Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at the Barbican, Mostly Mozart Festival
26th July 2008
Lots of people say La clemenza di Tito is Mozart’s greatest opera. I suppose it depends on what you’re looking for really. I prefer the funny ones, but I enjoyed this because it was really well performed. Everyone really seemed to have a character. I don’t know this opera very well, but I’ve kind of got the impression the characters are much stronger in some of Mozart’s other operas. But then again, Vitellia and Sesto’s arias are really exciting.
It was a concert performance, but the singers entered and left the stage a lot, or they went to sit at the side of the stage. I prefer concert performances like this because it makes it clearer who can hear what. I’ve never seen a concert performance of The Marriage of Figaro, but there are so many secrets and disguises, I imagine it would be a bit of a nightmare to follow. La clemenza di Tito is very easy which gives you more of a chance to focus on the music.
Toby Spence was really good as Tito. The others were saying Tito’s a bit of a bland character normally, not someone you really get to know like Vitellia and Sesto or even Annio and Servilia, someone who only really stands out by his actions and not his character. But Toby Spence gave a really strong sense that the whole thing was really difficult for Tito. First the girl he loves leaves him, then the girl he asks to marry him says she’d rather marry someone else, then he finds out his best friend tried to kill him. So he should be someone you care about and Toby Spence was but apparently that’s quite unusual. I really liked his voice too.
Alice Coote was Sesto, she did a lot of acting and she was very good but it seemed a bit as though she was expressing all her emotions in the same way. Whenever something bad happened, she half-whispered instead of singing. It’s probably realistic to react in the same sort of way all the time, but it got a bit predictable. She sang really well when she wasn’t whispering, though.
I’ve seen Hillevi Martinpelto on videos in quite a few Mozart roles and I always really liked her. But Vitellia didn’t seem to suit her quite as well as some of her other roles somehow. I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’m used to seeing her in close-up, it could be she does her emotions facially rather than with movement, I know the bits in her videos that really stand out for me are facial moments. Or maybe she felt restricted by having to stand still and read her music. But I felt that while she sang really well, she didn’t really help me to get to know the character of Vitellia. I was looking forward to seeing her because I was thinking, if anyone can make sense of Vitellia, it’s Hillevi Martinpelto. But she didn’t.
Annio was Fiona Murphy. I thought even when she was watching it she really made the music come alive, and the others agree with me. Her clothes were too feminine for me to take her seriously as a man, but I don’t think it matters to the plot if Servilia is a lesbian. I enjoyed Fiona Murphy’s performance, and even though everyone goes on about Sesto’s and Vitellia’s arias, Annio has some lovely ones too. I think she did well to stand out so much when Sesto and Vitellia have the arias that are seen as the showstoppers.
Servilia is a tiny role. Barry said she had another aria in the original libretto, but Mozart made a lot of cuts. Sarah Tynan did really well, she sang beautifully, and you got a real sense that she was really nice. It’s easy to see why Tito wasn’t offended when she stood up to him, she’s just not the offensive type. It’s a shame she doesn’t have more plot really as Vitellia isn’t really the most likeable heroine.
Matthew Rose completed the cast as Publio. He had a very big strong voice, but it was very attractive. When a lot of basses sing Mozart, it sounds like they’re struggling a bit, but Matthew Rose did very well. He also interacted with the other characters well I thought.
Edward Gardner was the conductor. I thought the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment made the opera sound really dramatic. It’s supposed to be the boring one of Mozart’s operas, but there was a lot going on. Fires, arrests, attempted murder… it’s not dull. But Don Giovanni has all those things, and it manages to be funny too.
Madam Caterpillar
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