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Conductor
Simon Toyne
Director
Richard Gregson
Designer
Cameron Lawrence
Cast for the
reviewed
performances:
Cavalleria
Rusticana
Santuzza
Helen Hardwick
Turiddu
Graham Webber
Alfio
Paul Sheehan
Lucia
Annette Dumville
Lola
Debbie Cottrell
I Pagliacci
Nedda/
Columbine
Bernadette Woods
Canio/
Pagliacco
David March
Tonio/Taddeo
Tim Baldwin
Silvio
Oliver Gibbs
Beppe/
Harlequin
Randy Nichol
Villager
Daniel Terry
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Riverside
Opera Company
Richmond
Theatre
26
February - 2 March 2002 |
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There
can be few cities in the world
where, in the space of a week,
five separate operatic productions
are on offer. This is how
it is in London now. In addition
to the grand events at the
Royal Opera House and the
ENO there is Carmen at the
Royal Albert Hall, contemporary
opera at the Bridewell Theatre,
and Riverside Opera's "Cav
and Pag" on Richmond Green.
Black-tied visitors to Richmond
from the boxes at Covent Garden
will find themselves having
to make conscious adjustments
to Riverside's two-thirds
to one-third mixture of amateur
and professional, and to the
very uneven quality of playing
in the orchestra and singing
even among the leads; but
enthusiasm and endeavour make
up for it all, and the mere
existence of Riverside Opera
invites high applause.
Much
is owed to the musical direction
of Simon Toyne, whose intelligent
and perceptive work on the
conductor's stand is what
nearly produces a silk purse
out of the forces at his disposal.
In Cavalleria
Rusticana
the full-bodied, convincing
and accurate singing of Helen
Hardwick is by far the best
feature, seconded by a vigorous
Paul Sheehan as Alfio. In
I
Pagliacci
there are two genuinely good
voices – Bernadette Woods
as Nedda, who in addition
can act, and above all Tim
Baldwin, who has a fine mahogany
baritone which preserves its
force across its range.
When
operatic works are performed
by great international stars
and orchestras, their underlying
faults, if they have them,
are masked by the sheer professionalism
of the performance and its
accompanying production values.
It is interesting therefore
to see an opera having to
rely more than it usually
does on its performance-independent
internal merits. One thing
becomes clear in the case
of Cavalleria
Rusticana
and I
Pagliacci;
that the latter is far the
better work, with a deeper,
more truthful, more carefully-wrought
dramatic power, whose music
is capable of thrilling and
stirring to the very core
with its unvarnished exploration
of jealousy and pain. The
celebrated aria in which Canio/Pagliacco
dresses in his clowning gear
– "vesti la giubba",
"put on the motley" –
is one of the sharpest emotional
moments in all opera, when
sung by a tenor of exquisite
abilities. Mascagni, by contrast,
pours most of his emotion
into his long overture and
orchestral interludes, which
are beautiful and would heighten
the same theme of jealousy
and revenge had he given Turiddu,
Alfio and Lola anything like
the thought he bestowed on
Santuzza's part. Leoncavallo
has the better-organised libretto,
indeed an artful one, which
well exploits its device of
the play-within-the-play.
Tonio's desire for revenge
after being spurned by Nedda
is better built than the Cavalleria
Rusticana parallel, which
has Santuzza rather suddenly
blurting-out to Alfio that
Lola is being unfaithful to
him with Turiddu – not
a motiveless act, but a puzzling
one given that she had shortly
before being trying to protect
Turiddu from the danger that
would follow if Alfio found
out.
Above
the proscenium arch of the
Richmond Theatre is the legend,
"To wake the soul with tender
strokes of art." Riverside
Opera is a long way from Covent
Garden, literally and figuratively;
but it woke the soul last
night, and that is the main
thing.
AC Grayling |
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