OPERA NEWS, January 6, 1996
British Journal
by Tom Sutcliffe
The argument over artistic subsidy in Britain reached a new low with a proposal by the Scottish Arts Council that Scottish Opera ax its orchestra to save money and make do instead with either the BBC Scottish or the Royal Scottish National. True, not all opera companies have full-time orchestras; but it is difficult to see how SO could fulfill its touring commitment if it were dependent on outside orchestral forces.
With a conservative government ideologically opposed to subsidy, believing users should pay for what they consume, the prospects for opera are gloomy in Great Britain's less glossy economic outposts, where the parsimony of the local rich is unyielding. But this latest blow was a depressing development for a company that since 1962 has established its presence in Scottish (and English) life and achieved much high-quality work. General director Richard Jarman and company chairman Sandy Orr rejected the ax, opting instead for part-time player contracts if no sufficient source of finance appears in the next twelve months.
For SO's third new Don Giovanni in a decade (Sept. 8), John Cox used designs by the fine Scottish painter Peter Howson, who was the official British war artist in Bosnia in 1993. Howson provided a couple of red backdrops of cavorting female nudes for the ballroom, plus sketchlike green 1920s sets that required frequent, clumsily accomplished scene changes. But the Serbop;Croatian-village flavor of the Don's world, the gray military fatigues worn by Masetto and his mates, and the Don's white-feathered red-velvet cap sent irrelevant signals. Worst of all, the Don's last supper was served to him as he stretched out on a black-sheeted bed, which was then wheeled off by a stagehand after Giovanni had slid, crematorium-style, accompanied by clouds of dry ice, into a fireplace at the back. No statue or handshake, just an amplified voice and a ghostly image on the backdrop.
As Giovanni, the promising young Swedish baritone Peter Mattei sang beautifully and confidently, making something truly musical of the serenade. Yanni Yannisis played a tiresome, overacted Leporello. Cox directed with a generally light touch, though his concept did call for a pregnant Elvira, pursuing the Don with a paternity suit. In spite of this, Joan Rodgers' "Mi tradì" was a musical high point. Nicholas McGegan conducted less impressively than in recent assignments in Glasgow and London.
Audiences, starved for Carmen, flocked to English National Opera's new production at the Coliseum (Sept. 27), but Jonathan Miller's was one of the dullest, least dramatically convincing stagings I've seen. Though Bizet's opera is immune to the sort of clever wheezes that Miller likes, and there is not much in the stage directions that is inessential, still he tried. Miller's concept was broadly naturalistic, updated to Franco's Spain, with slinky couples attempting to tango in Lillas Pastia's bar, despite the lack of musical encouragement. Deprived of their military play-acting in Act I, the children sang their march while milling around aimlessly, not getting their usual applause. Carmen was not allowed castanets in her seductive Seguidilla in Act II. In Act III, the smartly dressed smugglers stashed their loads in an unused fort or cave, with a leaning statue of Christ on the left. The first scene with Micaela was completely frigid; José and Micaela were never physically close, and it was difficult to imagine they were even friends.
The production also labored under the disadvantage of a Carmen (Louise Winter) who scarcely could have been less sexy, a José (Robert Brubaker) who couldn't sing the part with elegance or musical finesse and a lifeless conductor (Sian Edwards). Janice Watson essayed Micaela decently enough, and Robert Hayward made a surprisingly good stab at Escamillo, but when the best singer in Carmen is the Mercédès (Katarina Karneus, Cardiff Singer of the World, 1995), there's a lot wrong.
It was announced unexpectedly on November 6 that Sian Edwards had resigned as ENO's music director and would be leaving at the end of the year. Lord Harewood hands over the chairmanship at about the same time. General director Dennis Marks will therefore be master in his own house, so he can take the credit if the company is to survive and return to health. But will it? There's no obvious experienced candidate ideally placed to provide musical leadership for an English-language company. ENO would benefit from having somebody at a high level who actually knows how a successful opera company works.
The Covent Garden season got off to a dull start with a revival of Johannes Schaaf's distinctly odd Le Nozze di Figaro (Sept. 11). Bernard Haitink's conducting was somnambulistic, Thomas Allen's Count voiceless. The biggest disappointment, however, was Randi Stene's Cherubino, which should have been delightful (she was a terrific Octavian in Paris). But stepping into a dead or dying production was a liability her agents should have spared her. Felicity Lott pulled the performance into shape briefly with a stylish "Dove sono," and Andrea Rost carried off Susanna well. Of special merit in the second cast was Simon Keenlyside's fervent Count.
Alexander Goehr's Arianna (Sept. 18), the first world premiere at Covent Garden since Harrison Birtwistle's Gawain, was a waste of mezzo Susan Graham's talent in the title role, since Goehr never provided her with any melodically striking material. Arianna, purporting to be Monteverdi recomposed (as most of the original music is lost), used the original Rinuccini text, though Goehr's musical response to the Italian language proved perfunctory. The greatest offense of the new opera was to deconstruct the substantial fragment of the Monteverdi that does remain, mixing with it harmonically indistinct choral interspersions at the climax, undermining the bona fide Monteverdi vocal line that Graham was singing. The lack of wit and passion, together with Goehr's gray harmonic infill, proved utterly dispiriting. Inventive orchestration (sometimes) of an onstage band and a self-consciously playful staging by Francesca Zambello couldn't make up for the heartlessness of the exercise. Even the dullest Monteverdi recitative is more engaging than melody lost in too sophisticated a post-serial vortex.
Tim Albery's Nabucco (Sept. 12) for Welsh National Opera in Cardiff was disappointing, with Janice Cairns' Abigaille sounding raw. There was little true Verdi singing onstage, though on the first night Clare Shearer as Fenena (standing in for an indisposed Sara Fulgoni) had the right color and legato. Willard White acted impressively as Zaccaria, though his bass did not sound rich enough, and in the title role, Jonathan Summers failed to display requisite authority. Carlo Rizzi's conducting was automatic.
The vagaries of casting were less of a problem than the incoherent imagery of Antony McDonald's designs or the lack of freshness and dramatic insight in Albery's production. This team adopted a toy style for the Babylonians -- simple sets with plain colors and outlines that might have been drawn by children. The opening scene was played out in a canteen, with tables across the stage, the Jews in present-day garb and big sectarian fur hats. The Babylonians were ranged like a puppet audience in pointy hats (like Klansmen). Nabucco wore high heels, a flowing wig and a sort of party frock. The conclusion evoked the memory of trains across Europe to concentration camps. The strong WNO chorus should have been exploited as a more convincing basis for the story, with its grand epic sweep. Albery did not use the space well, and the production's images seemed beside the point and silly.