Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Glyndebourne

This year's festival opened with Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - there was a great deal of anticipation and I think everyone's expectation was surpassed. The LPO under Jurowski produced a clearly layered sound through out. I was hearing passages and phrases that was buried in other performances. The clarity from the pit enabled all the singers to shine through on stage. Gerald Finley's Hans Sachs was a pensive yet emotional one. He also sang it with such ease making it hard to believe it's his role debut. Anna Gabler as Eva was wonderful with her playful role. Marco Jentzsch was Walter - not sure whether his 6'5" frame enabled him to deliver such a resonant and tenorial voice. Topi Lehtipuu as David probably didn't warm up sufficiently at the beginning as he fluffed a few top notes but was much improved in the subsequent acts.

David McVicar excelled in this production. Unlike his opera directions for Covent Garden that tended to be dark (Aida) and licentious (Rigoletto), this time there was light and comedy. There were a lot of detailed touches that really brought production to life. Such as the Lena / Eva fussing on the church pew in Act I, or the fight scene in Act II that went with the music. With Gerald Finley being a relatively young Hans Sachs, his interplay with Eva was much more potent and believable. I can easily sit through the performance again.

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Written On Skin at the Royal Opera

This was the first revival of George Benjamin's Written On Skin. As with contemporary operas, familiarity goes a long way in appreciating the work. In this revival, I found Christopher Purves's The Protector powerful and moving. Barbara Hannigan, who sang Agnès, was superb. The pure and slightly eerie tone of Iestyn Davies as The Boy completed the perfect cast.

Götterdämmerung at The Met

Carl Fillion's set design for The Ring at The Met caused a real stir at the premier. Though not having the luxury of seeing the whole Ring, I managed to get a ticket to see Götterdämmerung. Fabio Luisi at the helm of the large Met orchestra kept everything going. There was enough breathing space for the drama to unfold, and there were muscular moments that needed to punctuate the drama. Probably not as poised as Bernard Haitink at Covent Garden many years ago, or as gutsy as Antonio Pappano this season in the same house. But nonetheless very good. Deborah Voigt was a fine Brünhilde - as the role demands from beginning to end. Lars Cleveman was quite a believable Siegfried - youngish looking, jumps about, looking slightly naive on stage. Hans-Peter Köonig was OK - none of his phrases sent shiver down my spine as there was not enough evil. Back to the set. The rotating 'fingers' really worked (you can see them in this pic - sitting above the performers), especially...

Hänsel und Gretel at the Royal Opera

Having seen Hänsel und Gretel only a few months ago at Glyndebourne , I was looking forward to see how the Royal Opera will bring this fairytale opera to life. Christian Fenouillat pastoral set worked well. Like many operas with a small cast, he added a bounding box to reduce the size of the stage without losing perspective. Angelika Kirchschlager and Diana Damrau were believable Hänsel and Gretel respectively. Their stage acting (how they walked, jumped and cuddled) conveyed a real sense of innonance. Thomas Allen (their father) was on good form. The Dew Fairy (by Anita Watson) was fabulous with an orange duster and a yellow squirty spray cleaner. All in all, the creative team managed to strike a good balance between serious opera and fairytale. Colin Davis also did real justice to Humperdinck's lush Wagnerian score. It would be nice for this lovely work to remain in repertory around this time of the year to counter-balance the sickly sweek Nutcracker.

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