.  I was pleased to see a fair scattering of children in the audience as this is an opera entirely suitable for younger opera lovers as well as older one's.

However, there is one thing about the production that does does give me pause for thought.  The character of Monostatos, portrayed here as a rather silly pantomime-ish villain who lusts after Pamina has been subjected to the politically correct whitewash treatment - for in the original libretto Monostatos is in fact a Moor and there are references to this scattered throughout the libretto - all of which have been removed for this production.  I find this rather bizarre although alas not surprising.  For while it seems we can deal with the sexism prevalent in the text of the opera - the audience (including the women) laughing ironically at such old fashioned ideas, it seems that we can't yet deal with the implied racism portrayed and have to quite literally whitewash it out of existence - easily done as I presume the majority of the audience like me, can't speak German and therefore rely on the super-titles above the stage for the translation.  How easy then just to brush the racism out as if it never existed.  But why do it just because you can?  Would you make Shakespeare's Othello a white man? Or Shylock a Gentile   Of course not.  It would make a mockery of the whole play.  So why brush racism under the carpet?  Why not find a way to deal with it in the opera?

Rant over.

This is still  an opera that can be seen and enjoyed on many levels - for the music obviously.  But also it is an opera about fairy tales and rituals, right and wrong, it is an opera about magic, theatre and music - and that's without acknowledging the undoubted Masonic influences liberally scattered throughout.

This was a highly enjoyable and uplifting night at the opera.  Mozart really is magic.