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SEEN AND HEARD
UK OPERA REVIEW Garsington Opera
(3) -Mozart, Le Nozze di Figaro: Sung in Italian with titles in English. Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Garsington Opera /Douglas Boyd Garsington Manor, Oxford 6.6.2010
(ED)
Garsington's Le Nozze di Figaro could not have been more perfectly conceived. The intimacy and intrigue that are integral to Mozart's setting of da Ponte were brought home through the ingenious use of the Garsington Manorhouse, grotto and gardens to provide the wider environs for the action in John Cox's production. With space at a premium, Robert Perdizola's set provided maximum flexibility to suit the scene at hand, even if the Act I changes were a little cumbersome, to turn servant's quarters into the Count's office or, later, the Countess' boudoir.
Musically, the action was on the whole briskly paced and lithely shaped under Douglas Boyd's experienced baton, to bring out the humour and innuendo that Mozart neatly underscores in da Ponte's libretto. The domestic aspect of the drama was sympathetically reinforced by the use of a chamber chorus to ensure that proceedings never exceeded their credible limits. Indeed, among the chorus are several young singers currently at conservatoires who would merit solo roles at Garsington and other houses in years to come.
Almost without exception the soloists were admirably suitable for their roles. Grant Doyle's Count was predictably insinuating and commanding by turns, varying his mein appropriately. Alas, Kishani Jayasinghe's Countess was not his equal, seeming tight of tone and tested in terms of breathing throughout Porgi Amor and elsewhere. Their counterparts below stairs, Figaro and Susanna, were richly interpreted by James Oldfield and Sophie Bevan respectively. Indeed, it was to be Bevan's evening overall, such was the impulsive, girlish conviction she brought to the role. Conal Coad plumbed the time-honoured route of caricature with his Doctor Bartolo, while Jean Rigby revelled in the delights offered a singing actress as Marcellina. All the lesser roles were admirably taken. In total, then, an evening of Mozart as near perfectly enjoyable as one might wish for in the English countryside.
Evan Dickerson
Picture © Johan Persson