Opera North, 16/05/2023

Bizet : Les pêcheurs de perles

Chorus and Orchestra of Opera North

Matthew Kofi Waldren

This was a bid of an odd duck.  There are five performances (including tonight) of Pearl Fishers in Leeds, and then the company goes on tour with it until the start of July.  However, the whole set was originally intended to be concert performances, including the initial Leeds segment.  Because Leeds Town Hall, which is the primary concert venue (for classical music) in town, is closed for refurbishment, Opera North brought the opera back to their usual venue of the Grand Theatre, and staged it - sort of.  It's more than a semi-staging, but less than a full staging, and that left it in a 'neither fish nor fowl' position.

The only set was a backdrop on which video was projected; in the first half, this was mostly various types of water, in the second, coils of rope.  For decor the centre of the stage was occupied by a tall tangle of ropes - presumably diving aids - and the floor by giant pearls, the smallest about the size of a watermelon, the largest maybe four feet high.  In the second half (the third act), the pearls all disappeared to leave more mundane tables and chairs.  The chorus was dressed in varied modern blacks, only in the final scene adding white gloves and strands of pearls to their outfits.  Only the four soloists really had costumes, roughly turn of the 20th Century, and Western in style, save for Zurga's blue and silver open robe.  One interesting element here was that both Nourabad and Leïla - representatives of religion - were shabbily dressed, she in a ragged pearl-pink negligée, he looking like a rag-picker, a costume assembled of all sorts of odds and ends, torn and salt-stained.  By contrast, the two 'civilians' were quite smartly turned out, and at the end, when Leïla has effectively been stripped of her priestess status, she too appears in clothes similar to Nadir's, if more colourful, what I'd call adventurer's clothing.  

This was perhaps the only idea that really impinged on me.  The rest was a little odd.  Leïla frequently seemed as downtrodden as her clothing, while Zurga sought refuge from conflict in threading pearls into a necklace.  Leïla's necklace, such a crucial element in the piece, was confiscated from her right from the outset - she got it back in time for Zurga to discover it, but it was a strange bit of business.    The most damaging issue was that the chorus was barely able to move in this space; they would come on from the seats planted around the edges of the stage, take up a position, and make arm gestures, which was about all they had space for.  It was very flat, and completely contradictory to the spirit of the music, which is usually very lively, and the choral singing suffered in consequence.  Only the end of Act 2, the terrified prayer in the face of the storm, really had any force, because a static chorus at that point makes absolute sense.  

There were problems all round, musically.  The best of it all came from the orchestra, a little slow in places (though not slow enough at times for some of the singers), but otherwise alert and subtle, with plenty of colour.  However, I also found the orchestra frequently overpowering, drowning out even the full chorus.  James Cresswell was excellent as Nourabad, and Nico Darmanin was a good Nadir, the timbre a little edgy, and no head-voice to speak of, which you need in the aria, but good vocal lines and nice dynamic control.  Both Quirijn de Lang (Zurga) and Sophia Theodorides (Leïla) had intermittent intonation problems, but de Lang otherwise cut a stylish and assertive figure.  Theodorides, however, never really touched me; there were a lot of inaudible passages, only overcome when she went into the upper register which allowed her to be heard over the orchestral texture, her French was the weakest of the quartet (and none of it was terribly good), and she brought no life to the role.  I'll admit I'd have been curious to hear this ensemble in the upcoming concert performances, to see if matters improved without the fairly pointless stage trappings.  Disappointing.

[Next : 18th May]