Peter Grimes, in concert, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, August 2012

For those who saw English National Opera’s new production of Peter Grimes in 2009, here was a chance to savour the full glory of Britten’s score. With the ENO orchestra and chorus in the vast expanse of the Albert Hall under brilliant direction by Edward Gardner, this was a musical treat.

As Grimes himself, Stuart Skelton gave a hugely powerful performance, with Amanda Roocroft warmly sympathetic as Ellen Orford, the same pair as in the 2009 production. Once again Rebecca de Pont Davies gave a fine performance of Auntie, and Gillian Ramm and Mairéad Buicke sang beautifully as her ‘nieces’. Felicity Palmer gave a witty portrayal of the spiteful Mrs Sedley, Leigh Melrose a strong performance as the apothecary Ned Keene, and Iain Paterson was terrific as Captain Balstrode. If the ENO restage this in coming years, one can only hope they will be able to call on his services for the role.

Despite the fact that this was a concert performance, broadcast on Radio 3, those of us in the audience had the advantage of some clever staging. Grimes’s new apprentice was present, cowering under his fierce domination, and at the beginning of Act II while Ellen is singing alone, the chorus (in church) turned round towards the chorus master, who conducted them standing in front of the bust of Henry Wood. As they sang, the Albert Hall organ played — a lovely touch. Then as the act progressed, Skelton hit his forehead in frustration, before calming down and trying to encourage the boy, sending him off-stage and letting him down by a rope. As the men from the town approached he forgot the rope, and we witnessed the fatal moment. At the end of the act, Balstrode stood alone on stage, the viola produced another solo, beautifully played by Amélie Roussel, and he slowly picked up one of the boots the boy had left behind.

Act III started with an off-stage band for the tavern scene, but as the chorus and principal singers start to express their disapproval of Grimes, using strong arm gestures, the stage was set for Amanda Roocroft to give a lovely rendering of “Peter, we’ve come to take you home”. To her horror, Balstrode tells him to take the boat out and sink it, and Grimes slowly exited winding his way through the audience in the pit. The singers returned to stage, the chorus intoned words about the majestic sweep of the sea, and this superb performance came to an end.

Edward Gardner with the ENO orchestra and chorus, along with Stuart Skelton as Grimes raised this to the very highest level, and I cannot wait to hear them do it again at the London Coliseum.

La Clemenza di Tito, English Touring Opera, ETO, Hackney Empire, London, March 2011

This is essentially Mozart’s last opera, though its premiere on 6^th September 1791, was 24 days ahead of Zauberflöte. The title character, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian as Roman Emperor, and the opera is concerned with issues about his choice of wife, and a plot to assassinate him.

The background to the story is that while Vespasian was alive, Titus fell in love with the Judaean queen Berenice, and she later lived with him in Rome. The love between Titus and Berenice was very recently the subject of a new one-act ballet, Invitus Invitam, by Kim Brandstrup, showing Titus’s awful dilemma. Roman opposition to his choice of the foreign queen as a future wife led him to give her up, and this is roughly where the opera starts.

Gillian Ramm as Vitellia

Vitellia (daughter of Vitellius, who had been emperor for over a half a year before being deposed by Vespasian) is determined to marry Titus, which will help regain power for her own faction. Her fury at his plans to marry Berenice lead her to plot his assassination, and to accomplish this she uses Titus’s close friend Sextus, who adores her. When Titus rejects Berenice she hesitates, but when he chooses Sextus’s sister Servilia, she renews her demands for his death. In the meantime, Servilia confesses to Titus that she is already betrothed to Annius, a friend of Sextus and supporter of Titus, so he chooses Vitellia to be his wife, but the plot is already in motion, and Act I ends with a partial destruction of the city and erroneous announcement that Titus is dead.

Titus and Sextus in Act 2, all photos by Richard Hubert Smith

Redemption for all guilty parties has to wait for the second and final act, which shows the magnanimity of Titus. The title La Clemenza di Tito is of course Italian, but this production is sung in English, and for that reason no surtitles were shown. This was a great shame because the diction for some of the singers was not at all clear, and anyone going to see this should first read the excellent synopsis in the programme.

The production by James Conway, with large but simple designs by Neil Irish, worked very well, and the modern costumes with Titus, Sextus and Annius in military uniform were really rather effective. The roles of Sextus and Annius are both trouser roles, so it helps to see them both in very masculine costumes.

