The best performance of the whole week from
Opera North was that of Il Tabarro, one half of the Puccini double bill
presented as their third programme. It was a revival (by Michael Barker-Caven)
of David Pountney’s clearly told, dramatic, moving and dark production, first
seen here five years ago as one of the ‘Eight Little Greats’.
Il Tabarro is about adultery, jealousy and
murder – always great subjects for opera. Bargeman Michele finds his wife,
Giorgetta, is having an affair with Luigi, one of his deckhands … and you can
imagine what ensues.
The casting was on a level Opera North
don’t always achieve. Giselle Allen is one of the best soprano voices they
regularly call on, and her acting skills are second to none. David Butt Philip
is that rare thing, a really beautiful young English tenor voice (RNCM and
Samling in his training and already spotted by Sir Mark Elder among others) and
sang and characterized his Luigi powerfully. Ivan Inverardi is the real thing
when it comes to Italian baritones, made for the part and good to hear.
The lesser roles of La Frugola (Anne-Marie
Owens), Tinca (Stuart Laing) and Talpa (Richard Mosley-Evans) were also very
strong.
On top of that we had one of the most
experienced and inspirational opera conductors around with Jac van Steen in the
pit. His strengths outclassed those of his colleagues heard at The Lowry this
week, with a warm string sound from the orchestra, sympathetic accompaniments
and spine-tingling climaxes just right for Puccini.
The new production in this pairing – Suor
Angelica, which is the third piece Puccini wrote, alongside Gianni Schicchi, to
make up his ‘Triptych’ – was directed by Barker-Craven and had the same sure
hand on the orchestra. It wisely took the same realistic, slightly updated
approach to the setting and story-telling … yet the story itself gives enormous
problems. There has to be some kind of staged ‘miracle’ at the end, as
Angelica, the woman who was banished to a convent by her aristocratic family
for having a baby outside wedlock, and then learns the child has died, finds
divine forgiveness despite taking her own life by poisoning. This was done by
filmic means, with somewhat incongruous imagery mixed together – as good a
solution as any, but the deliberately sentimental intention of the authors is
still hard to convey today.
The singing, though, was first-rate.
Anne-Sophie Duprels’ rich tone suits Angelica well, and young, RNCM-trained
soprano Soraya Mafi made a real impression as the cheerful and well-intentioned
Sister Genoveva, her pure and lovely voice contrasting effectively. Patricia Bardon
was a trifle too witch-like as The Princess (dressed in glaring 1960s yellow),
but her vocal quality is, as ever, superb. The remainder of the roles
demonstrated the excellent quality of the singers’ ensemble that Opera North is
now able to field.
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