Scottish Opera, 18/10/2018
Verdi : Rigoletto
Chorus of Rigoletto
Orchestra of Scottish Opera
Rumon Gamba
This production, by Matthew Richardson, was first staged in 2011, when I managed to miss both the performances, and any reviews that came out at the time, so I came to it with only a few pictures, and a couple of short clips provided by Scottish Opera. These did not prepare me for one of the dullest, most pointless productions of Rigoletto I've ever seen. There was little sense of time or place, just generically 'modern'. There was absolutely no sense of visual style, it was flat and lifeless. And there were more doors than in a Feydeau farce.
The direction of the performers was fairly neutral, nothing to outrage, but nothing to fix one's interest either, save perhaps the very final scene, where Gilda sings her part of that last duet as a ghost, a last benediction before passing on from this world, while Rigoletto clutches a mannequin to his breast. There were a lot of mannequins lying around this production, one way or another. I won't go as far as to call the production incomprehensible, in the end it was reasonably straightforward, but it was devoid of inspiration.
Rigoletto is, of course, perfectly capable of surviving an indifferent production if the musical values are solid, but that was a mixed bag tonight, unfortunately. To begin with, there was a front of house announcement that the Greek baritone Aris Argiris, singing the title role, was suffering from a cold - welcome to Glasgow! - and while he would perform his role, begged our indulgence. He received it, but you had to feel sorry for the poor man. He would start out well enough, a decent, sonorous sound, but as the scene advanced, both his breathing and his pitch were clearly compromised. He was most taxed in the second act, with that long monologue, and Gilda's "Tutte le feste" barely gave him time to recover a little for the closing "vengeance" duet. That attempting to keep his vocal emission under control was a constant distraction for the singer, I can well understand. May he recover speedily, and have an easier time of it with the remainder of the performances.
Lina Johnson was a reasonably satisfying Gilda vocally, but dramatically somewhat bland. "Caro nome" lacked that little touch of fantasy, but she was better in Act 2, and right at the end, when the emotional detachment of her tone suited the otherworldly implications of the staging. I can't say I enjoyed Adam Smith's Duke, however. He played it well enough (within the confines of this production), but I do not find the voice attractive - never mind seductive. It seemed tight and nasal to me, and rather charmless. Sioned Gwen Davies was a nice, fruity Maddalena, but her voice disappeared in the Storm Trio. David Shipley's Sparafucile, on the other hand, delivered a good, solid, resonant Sparafucile, efficient and business-like, which is wholly apt for the character. Stephen Gadd's Monterone was also quite effective.
The saving grace of the evening came from the orchestra under Rumon Gamba. His choices of tempo were consistently judicious, well-paced to keep things moving along, and there was good detail in the orchestral colours. When the production was tedious to the point of boredom, and there was nothing very exciting happening in the singing, the orchestra held my attention, and provided most of the drama for the evening, and I was very grateful for their contribution to the proceedings. We've come a long way since the company's first Rigoletto in 1979, and not in the right direction.
[Next : 20/10/2018]
Chorus of Rigoletto
Orchestra of Scottish Opera
Rumon Gamba
This production, by Matthew Richardson, was first staged in 2011, when I managed to miss both the performances, and any reviews that came out at the time, so I came to it with only a few pictures, and a couple of short clips provided by Scottish Opera. These did not prepare me for one of the dullest, most pointless productions of Rigoletto I've ever seen. There was little sense of time or place, just generically 'modern'. There was absolutely no sense of visual style, it was flat and lifeless. And there were more doors than in a Feydeau farce.
The direction of the performers was fairly neutral, nothing to outrage, but nothing to fix one's interest either, save perhaps the very final scene, where Gilda sings her part of that last duet as a ghost, a last benediction before passing on from this world, while Rigoletto clutches a mannequin to his breast. There were a lot of mannequins lying around this production, one way or another. I won't go as far as to call the production incomprehensible, in the end it was reasonably straightforward, but it was devoid of inspiration.
Rigoletto is, of course, perfectly capable of surviving an indifferent production if the musical values are solid, but that was a mixed bag tonight, unfortunately. To begin with, there was a front of house announcement that the Greek baritone Aris Argiris, singing the title role, was suffering from a cold - welcome to Glasgow! - and while he would perform his role, begged our indulgence. He received it, but you had to feel sorry for the poor man. He would start out well enough, a decent, sonorous sound, but as the scene advanced, both his breathing and his pitch were clearly compromised. He was most taxed in the second act, with that long monologue, and Gilda's "Tutte le feste" barely gave him time to recover a little for the closing "vengeance" duet. That attempting to keep his vocal emission under control was a constant distraction for the singer, I can well understand. May he recover speedily, and have an easier time of it with the remainder of the performances.
Lina Johnson was a reasonably satisfying Gilda vocally, but dramatically somewhat bland. "Caro nome" lacked that little touch of fantasy, but she was better in Act 2, and right at the end, when the emotional detachment of her tone suited the otherworldly implications of the staging. I can't say I enjoyed Adam Smith's Duke, however. He played it well enough (within the confines of this production), but I do not find the voice attractive - never mind seductive. It seemed tight and nasal to me, and rather charmless. Sioned Gwen Davies was a nice, fruity Maddalena, but her voice disappeared in the Storm Trio. David Shipley's Sparafucile, on the other hand, delivered a good, solid, resonant Sparafucile, efficient and business-like, which is wholly apt for the character. Stephen Gadd's Monterone was also quite effective.
The saving grace of the evening came from the orchestra under Rumon Gamba. His choices of tempo were consistently judicious, well-paced to keep things moving along, and there was good detail in the orchestral colours. When the production was tedious to the point of boredom, and there was nothing very exciting happening in the singing, the orchestra held my attention, and provided most of the drama for the evening, and I was very grateful for their contribution to the proceedings. We've come a long way since the company's first Rigoletto in 1979, and not in the right direction.
[Next : 20/10/2018]