Strong performances avoid Gloger's Così being buried by its own cleverness

Golda Schultz (Fiordiligi)
© ROH/Clive Barda

Jan Philipp Gloger (Director)
Oliver Platt (Revival Director)

Ben Baur (Set Designer)

Karin Jud (Costume Designer)

Bernd Purkrabek (Lighting Designer)

Katharina John (Dramaturg)

Alexander Soddy (Conductor)

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Sergey Levitin (Concert Master)

Royal Opera Chorus

William Spaulding (Chorus Director)

Jennifer France (Despina) and ensemble
© ROH/Clive Barda

Daniel Behle (Ferrando)

Andrè Schuen (Guglielmo)

Gerald Finley (Don Alfonso)

Golda Schultz (Fiordiligi)

Samantha Hankey (Dorabella)

Jennifer France (Despina)

Aquira Bailey-Browne, Lucy Brenchley, Chris Edgerley, Jamie Francis, John Kamau, Douglas Santillo, Josh Thompson (Actors)

Andrè Schuen, Golda Schultz, Gerald Finley,
Daniel Behle & Samantha Hankey
© ROH/Clive Barda

7pm, Wednesday 26 June 2024

Royal Opera House, London

★★★

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti, K588

(libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749-1838))

'The frequent set changes bring constant interest, with clever use of different levels of staging, and strong singing and acting performances from all make this great fun, if one lets go of it all making a great deal of sense'. 

'Golda Schultz was the clear standout here, negotiating effortlessly Fiordiligi’s extensive vocal demands, particularly in ‘Come scoglio’, with its range of over two octaves and massive leaps'.

Andrè Schuen (Guglielmo) & Samatha Hankey (Donatella)
© ROH/Clive Barda

'Daniel Behle displayed a beautifully lyrical tone, and played the less bombastic of the two men convincingly. In “Un’aura amorosa” he demonstrated incredibly delicate control at the top, as well as delivering a powerful sound when required.'.

'Jennifer France’s Despina was full of fun, with great comedic timing and clowning as the disguised doctor and notary, and was highly nimble vocally, with some cracking top notes too'.

'The Royal Opera Chorus were on fine form, with some subtly raunchy partner-swapping in the background, as well as delivering their pithy choruses. Alexander Soddy conducted with pace and precision, and there was some particularly fine horn and woodwind playing'.

Gerald Finley (Don Aldonso) & the Royal Opera Chorus
© ROH/Clive Barda 

Read my full review on Bachtrack here.

CD Reviews - May 2017

For his second volume of Franz Schubert’s (1797-1828) works for solo piano, pianist Barry Douglas pairs the first set of Four Impromptus, D899, with the Piano Sonata in A major, D959.  The Sonata was the second of a final three sonatas Schubert finished just weeks before his death aged just 31, and the Impromptus come from the year before this.  The four Impromptus come first on the disc, and each have a different character, although they all share Schubert’s use of rapid figuration to decorate his lyrical melodies.  The first is perhaps the most dramatic, and here Douglas’ use of rubato (pulling about of the rhythms from bar to bar) unsettles the momentum.  However, his light fluidity in the second and the smooth melodic line over the rippling accompaniment in the most well-known third are impressive, and the fourth’s delicately cascading arperggios appear effortless.  The Sonata, like its companions from that final set, is a large scale, four-movement work, coming in at over forty minutes.  The opening movement has heft and energy, full of invention, yet despite its relatively conventional structure, Schubert pulls us up short with a surprisingly subdued conclusion.  This sets us up nicely for the darkly lilting slow movement that follows – but once again, just as we’re settling to this, Schubert cuts things short and there follows an incredibly wild and turbulent middle section, before the lilting boatsong returns, adorned to give added pathos.  Douglas combines sensitivity in the outer sections with virtuosic display in the middle, although both are somewhat restrained, giving this a suitably introspective feel. The Scherzo that follows wipes away the tears with a sprightly dance, and here Douglas gives us much-needed brightness and lightness of touch.  For the finale, Schubert reworked a movement from an earlier sonata, but its infectiously lyrical rondo theme proves a perfect fit here, with Schubert supplying almost constantly flowing triplet rhythms throughout.  At the end, Schubert brings proceedings to a halt with brief fragments of the theme, followed by a brief rapid coda, and a final hint of the opening chords from the first movement, and Douglas draws this impressive second volume to a convincing conclusion.  

Schubert, F. 2017. Works for Solo Piano, Volume 2. Barry Douglas. Compact Disc. Chandos CHAN 10933.

Italian-born violinist Augustin Hadelich and Korean pianist Joyce Yang have been playing together since 2010, and clearly have a strong musical partnership, on the evidence of this, their first recital recording together.  They begin with André Previn’s (b. 1929) Tango, Song and Dance, a piece written for violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter in 1997, before her subsequent marriage to (and later divorce from) Previn in 2002.  A sweet, central Song is bookended with a crowd-pleasing Tango and a jazzy Dance, and Hadelich and Lang have great fun with this.  They follow this with Robert Schumann’s (1810-1856) Sonata No. 1, Op.105, a turbulent and emotive work, and both players perform here with passion and drive.  Apparently when performing live, they lead straight from the Schumann into the Tre Pezzi, Op.14e by György Kurtág (b.1926), which come next on this disc, and provide a striking contrast.  The three short pieces are pared down and very stark compared to the flurry of action and intensity of Schumann’s finale, and of course in a completely different soundworld.  Hadelich and Yang deliver these miniatures with an almost claustrophobic intensity, such that the expansive outpouring of the Sonata by César Franck (1822-1890) comes as a great relief.  This is a very cleverly constructed programme, and also demonstrates these performers’ extensive range.  Their Franck is lush and full of depth, with Yang particularly excelling in the demands of the piano writing here, and Hadelich produces a consistently warm and rich tone well suited to this highly passionate work.  Overall, these are highly engaging performances in an imaginative and intelligent recital programme – highly recommended.

