WWhether in the shadow of the cross or in the lawless freedom of an itinerant community, the result is the same. Love becomes dangerous, reason is shattered, and emotions run wild. Each one-act work, Opera North’s latest double bill – Popularity of Pietro Mascagni Cavalleria Rusticana (1890) Sergei Rachmaninoff is rarely performed Aleko (1893) – A crime of passion occurs. This operatic pairing is not a comforting one, but thanks to the excellent cast, chorus and orchestra conducted by Anthony Harms, its charm is vice-like and jaw-dropping.
Mascagni is back in 2017, and Rachmaninoff is a new production. Both are supervised by Karolina Soflakshows similarities between works written by young composers and premiered three years apart. The 27-year-old Mascagni will never again be able to match the success of his timeless masterpiece, which he conducted well into his 70s. For Rachmaninoff, his student work, written at breakneck speed at the age of 19 and admired by Tchaikovsky but now largely forgotten, was only the beginning of an illustrious composer’s career.
Sohrak hints at Alfio, the cuckold, without being too overbearing. Cavalleria Rusticana (“Simple chivalry” essentially means taking justice into one’s own hands) could be an older Aleko, rejected by a younger lover and awkwardly exiled to a hippie-style beach community. unknown. These independent productions don’t need such a connection, although I think “none would have been better,” especially since the singer, who plays both murderous roles, and British bass-baritone Robert Hayward as an actor. It’s also convincing, so it adds consistency to the night. As a musician.
In Charles Edwards’ design, Mascagni was removed from its usual Sicilian village setting and transformed into a bleak Polish communist-era atmosphere. Pope John Paul II photo and Polsky fiat, setting tone and time. Church, the family store run by his desperate mother (Anne-Marie Owens), and the house of infidelity all coexist on the open stage, creating a claustrophobic, sinister feeling. Belfast-born soprano Gisele Allen brings anguish to each note, reminding us that Santuzza’s pain comes from the wound of betrayal. Her transformation from her wronged lover to her vengeful shrew, with its complex religiosity, is painful to watch.
Uruguayan tenor Andres Presno once sang “Cavaradossi” with his thick and powerful turiddi. Tosca Opera North employs the self-righteous swagger of the guilty. British-Cuban mezzo-soprano Helen Evola stars as Lola, his sensitive married girlfriend. Propelled with utmost enthusiasm by Helms, the orchestra brought out the score’s saturated colors, especially in the famous intermezzo.
AlekoBased on a narrative poem by Alexander Pushkin Gypsy (1827) is both overwhelming in emotion and underdeveloped in dramatic structure. In the episode he includes two dances, a cavatina and a chorus, each charming but not obviously related to each other. The power of Opera North unites the work’s stop-start form with the coherence of their playing and singing, with Presno returning as Hayward’s deceived Aleko’s adulterous lover.
The object of their desire is Zemfira. Callously rejecting her gray-haired old lover and coquettishly pursuing her new young admirer. Welsh soprano Erin Pritchard captivates with both her voice and stage presence. As her father, bassist Matthew Stiff treads a fine line in stoic darkness. The set (also designed by Edwards) is colorful and unbuttoned, contrasting with the harsh bare wood look. Cavalleria Rusticana, which neutralizes the original’s troubling racial Roma stereotypes. Sofrak cited Copenhagen’s Freetown Christiania commune as a touchstone.
Aleko It ends with a magnificent chorus, sung with the deep resonance of the Russian Orthodox chants that Rachmaninoff later used in Opera North (and beautifully performed at Opera North). All night Stay up all night. The lyrics here are the opposite of religious, with “gypsies” singing, “We are wild, we have no laws.” In their humanity, they release the criminal Aleko to perhaps the worst freedom of solitude and call for peace. This is a powerfully effective double beak, another feather in Opera North’s feathered cap.
pure voices tenebraeFounder of the Bath Annual bachfest with Gesualdo Tenebrae’s Responsibility for Holy Saturday (1611) took us back to the strict sackcloth and ashes ritual of Lent. Written in nine sections for unaccompanied voice, these sacred madrigals move between extremes of dissonance and chromaticity, focusing on the sombre language of the Biblical text. “They cast me into the lowest pit, into darkness, and into the shadow of death.” As the penultimate response states. The ten singers, conducted by Nigel Short, captured the music’s unsettling intensity with perfectly tuned voices. They were similarly meticulous with three JS Bach motets, including the frenetic Synget dem Herrn (Sing the New Songs Mainly) BWV 225.
The next day, the harpsichord superstar Mahan Esfahani They performed programs by Handel (Suite No. 2 in F major), Buxtehude (Capricciosa), and JS Bach (English Suite No. 6 in D minor). Handel’s expressive power and Buxtehude’s true virtuosity, a series of variations in which Esfahani seems to have turned a million black dots into murmurs, combine with well-judged logic palindromes, riddles, and Bach. I led. It’s a head-scratching “mirror” fugue (despite Esfahani’s explicit foreword), but ultimately, it’s arguably best heard as music.
Two plays about Benjamin Britten and his circle are currently being performed. at his RSC’s Swan Theater in Stratford-upon-Avon. Ben and Imo Written by Mark Ravenhill (Music: Conor Mitchell) and at London’s new King’s Head Theatre. turn the screw Written by Kevin Kelly and directed with alacrity by Tim MacArthur. So far I’ve only seen the latter. The singing cast is led by Gary Tashaw (Britten), Liam Watson (David Hemmings), Simon Wilmont (Peter Pears) and Joe Wickham (Imogen Holst). This is a sensitive but unsensational treatment of well-documented problems in Britten’s life, particularly her attraction to boys. Regardless, theater takes classical music seriously.
Star rating (out of 5)
Cavalleria Rusticana/Aleco “…” “…” “…”
Bath Bachfest “…” “…” “…” “…”
Cavalleria Rusticana/Aleco It will run at the Grand Theater in Leeds until February 24th, then tour to Nottingham, Newcastle and Salford until March 22nd.
