Glyndebourne on Tour at Milton Keynes Theatre
21st November 2008
Glyndebourne on Tour offers the latest of many Zauberfloten to visit London and its surroundings over the past sixteen months (the next will be in January at the ENO). Annoyingly, Glyndebourne on Tour did not visit Sadler’s Wells this year, presumably due to the surprisingly large number of empty seats at last year’s excellent Macbeth and Albert Herring. So off some of us went to the far more pricey yet acoustically inferior Milton Keynes Theatre.
Did I say acoustically inferior? That certainly wasn’t a problem at this performance. Both the music and the spoken dialogue (in German) floated clearly up to the Circle. Conductor Douglas Boyd offered some surprisingly slow tempi in places that the singers somehow didn’t seem to be expecting either, but it sounded fantastic. Anthony Ward’s designs were simple but effective, and I especially liked the scene between Tamino and the Speaker – bringing the chorus onstage to sing ‘Zuruck’ was a nice touch. One rather questionable cut was the squeezing of Papagena’s first two scenes into one, thus making her role even smaller – but it works very well dramatically.
The only slight disappointments in the cast were Sarastro of Carlo Malinverno and Mari Moriya’s Queen of the Night. But these are, of course, horribly difficult roles that are going to be particularly awkward for young singers. Moriya’s top notes were uncertain, but her second aria especially was sung with aplomb, and while Malinverno (initially rather creepy as Sarastro) had trouble with some of Sarastro’s music, his rich bass voice holds great promise.
Everything else was great. Lothar Odinius sings Tamino very sweetly, and seems like a genuinely nice man. His rejection of Pamina, if anything, seems more down to shyness than a determination to pass his tasks – which is a lot more attractive than Tamino’s usual stuffiness. Daniel Schmutzhard showed a great flair for comedy as Papageno – his audience loved him and felt for him. Even his habit of hiding behind Pamina when things got scary was rather endearing.
Papagena was sung by Eliana Pretorian, who is a trained choreographer (and linguist and physicist), and it seems no director can resist the opportunity to let Pretorian do the splits onstage. But while it worked well as part of Zerlina’s seduction of Masetto in BYO’s Don Giovanni, it seemed rather redundant as part of Papagena’s duet with Papageno. So was her somersault onto Papageno’s shoulders (who else could see that coming?), although it was extremely impressive. But it not only distracted you from what was going on stage, it actually overshadowed the fact Pretorian has a very beautiful voice.
But nothing could overshadow the beautiful voice of Ana James. The talented former Jette Parker Young Artist, who is also a former Queen of the Night, was a revelation as Pamina. I can only assume a stunned silence was the reason why her aria wasn’t applauded. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the role better-sung – or better-acted. Pamina can seem so dull if she’s not given a bit of spirit, but James’ gentle, shy and vulnerable Pamina is simply adorable.
Her protectiveness towards Papageno was very touching, and it was lovely to see her relationship with Sarastro develop: she is clearly terrified of him to begin with, but later sees him as a father figure, running to him for comfort after Tamino’s rejection. She is also terrified of Monostatos – more than reasonable, one would have thought, but not usually something that’s portrayed this strongly. So it was a slight disappointment that her relationship with Tamino was comparatively so weak – but this Tamino and Pamina are far too shy to make a move unless someone shoves them into each other’s arms (which Sarastro practically does).
Hairy McMungo, of course, was not in the least bit surprised that Alasdair Elliott gave such a fine performance as Monostatos, but none of us predicted what a wonderful trio the Three Ladies would be. Katherine Broderick, Julia Riley and Louise Poole were fantastic when they performed the roles of Tatyana and Lady Billows Albert Herring (Broderick), Nancy Albert Herring and Giovanna Anna Bolena (Riley) and Ruggiero Alcina (Poole). But their voices have very different qualities, and probably only Poole has the ideal vocal weight for Mozart – and her lowest notes have previously shown a tendency to disappear into the orchestra.
But the three singers work really well together. When three voices are this beautiful, it doesn’t matter that the vocal blend isn’t perfect. They can all sing in true Mozartian style – and, for the record, I could hear Poole’s low notes very well, despite the fact she was singing with a Wagnerian and a Bellinian. And as far as the comedy goes, they could hardly blend any better. I just wish Schikaneder had given them more to do. And I’m not sure if the Priest who dealt with Papageno was bass Lukasz Jakobski or tenor Charne Rochford (both great singers) but if he ever decides to give up singing, he should go into theatre.
Cunning Little Vixen
primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk