United Kingdom Garsington Opera 2024 [2] – Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro: Soloists, Garsington Opera Refrain, Philharmonia Orchestra / Tabita Berglund (conductor). Garsington Opera at Wormsley, 1.6.2024. (CR)
Manufacturing:
Director – John Cox
Revival director – Bruno Ravella
Designer – Robert Perdziola
Lighting designer – Malcolm Rippeth
Choreographer – Kate Flatt
Revival choreographer – Alex Gotch
Refrain director – Jonathon Cole-Swinard
Solid:
Figaro – Joe Chalmers
Susanna – Claire Lees
Depend Almaviva – Rafael Fingerlos
Countess Almaviva – Samantha Clarke
Cherubino – Bethany Horak-Hallett
Bartolo – Neal Davies
Marcellina – Susan Bickley
Basilio – Paul Nilon
Curzio – Bradyn Debysingh
Antonio – Frazer Scott
Barbarina – Stephanie Hershaw
That is the third revival of John Cox’s manufacturing of Mozart’s perennial opera for Garsington, and it nonetheless does the job properly as an primarily conventional and clear execution of the work as Mozart and da Ponte supposed. That’s to say, it’s set on the time of composition (which got here only some years after the play by Beaumarchais on which it’s based mostly) and so serves as an efficient introduction to the work, with its varied twists and turns of plot, and an undemanding however rewarding expertise on a summer season’s night.
The essential format faithfully charts the course of the ‘loopy day’, from early on to nighttime, simply because the efficiency begins in summer season gentle (or ought to do if the climate isn’t overcast!) and ends in darkness within the backyard of Almaviva’s palace the place the characters’ disguises are exploited, and the deceptions finally unmasked. The layers of the palace are progressively stripped again for every act, beginning off with a claustrophobic sense of the intrigue, needs, and vendettas being hatched, and ending within the ‘cool air’ of the backyard, simply as it’s noticed within the opera’s libretto that Almaviva’s (disingenuous) repeal of the outdated feudal droit de seigneur is a return to the pure order of issues.
Greater than in most theatres, the ambiance of the nocturnal backyard is atmospherically rendered right here with the whole again wall of the stage representing its inexperienced boughs and shades, primarily an extension of the actual gardens that lie on both facet of the clear glass panels of the auditorium on the Wormsley Property. As such, we turn out to be totally immersed in that return to nature – as if the unique Fall within the Backyard of Eden is reversed, and which Mozart absolutely meant to indicate by the Countess’s divine proclamation of forgiveness on the finish, having already had her quote the Agnus Dei of the ‘Coronation’ Mass in her ‘Dove sono’. It’s absolutely telling, too, that in parallel with this return to nature, because the Depend turns into extra mired in his hypocrisy and ethical depravity, he turns into extra formally dressed up and synthetic in look, pent up by standing, rights, and customized, as he seems first in dressing robe, then on a regular basis apparel, adopted by formal court docket gown in Act III, surrounded ominously by a complete gallery of portraits of forbears and worthies from a century or so earlier than, within the fingers of the Spanish and Italian masters.
Bruno Ravella’s revival course oversees a transparent realisation of the motion on stage, and good pointing up of interpersonal element, although the singers themselves may acquit themselves with extra alacrity of their performing. They appear curiously muted as they work together with one another, moderately than actually sparking off a tense, thrilling drama. That will partly be because of the pretty measured account of the rating from Tabita Berglund, making her debut in any Mozart opera. Actually, it’s welcome to listen to Mozart largely free from the growing trend to topic his music to the tempos of zippy, traditionally knowledgeable efficiency apply, in order that melodies inside the Philharmonia Orchestra’s textures right here usually emerge with the lyricism of human voices (although vibrato is usually stored in test, so sonorities are skinny as usually as not). That usually works properly within the slower or extra reflective numbers, above all of the Countess’s two arias. Nevertheless it works towards the increase of rigidity in additional dynamic numbers, similar to Bartolo’s vengeance aria, or the miraculously symphonic sequence of the second act finale. The recitatives are usually considerably deliberate too in musical and dramatic phrases, even when that helps to make the plot clearer.
Joe Chalmers changed David Eire within the lead position on this event, and after the briefest of unsteady begins, his efficiency quickly fell into place with heat geniality, complemented by Claire Lees’s full of life, voluble Susanna. Samantha Clarke is undoubtedly the star of the present because the Countess, with the spectacular dignity and management of her singing, particularly in ‘Dove sono’; Rafael Fingerlos’s Depend reveals the same calm authority, although tends to lack urgency. Bethany Horak-Hallett shows profitable appeal and vigour because the impish Cherubino, sustaining ‘Voi che sapete’ with sparkle regardless of its relaxed tempo, and is properly matched by Stephanie Hershaw’s sprightly Barbarina, whose ‘L’ho perduta, me meschina’ on the opening of Act IV is all of the extra shifting for its sleek understatement.
Neal Davies is an avuncular Bartolo and will make investments ‘La vendetta’ with extra grit and rage, whereas Susan Bickley is a contact squally as Marcellina. The solid is rounded out by good characterful performances from Paul Nilon, Bradyn Debysingh, and Frazer Scott within the smaller roles of Basilio, Curzio, and Antonio.
Curtis Rogers
