Primi Divi

Royal Opera House: Linbury Studio

6th September 2006

Hairy McMungo asks you not to listen to a word Cunning Little Vixen says. She has no Scottish soul. Hairy McMungo actually suspects she has more Welsh blood than Scottish. She studied Welsh when she was at university. Not Scottish Gaelic. Her favourite animal is a sheep. Not a haggis. She even voted for Glyn to win Big Brother. (Hairy did not vote of course but he supported those great Scottish housemates Sam and Shahbaz.) So what can she know about great Scottish operas?

Hairy McMungo is the first to admit that you need a particularly Scottish intelligence to understand The Assassin Tree. Stuart McRae’s opera is full of beautiful melodies, not those of the Highlands but if you listen closely you can hear the hint of a Scottish snap here and there.

The story is of that great Scotswoman Diana and her many lovers. Hairy was rather disappointed that the cast included no Scots. Gillian Keith (Diana) and Colin Ainsworth (Youth) are Canadian, Peter van Hulle (Slave) is English and Paul Whelan (King Priest) is from New Zealand. He does think a Scottish cast would have done it even better and possibly even made it accessible to Welsh people but the cast in this performance did very well in Hairy’s opinion. It was probably a cut-price production anyway (Hairy liked the set but there wasn’t much to it) which means less Money for the singers and Scottish singers don’t always like singing in those.

Gillian Keith performs regularly with Scottish Opera and it showed in this beautifully-sung performance. The tenors were both good, if nowhere near the great Scottish tenors but Hairy enjoyed Paul Whelan’s performance as the King Priest. There was more to him than wet footprints whatever Cunning Little Vixen says.

HAIRY McMUNGO

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