Scottish Opera, 19/02/2025

Janáček : The Makropulos Affair

Chorus of The Makropulos Affair

The Orchestra of Scottish Opera

Martyn Brabbins

When I decided, in the autumn of 2022, to go to Cardiff to see WNO's new production of The Makropulos Affair, I hadn't registered that it was a co-production with Scottish Opera, and that I would therefore likely be seeing it in Glasgow.  It has taken a while to arrive, but here it is, with a renewed (to 90%) cast, conductor and orchestral forces, but the full, original creative team.

There are differences.  Some are superficial, but beneficial - Emilia's costumes suit her singer better this time, though the wigs are still luridly artificial.  The scene change between the first two acts, in the WNO production, was occupied with a well-intended, but ultimately rather patronising little scene delivered by the legal clerk Vítek going over the admittedly somewhat complicated Prus/Gregor genealogy, and that has been axed in favour of a musical interlude which uses an intended symphonic movement by Janáček composed at around the same time as the opera, an interesting, and distinctly more satisfying solution.  However, the major difference is that Scottish Opera has elected to perform the opera in English, in a translation by Sir David Pountney, rather than the original Czech, as WNO did.  

Substituting language, in relation to Janáček's vocal style, is always going to be a complicated issue. Janáček writes conversationally, his vocal lines follow natural speech patterns closely, so changing the language from Czech to anything else is likely to cause some problems.  These hopefully get ironed out in rehearsal, and indeed, the level of articulation throughout the cast tonight was excellent.  There were surtitles, but they were really only needed for confirmation, and the audience response to the text demonstrated immediate comprehension, rather than the delayed reaction you get when an audience is reading from a surtitle screen.  Pountney's translation is crisp and witty, but clashes with the visuals - the production may look like 1922, but it certainly doesn't sound like it - and there is perhaps a little too much humour, in the end.  By the time news of Janek's suicide comes, we should no longer be laughing.  Emilia's drunken savagery in the earlier part of the closing scene is not cause for amusement, she is under attack by this self-appointed court, and this is where the cracks really start to show, into which the luminescence of her ultimate acceptance pours like the most skilful application of kintsugi.  Orla Boylan, despite a generally fine performance, only barely managed to salvage that final apotheosis.

Orla Boylan (Emilia Marty)
The Makropulos Affair, Act 3
Scottish Opera (© 2025 Mihaela Bodlovic)

Boylan was, I thought, at her best in Act 2, ennui and fatigue well to the fore, prompting Emilia to careless cruelty, but also an almost childlike glee at recognising Hauk-Šendorf (Alisdair Elliott) and seeing how he still recognises, and adores, her.  However, she never quite pulls off the overwhelming charisma of the character, and the downside of that is that it also weakens the character of Baron Prus.  When you have an Emilia with that enormous force of character, you need something very similar in the baritone who sings Prus, to counterbalance her.  I think Roland Wood could do this, but since it wasn't really required here, he didn't, and therefore didn't make quite as much of the part as can be achieved.  Ryan Capozzo's Albert Gregor was struggling somewhat against the orchestra, and sounded forced, which did him no favours.  On the other hand Michael Lafferty made a good impression as Janek, which is not easy, and the teasing little scene with the fresh-voiced Kristina of Catriona Hewitson was very nicely handled.  Henry Waddington was a solid and staid Dr. Kolenatý, and Mark Le Brocq (the one returnee from the WNO production) a reliable Vítek.  Lea Shaw made a noteworthy appearance as the chambermaid in the last act, giving the character some real substance.

Orla Boylan (Emilia Marty) and Alisdair Elliott (Hauk-Šendorf)
The Makropulos Affair, Act 2
Scottish Opera (© 2025 Mihaela Bodlovic)

Altogether new to the company, despite many years conducting opera all around the globe, was conductor Martyn Brabbins.  He's been a familiar face at the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for decades, but this is his first venture with Scottish Opera, and despite some fine playing at times, I had hoped for better.  Part of the problem was that the offstage musicians - the fanfare that recalls Emilia's distant past - was not really offstage, but in boxes in the side slips of the auditorium, and that really messed up the acoustic effect.  The other part was some quite rough playing, notably in the Prelude, which put a damper on one or two of the more climactic moments, though not, thankfully, at the end.  This was not playing on a par with WNO's orchestra under Hanus back in 2022, which was regrettable, because in the end, all of the Janáček operas rely heavily on their orchestras for their impact, and Makropulos is no exception.  A good, clear production, therefore, generally well sung, but never quite reaching the heights.

[Next: 21st February]