Various. 2016. Franck, Kurtág, Previn, Schumann. Augustin Hadelich, Joyce Yang. Compact Disc. Avie AV2347.

Bass-baritone Gerald Finley is joined by the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Edward Gardner for ‘In the Stream of Life’, a disc of songs by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). Most were orchestrated relatively recently, partly prompted by the 150^th anniversary of his birth in 2015.  The title of the disc comes from Einojuhani Rautavaara’s (1928-2016) orchestrated set of seven of Sibelius’ songs, and the theme of water runs throughout most of the songs on the recording.  Finley himself requested the arrangements from Rautavaara, and is clearly very much at home here.  He sings with precision and great dramatic communication, yet his rich voice also brings a moving melancholy to songs such as På veranden vid havet (On the Veranda by the Sea), one of the few here orchestrated by Sibelius himself.  In Rautavaara’s set, the orchestration captures Sibelius’ spirit, with watery strings in the folksy tale Älven och snigeln (The River and the Snail), and the mysterious, otherworldy and homoerotic Näcken (The Water Spirit).  One of the composer’s few originally composed orchestral songs, Koskenlaskijan mosiamet (The Rapids-rider’s Brides) is another watery tale, with Finley again convincingly communicating another fateful love being overpowered by nature.  In addition, Gardner commands attention with a taut reading of Sibelius’ wonderfully impressionistic sea-picture, The Oceanides, and we are also treated to Sibelius’ beautifully orchestrated tone poem, Pohjola’s Daughter, drawing on one of his favourite inspirations in a tale from the epic Kalevala.  A short but pleasing Romance for string orchestra is the other orchestral piece on offer here.  Gardner elicits great depth of tone combined with subtle agility from the Bergen players, making this a striking recording all round.

Sibelius, J. 2017. In the Stream of Life: Songs by Sibelius. Gerald Finley, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner. Hybrid Super Audio Compact Disc. Chandos CHSA 5178.

(Edited versions of these reviews first appeared in GScene, May 2017)

CD Reviews - April 2014

First, music from American composer, John Adams (b.1947).  I saw his opera in 2009 at the ENO, Doctor Atomic, which centres around the physicist J Robert Oppenheimer, and the build up to the first test of the atomic bomb.  An unlikely ‘story’ for an opera perhaps, but then Adams has carved somewhat of a niche for tackling political and controversial topics in his operas (Nixon in China, and The Death of Klinghoffer, for example).  I was absolutely blown away by the intensity and drama of the music, and also the central performance of Gerald Finley as Oppenheimer.  However, transferring the music from this to an orchestral symphony, as Adams did in 2007 to produce his Doctor Atomic Symphony, was a tricky move.  Yet for me, the music still holds the energy, and the second movement in particular (titled ‘Panic’) is truly terrifying.  Adams transcribes the stunning aria ‘Batter my heart, three-person’d God’, which Finley made his own, for solo trumpet here, and it almost works.  Overall, the work stands as a coherent symphony, and it is energetically performed here by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, conducted by Peter Oundjian.  They follow this with Adam’s popular concert work, A Short Ride in a Fast Machine.  This is a great orchestral showpiece, and its energy and humour is irresistible.  Here, the driving rhythms do not always feel totally secure, but the drive to the finish is convincing nevertheless.  The rest of the disc is then given over to Harmonielehre – which is a really a three movement symphony.  Composed in 1985, it was perhaps one of the earliest large scale orchestral works to emerge from minimalism.  Again, it contains the same elements of drive, energy and power, achieved from Adams’ relentless use of the clever combination of slow moving harmonies against fast, repetitive rhythms, with hypnotic results. 

Adams, J. 2013. Harmonielehre, Doctor Atomic Symphony, Short Ride in a Fast Machine. Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Peter Oundjian. Hybrid Super Audio Compact Disc. Chandos CHSA 5129.

Relatively little is known about the life of the English Tudor composer, John Sheppard (c.1515-1558), and a lot of the music that survives is incomplete.  However, the music we do have shows what a skilled writer he was, particularly in combining and drawing on chant with choral textures.  He also made especially imaginative use of the soprano/treble voice, creating beautifully soaring lines which rise wonderfully out of the choral textures from time to time.  The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, under Andrew Nethsingha, have recorded two of the more substantial works – the ‘Western Wynde’ Mass, and Gaude, gaude, gaude Maria virgo – and interspersed them with a number of shorter motets and anthems.   The opening Gaude, gaude is perhaps the most successful here, and the six part motet, Spiritus Sanctus procedens is given a convincing reading.  However, there are some problems of blend overall here.  The boy trebles produce a pleasant sound, but are not uniformly secure particularly at the top end of the range.  Equally, there are some quite strong and individual lower voices which stick out of the texture at times.  I suspect there are some budding solo voices here amongst the men, but that’s not necessarily an asset in this repertoire.

Sheppard, J. 2013. Gaude, gaude, gaude Maria - Sacred Choral Works. Choir of St John's College Cambridge, Andrew Nethsingha. Hybrid Super Audio Compact Disc. Chandos Chaconne CHSA 0401.

(Edited versions of these reviews first appeared in GScene, April 2014)