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Conductor
Paul Daniel
Director
Richard Jones
Designer
John Macfarlane
Choreographer
Phillippe Giraudeau
Aeneas
John Daszak
Dido
Susan Parry
Anna
Anna Burford
Ascanius
Victoria Simmonds
Narbal
Clive Bayley
Iopas
Colin Lee
Hylas
Christopher Saunders
Pantheus
Iain Paterson
Trojan sentry 1
Toby Stafford-Allen
Trojan sentry 2
Graeme Danby
Mercury
Barry Martin
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London
Coliseum
8
May - 7 June 2003 |
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If proof were
needed that operatic directors can undermine
the music they ought to be serving,
Richard Jones's ENO production of Berlioz's
The
Trojans in Carthage
would suffice.
From
the first, Jones's production labours
relentlessly to obscure the rich textures,
dramatic melodies and fine harmonies
of Berlioz's score. Bovver boy lookalikes
in T-shirts and sneakers plod with contrived
menace helter skelter over the stage;
furniture is constantly shifted around
to no discernable end, dry-as-dust mannerisms
alternate with kitsch of which Hollywood
would be embarrassed – the worst
instance of the latter coming in the
great love duet of Dido and Aeneas in
act four, in which the blissful couple
stood stock still while appearing to
float in the clouds.
The appalling
production was, unfortunately, not redeemed
by superlative music making. John Dascak
(Aeneas) is a fine tenor but sang, at
times, painfully out of tune and with
little tonal characterization. Susan
Parry, as Dido, Queen of Carthage, has
a voice whose size and timbre promise
dramatic power; but she sadly delivered
little of it, and was convincing neither
as a monarch nor as a lover. If one
hadn't known in advance that her passion
for Aeneas was one of history's great
love affairs, one would scarcely have
guessed it in the opera house. She came
across, rather, as a stolid suburban
matron contemplating a fling with the
neighbour.
Anne
Marie Gibbon's Anna was perhaps the
most convincingly performed role, but
for vocal beauty Victoria Simmonds as
Ascanius (Aeneas's son) was the star
of the evening. Clive Bayley as Narbal
and Colin lee as Iopas had some fine
moments, achieving the clear, in-tune
singing, free of a wobbling voice that
Susan Parry, in particular, was unable
to sustain.
The chorus
was good on volume but often lacked
discipline and musical finesse.
Paul
Daniel and the ENO orchestra had fine
moments: Daniel's phrases are often
beautifully turned, with excellent transitions
of rhythm and mood, and a strong clear
beat. He can also masterfully expose
the complexities of a score, and especially
its part playing. But the whole lacked
the structure and sweep without which
Berlioz's dramatic soundscapes cannot
be revealed
Simon May |
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