Mascagni : Cavalleria Rusticana
Leoncavallo : I Pagliacci
Chorus (Chorus Master : James Grossmith)
Children's Chorus
Orchestra of Scottish Opera
Francesco Corti
After three days of pretty well unremitting jingoism, it was a relief to plunge into some full-blooded italianità for a couple of hours. 50 years ago tonight, the newly-formed Scottish Opera opened its doors with a performance of Puccini's Madama Butterfly. My mother was there, and by extension, so was I, aged -14 weeks or so. 25 years later, we were at the Silver Anniversary performance of Madama Butterfly and 25 years on again, it's a concert performance of those perennial favourites Cav & Pag, which, to the best of my knowledge, have never been in the mainstream programme of Scottish Opera. Based on tonight's results, I think putting it in a season should be given some serious consideration, because in a decent production, it could really bring the house down.
The downside of concert performances is that it puts the soloists in a false physical relation to the orchestra; in front, instead of above. And with the best will in the world, in Cavalleria Rusticana, not one of tonight's soloists was able to make her/himself heard in the middle of the range over a Scottish Opera Orchestra at full throttle, positively revelling in the melodic outpouring of Mascagni's unsubtle but enthralling melodrama. Even the normally excellent acoustics of Glasgow's City Hall couldn't help them. That said, apart from Thomas Oliemans's Alfio, who lacked a certain degree of bite, or maybe just sheer bullishness, what could be heard was generally pretty good, and though it would have been nice to hear them properly above the orchestra at all times, what we got was more than enough to carry the performance.
However, the honours definitely went to the orchestra, and to some really outstanding singing from the chorus. Scottish Opera hasn't had a permanent, residential chorus since it went dark for a year due to financial troubles. All credit to James Grossmith, therefore, for drawing together as required sufficient choristers of a high calibre, and binding them into a clear, compelling ensemble, singing with a cleanly projected tone, good articulation, and complete conviction.
I Pagliacci is a rather different proposition. While the two operas undeniably mesh well together, belonging to a similar period and style, not to mention having much the same level of intensity, Pagliacci is a much more complex work, both dramatically and musically. It's also, on a strictly technical level, better written, because the problem that beset the Mascagni barely existed here. Leoncavallo's orchestra supports the voices, and doesn't drown them, so here, all the soloists came into their own.
The orchestra and chorus (again, much in demand in this piece) were every bit as telling as in the Mascagni. This was lean, mean verismo, not an ounce of superfluous sentiment to be found, particularly welcome in Francesco Anile's deceptively simple reading of "Vesti la giubba". Oliemans, not completely comfortable with Mascagni's slightly thuggish Alfio, turned in a vibrant Prologue for the Leoncavallo, then a truly vindictive Tonio - as an interesting aside, he delivered the final line, "La commedia è finita", normally (though incorrectly) appropriated by the tenor. His bright, almost light timbre was very nicely contrasted with the warmer, thicker tone of Gabriele Spina's very appealing Silvio.
It's not quite usual to cast the same soprano as both Santuzza and Nedda. They're not really the same voice; the former is a dramatic lyric soprano, while the latter is a lirico spinto with a certain degree of flexibility. I thought that Antonia Cifrone was better suited to Nedda than Santuzza, though she was singing the latter from memory, and the former with a score, which would suggest a greater degree of familiarity with the Mascagni. She sometimes pushes the sound in the passagio which flattens the timbre a little, but it settled quickly enough to avoid being disturbing. She also has a strong physical presence, and I'd like to see her actually on stage some time, because I got the impression there's a pretty good actress there.
Anile looks pretty much like the stock tenor; a little short, a little rotund, not much visible neck - the good point was that he had the voice to go with the archetypal physique, strong and with real 'ping' on the top. His Turiddu was a bit two-dimensional, though it can be argued that the character is anyway. Canio was much more involving, the tensions roiling under the surface humour very convincingly. As I mentioned, "Vesti la giubba" was excellent, performed without exaggeration, either physical or vocal, and although he seemed to run out of steam a little for "No, Pagliaccio non son", he recovered his intensity for the last pages.
The true stars of the evening, however, were again the chorus and orchestra. Francesco Corti conducted with alert tempi, yet plenty of expansiveness, encouraging the strings in particular to enjoy, without wallowing in, the big tunes of both scores. It wasn't 100% technically perfect, but the imperfections were insignificant alongside the commitment to the music as a whole. If this kind of standard can be kept up through the next season, it's going to be one to appreciate.
[Next: 17th June]
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