Wolf-Ferrari’s Il segreto di Susanna and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci make extremely satisfying double invoice at Opera Holland Park

Planning operatic double payments is at all times one thing of a problem, however having paired early Puccini with Delius in 2022 [see my review], Opera Holland Park has returned with one other intriguing pairing. Taking the imaginative determination to contemplate Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci by itself slightly than in tandem with Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, the corporate paired it with a revival of their 2019 manufacturing of Wolf-Ferrari’s Il segreto di Susanna, placing collectively two operas each by Italians, composed inside lower than 20 years of one another and each coping with matrimonial jealousy, the one comedian and the opposite tragic. 

Leoncavallo: Pagliacci – David Butt Philip, Alison Langer – Opera Holland Park (Picture: Ali Wright)

We started with Wolf-Ferrari’s Il segreto di Susanna, written in 1909 and one of many composer’s few operas to retain something like its place within the repertoire. Wolf-Ferrari applies a light-weight but imaginative contact to the music, the type is stuffed with sly references but sparkles alongside. John Wilkie directed, with John Andrews conducting the Metropolis of London Sinfonia with Richard Burkhard because the Depend, Clare Presland because the Countess, and John Savournin within the silent position of Sante. Designs had been by takis.

There was an actual sparkle to the orchestral contribution from the primary notes of the overture (which has a life as a live performance piece). The background to the drama, equivalent to it’s, was the sensible comedian mime of Savournin because the Depend and Countess’ servant plus the 2 maids,  Naomi Kilby and Valerie Wong.  

Savournin’s approach with the character was each comedian and telling, and he managed to be expressive in a silent movie method with out ever saying a phrase. Wilkie retains the comedy going, the manufacturing rattles alongside in parallel to the music, however he’s working with the fabric and by no means sending the characters up. Because the Depend, Richard Burkhard produced a beautiful examine in obsessive jealousy, well-observed and humorous, but disturbing too. The person was a buffoon, but his behaviour was perilously near that of Canio in Pagliacci. Clare Presland had been ailing for the earlier week, however her voice gave solely the barest suggestion. Her Countess was sly and wilful, following the Depend’s orders in identify solely and seeming to benefit from the sport of deceiving him. The opera’s joke, in fact, is that it’s not one other man that she is hiding however her ‘evil’ behavior of smoking (one thing women weren’t purported to do, on the time). This factors to a different fascinating hyperlink between the night’s two operas, each take care of complicated topics, the one smoking and the opposite home violence (and in the event you assume you may’t make a comedy about home violence, the consider Donizetti’s Rita!).

Wolf-Ferrari: Il segreto di Susanna – Clare Presland – Opera Holland Park (Picture: Ali Wright)

Wolf-Ferrari composed some 15 operas, together with 5 primarily based on Goldoni’ performs and one loosely primarily based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Up to now, Opera Holland Park have accomplished two and on this foundation of this manufacturing it will be good to assume the corporate would possibly bask in slightly extra operatic archaeology within the composer’s output.

Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci is a basic torrid operatic story the place the male protagonists are largely disagreeable and the girl dies on the finish. The work’s actual curiosity comes from the sensible approach Leoncavallo depicts the arc of Canio’s jealousy, a present of the position for the proper tenor. 

The brand new manufacturing at Opera Holland Park was directed by Martin Lloyd-Evans and designed by Bridget Kimak, with Francesco Cilluffo conducting the Metropolis of London Sinfonia. David Butt Philip was Canio, Alison Langer was Nedda, Robert Hayward was Tonio, Zwakele Tshabalala was Beppe and Harry Thatcher was Silvo.

Leoncavallo: Pagliacci – Zwakele Tshabalala  – Opera Holland Park (Picture: Ali Wright)

Kimak’s designs positioned the opera within the post-war interval, however the setting was summary. The 4 gamers merely appeared throughout the prologue, strolling throughout the railway line (a characteristic of the set), giving a suggestion of the fallacious facet of the tracks and hinting at an remoted group. However Lloyd-Evans was not taken with social element, this was not the kind of manufacturing that crammed the opera with neo-realistic fussiness, as an alternative we targeted very a lot on the characters. This benefited the opera enormously, avoiding the picturesque and permitting us to focus on the unfolding drama with out worrying concerning the whys and wherefores of the theatre firm doing a Pierrot present. Lloyd-Evans used the fore-stage for the play inside a play with the refrain/viewers on the principle stage, an imaginative contact that used the Opera Holland Park stage to its greatest benefit.

David Butt Philip has turn out to be identified for his Wagner and Strauss roles and mockingly these performances (his debut within the position) signify his solely main work within the UK this yr. That his voice is wider than the slender Wagner/Strauss fach would possibly counsel was brilliantly demonstrated by his efficiency as Canio. The darkish baritonal timbre introduced a disturbing richness to Canio’s line. This was a slow-burn efficiency, accumulating because it unfolded. Sure, ‘Vesti la giubba’ was very wonderful certainly, but it surely was a part of a higher and slightly disturbing entire.

Leoncavallo: Pagliacci – Robert Hayward, Alison Langer – Opera Holland Park (Picture: Ali Wright)

Alison Langer supplied a wonderful foil to David Butt Philip, poised and interesting, she was slightly much less the unhappy canary than typical and at occasions you would possibly nearly say feisty. Her birds aria was right here sung to a cellular of cut-out birds, treating the piece as full metaphor slightly than picturesque window dressing. Robert Hayward’s Tonio was a superb portrayal of sheer nastiness. Counting on a stick with stroll, slightly than any kind of incapacity, Hayward’s efficiency was a examine in attaining a robust impact with minimal means, very a lot a grasp class. He made a disturbing villain, and even his supply of the Prologue had a wonderful undertow to it.

The opera is concerning the dynamic of those three most important characters, however the two lesser ones are simply as vital. Zakele Tshabalala made an engagingly full of life Beppe, but created a factor of magnificence in Arlecchino’s serenade. Harry Thatcher supplied sterling help within the comparatively underwritten position of Silvio, Nedda’s real-life lover. Thatcher’s Silvio appeared to be a soldier, all the way down to earth and a wonderful distinction to David Butt Philip’s disturbing Canio.

The Opera Holland Park Refrain, with kids from the Pimlico Music Basis, had been in terrific kind, filling the stage with full of life motion in addition to superb sounds. Within the pit, Francesco Cilluffo and the Metropolis of London Sinfonia supplied a full-blooded counterpart to the stage motion. It is a rating stuffed with vivid orchestral moments, which by no means dissatisfied. But, Cilluffo by no means overlooked the truth that they had been telling a narrative and music moved alongside admirably. Fairly closely scored at occasions (although this efficiency used a considerably diminished orchestration), Cilluffo ensured that the orchestra by no means dominate.

Pagliacci just isn’t an opera that I at all times take pleasure in, however Martin Lloyd-Evans’ stripped-down method paid nice dividends with this terrific solid. I do hope that Opera Holland Park lets the identical workforce unfastened on Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, I might be intrigued by the outcomes.

Wolf-Ferrari: Il segreto di Susanna – Richard Burkhard – Opera Holland Park (Picture: Ali Wright)

There was one thing slightly luxurious about this double invoice – two casts, two administrators and two conductors – however as a creative entire, it labored slightly effectively, making a extremely satisfying night within the theatre.