The chorus at the end with Titus above

Mark Wilde sang Titus with superb clarity, showing excellent stage presence, and Philip Spendley was terrific as Publius, the prefect of the Praetorian Guard. The opera starts with a monologue by Vitellia, who was most beautifully sung by Gillian Ramm, and Julia Riley sang strongly as Sextus, portraying the role of a man very well indeed. Rhona McKall was a lovely Servilia, and Charlotte Stephenson a most earnest Annius. Bravo to the English Touring Opera for putting this on, but I do have one very serious reservation. With the absence of surtitles it was impossible to understand what was being sung for much of the time. The men, Mark Wilde and Philip Spendley, had wonderful diction, so no problem there, but the women were all to a greater or lesser extent incomprehensible. The ETO certainly do use surtitles, as they did with the two Puccini operas, so there is no reason they cannot do similarly when the operas are given in English, just as the ENO now do.

Apart from this one reservation, I think the ETO are doing a wonderful job with these touring productions of some very fine operas. Mozart’s music for this one is glorious, and Richard Lewis in the orchestra pit fully brought out its beauty, keeping very much in touch with the singers.

After this performance in Hackney, La Clemenza di Tito goes on tour to the following venues: Cambridge Arts Theatre, March 16, 19; Exeter Northcott, March 23, 26; Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells, March 29; The Hawth, Crawley, April 2; The Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, April 6, 9; The Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield, April 12; Snape Maltings Concert Hall, April 16; Norwich Theatre Royal, April 19; Buxton Opera House, May 6; Hall for Cornwall, Truro, May 11; Lighthouse, Poole, May 14; Gala Theatre, Durham, May 17; Perth Festival, Perth Theatre, May 20; Grand Opera House, Belfast, May 28.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, English Touring Opera, Sadler’s Wells, London, March 2010

Jonathan Peter Kenny as Oberon and Gillian Ramm as Tytania, photo by Richard Hubert Smith

The right composer for an opera on Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream is surely Benjamin Britten, and he doesn’t disappoint. He created this work in 1960, having been well seasoned by the dramatic ambiguity of Peter Grimes, and the discomforting theatre of The Turn of the Screw. The first of these distils the opera from a collection of poems, and the second from a novel, but this one from Shakespeare must inevitably involve cutting the dialogue, and the main cut is at the beginning. Shakespeare starts his play in practical scenes at court, whereas Britten takes us straight into the mysterious world of the supernatural. His music is wonderfully evocative of that world, yet with simpler folk melodies for the rustics. It is deceptively simple, played by a relatively small orchestra, but a magical atmosphere is created, and this production by James Conway serves it very well indeed. The sets and costumes by Joanna Parker, with subtle lighting designs by Aideen Malone, are excellent.

Michael Rosewall conducted well, producing lovely sounds from the orchestra and keeping the singers in phase. They all sang with sensitivity, and Gillian Ramm as Tytania, and Laura Mitchell as Helena both did well. The part of Oberon was originally created for Alfred Deller, who could no longer manage the higher register, and it’s a difficult role for a counter-tenor. Here we had Jonathan Peter Kenny, who produced an attractive sound but was underpowered and lacked clarity in his diction — that was unfortunate since there were no surtitles in this production. By contrast, Puck’s Sprechstimme was colourfully done and well performed.

Gillian Ramm as Tytania and Andrew Slater as Bottom, photo by Richard Hubert Smith

While much of the music and action is on a rather ethereal level, an excellent contrast was created in this production by the interaction between Tytania and Bottom as a priapic ass. This was no idle attraction on her part, but a full-blooded sexual union, amusingly portrayed as Bottom falls asleep after the climax. If you don’t know Britten’s Dream, it’s worth seeing on stage rather than simply listening to, and this is a fine production to experience.

After London it will tour to the following venues: 20^th March, Exeter Northcott Theatre; 24^th March, Hall for Cornwall, Truro; 31^st March, Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield; 10^th April, The Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham; 17^th April, Buxton Opera House; 24^th April, Grand Opera House Belfast; 29^th April, The Hawth, Crawley; 8^th May, Snape Maltings Concert Hall; 15^th May, Warwick Arts Centre; 22^nd May, Perth Festival, Perth Theatre; 29^th May, Cambridge Arts Theatre.