Alice Coote, Cassandra; Michael Spyres, Aeneas; Paula Murrihy, Dido; Lionel Lhote, Coroebus; Adèle Charvet, Ascanius; Alex Rosen, Narbal; Ashley Riches, Panthus; Beth Taylor, Anna. Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. Conductor Dinis Sousa
After the only staged performance I’ve seen of this work so far (see July 2022 entry in this blog) in Munich, which was one of the worst examples I’ve come across of regie-theater at its most bizarre, I was looking forward to a concert performance, where nothing much can go wrong, albeit in this case we were without the planned conductor, the much reported-on John Eliot Gardiner, who cancelled his conducting of the opera to ‘reflect on his behaviour’, having punched a soloist in the face after a performance in France. I was also looking forward to hearing this work played by a period instrument band – I haven’t heard the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique live before, though I’ve head the OAE, which covers a sort of similar range of period styles. Gardiner incidentally is credited by Slipped Disc, the rather gossipy website who broke the punching story, with being a conductor who has created more work for more musicians at his own personal risk for longer than anyone else in UK musical history……….. Certainly there was an impressively long list of names of the orchestra’s musicians and admin/musical staff at the back of the Proms programme for the concert. I hope Gardiner returns soon to lead this large and gifted band (and the others he has set up). I hope also someone has a succession plan for its leadership given that Gardiner is 80…..
This performance was part of a European tour that has taken these performers to Salzburg, Berlin and other festival stop-offs. Without in any way sounding routine, everyone sounded well played-in, utterly compelling and confident in what they were doing. It must have been heart-warming for them that they got a huge cheer as they came on stage, and a particularly vociferous ovation for the replacement conductor, Dinis Sousa.
It was great to hear this work live again. I did find that, shorn of sets and dramatic concept, the ‘French Grand Opera’ form of the work is occasionally a bit wearing – the slaves’ dances, the songs of Iopas/Hylas for instance while lovely are not integral to the drama. Dido’s death seems to go on for too long, not something I remembered from the staging I saw last year. Part 1 is dramatically tighter than Part 2, I felt. But the best elements of the work – the love scenes, the grand choruses, the Royal Hunt and Storm – are just glorious.
Although billed as a concert performance this was in effect a semi staged one – in particular in Part 1 varied use was made of the whole stage, including singers weaving around the Orchestra’s music stands. The young lively Monteverdi chorus ran about frantically as the fighting started and a group of the women joined Cassandra at the front to swear death rather than dishonour, with clenched fist out-stretched. There was also a varied use of lighting. Nobody had a score anywhere near them among singers and chorus and everyone responded quickly to each other with vivacity, sincerity and realism as they sang. Some were better than others – Paula Murrihy had a compelling queenly presence, and her movements were spare and dignified – she was utterly credible as Dido. Michael Spyres was slightly more off hand in his acting and Alice Coote maybe veered towards the melo-dramatic (but perhaps that’s inherent in the role).
As I mentioned, I have not heard a period instrument band before for this kind of Romantic repertoire, and it was wonderful to hear the occasionally mellow, occasionally snarling trombones, the softer horns, the cutting trumpets and the quieter yet more penetrating percussion, as well as the bright strings and different sounding, more earthy somehow woodwind. The mellow sound of the solo horn in the Royal Hunt and Storm was particularly glorious. The opening of the work sounded quite different from how it does in the early 2000’s LSO recording – buzzing oboes, harsh bassoons, an altogether more complex less bland sound. The orchestra played magnificently and Gardiner’s replacement Dinis Sousa didn’t at all feel like a second-rate substitute. The orchestra clearly appreciated his presence. The chorus too sounded tremendous – sharp attack, no fuzziness and a lot of volume…..!
Of the singers the three principals vocally were all very strong (they seemed to be miked up but I think this was more about getting the radio sound right rather than hall audibility. Michael Spyres is deeply impressive – gleaming top notes, powerful projection, and a bright appealing sound. His big Act 5 aria was superb. Alice Coote impressed as always with some lovely soft singing as well as strong top notes and revelling in the dramatic possibilities for her voice in this role. Paula Murrihy I was also impressed by, though, when under pressure, her voice can develop quite a strong vibrato. She has a warm glowing voice – she offered us some beautiful sounds and carefully shading of phrases. It’s not a large voice, I felt, but she seemed to project well in the difficult acoustics of the RAH. The voices of Spyres and Murrihy blended beautifully in ‘nuits d’ivresse’ in Act 4. The other two singers I was particularly impressed by were Laurence Kilsby (Hylas/Iopas – lyric high tenor) and Beth Taylor (Anna – contralto) who both clearly have great futures ahead of them (the latter has already sung Erda and a Norn at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin).
Altogether a great evening, and I met people I knew as well.
John's musical journey 