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Music
by
Giacomo Puccini
Libretto
by
Giuseppe
Adami
and
Renato Simoni
after Carlo Gozzi
Directed
by
Jeremy Sutcliffe
The
Orchestra of
the Royal Opera House conducted
by
Stefan Soltesz
The
Royal Opera
Chorus directed by Renato
Balsadonna
Designs
by
Sally Jacobs
Choreography
by
Kate Flatt
Cast
Turandot
Georgina
Lukacs
The
Unknown
Prince (Calaf)
Ben Heppner
Liu
Elena Kelessidi
Timur
Robert Lloyd
Altoum
Francis Egerton
Ping
Jorge Lagunes
Pang
Robin Leggate
Pong
Alasdair
Elliott
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Royal
Opera House
7 - 22 July 2006 |
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Given
that the world divides into
those who love Puccini's music
and those who hate it, the
following remarks have to
be taken as directed only
at the former. For this was
a solid rendering of the master's
intentions, a faithfully orthodox
concentration on the drama
in the music itself, which
is superbly constructed and
reaches thrilling heights
of tension and beauty at points
exquisitely chosen by Puccini's
unerring sense of structure.
An opera is nothing without
its cast, and the combination
of gifts and talents provided
by Georgina Lukacs as Turandot,
Elena Kelessidi as Liu, and
Ben Heppner as Calaf, very
ably supported by the richness
of Robert Lloyd's voice as
Timur and the comic capacities
and vocal callisthenics of
Jorge Lagunes' Ping, Robin
Leggate's Pang and Alasdair
Elliott's Pong, were very
satisfying. Much depends on
the choir in Turandot, and
Renato Balsadonna's team were
excellent. Between them he
and Stefan Soltesz found a
balance in the dynamics that
was at once atmospheric and
richly textured, integrating
the sound tapestry into the
physical design of the tense,
gloomy, claustrophobic world
of Turandot's obsession and
the dangerous pall it casts
over everything.
Ben Heppner's voice took a
little while to warm on the
ear, and Francis Egerton's
voice as Altoum was frail
and remote in quality; both
made a contrast with the immediate
reach of Lukacs and Lloyd.
That gift of a role, Liu,
was embraced ecstatically
by Kelessidi, whose instincts
as an actress informed her
elastic and sensitive singing
throughout.
An extremely successful feature
of the production was the
dancing, choreographed by
Kate Flatt. Director Jeremy
Sutcliffe has hereby solved
a problem with opera in general
and Puccini in particular,
which is that there are long
musical intervals in which
a large discretion is left
to the director to decide
what is to happen on stage
while they unfold. In this
production dance provides
the solution, and it works
wonderfully well. It is an
idea worth exporting generally.
It interprets the music and
advances matters both atmospherically
and narratively, at the same
time maintaining or heightening
tension as needed, and holding
the audience.
Even with this clever embellishemnt
this was a fine traditional
Turandot of the kind that
the Royal Opera House does
so well, keeping the pillars
of the repertoire upright
and polished as a suport of
the great desideratum: artistic
quality.
AC
Grayling |
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