Jenůfa

by Leoš Janáček

seen at the Coliseum on 6 July 2016

This is a revival of David Alden's 2006 ENO production, which he directs once again. It is conducted by Mark Wigglesworth and designed by Charles Edwards. It features Laura Wilde in the title role of Jenůfa, Michaela Martens as her stepmother the Kostelnička, Nicky Spence as Števa and Peter Hoare as Laca.

This opera, based on the play Její Pastorkyňa ('Her Stepdaughter') by Gabriela Preissová, concerns the catastrophe which befalls Jenůfa and the family around her when she becomes pregnant by the feckless Števa (a cousin of some sort, at least by adoption). She hopes to avoid the disgrace by marrying her lover, since he has not been conscripted, but when he turns up drunk in celebration her stepmother the Kostelnička (the village sacristan), unaware of the situation, insists that any thought of marriage must be delayed until Števa can prove himself worthy. Števa's half brother Laca is in love with Jenůfa, yet he slashes her across the cheek in frustration. Later, even though he quails at the social disgrace, he offers to marry her, having been assured by the Kostelnička that the child has died. In fact, it is only once she has made this claim that the Kostelnička actually takes the child (a week old) out of the house and drowns it in the nearby frozen river. A couple of months later, on the day of the wedding, the baby's body is discovered, and though suspicion first falls on Jenůfa, the Kostelnička confesses, and admits brokenly that she thought more of her own disgrace than of her stepdaughter's feelings. Remarkably, Jenůfa forgives her stepmother as she is taken away for trial, and she also affirms her new-found love for Laca as the opera ends.

Götterdämmerung

by Richard Wagner

seen at the Royal Festival Hall on 3 July 2016

Opera North's semi-staged semi-concert production of Der Ring des Niblungen is performed in one cycle in London this week. Richard Farnes conducts the Opera North Orchestra throughout the cycle which is staged and lit by Peter Mumford. For the 'third day' of Götterdämmerung the principal singers were Kelly Cae Hogan as Brünnhilde, Mati Turi as Siegfried, Andrew Foster-Williams as Gunther, Mats Almgren as Hagen, Giselle Allen as Gutrune, Heather Shipp as Waltraute and Jo Pohlheim as Alberich, with Fiona Kimm, Yvonne Howard and Lee Bisset as the Norns and Jeni Bern, Madeleine Shaw and Sarah Castle as the Rhinemaidens.

The final instalment of the Ring cycle was in some ways the most thrilling, with the orchestra playing easily to its already high standard - fully detailed and both delicate and overwhelming when required. The singers reprising their roles - Kelly Cae Hogan and Jo Pohlheim - maintained their excellent presence, Brünnhilde radiant to the very end, and Alberich at his most sinister in the creepy conversation with his son Hagen, a thrillingly dangerous Mats Almgren. Mati Turi sang a fairly light-hearted Siegfried (unerscoring his fatal naivety) but was not in the same league as his Brünnhilde. As the hapless Gibichung siblings, Andrew Foster-Williams made a suitably spineless Gunther while Giselle Allen was a winsome Gutrune.

Siegfried

by Richard Wagner

seen at the royal Festival Hall on 1 July 2016

Opera North's semi-staged semi-concert production of Der Ring des Niblungen is performed in one cycle in London this week. Richard Farnes conducts the Opera North Orchestra throughout the cycle which is staged and lit by Peter Mumford. For the 'second day' of Siegfried the cast comprised Richard Roberts as Mime, Lars Cleveman as Siegfried, Béla Perencz as the Wanderer, Jo Pohlheim as Alberich, Mats Almgren as Fafnir, Jeni Bern as the Woodbird, Ceri Williams as Erda and Kelly Cae Morgan as Brünnhilde.

Once again musically this was an extremely satisfying evening, with the orchestra continuing its high standards of performance and the soloists giving rich and powerful interpretations of their parts. Jo Pohlheim and Richard Roberts repeated their roles from Das Rheingold and confirmed their stature as respectively a power-hungry and a self-pitying pair of brothers; here Alberich once again had to contend with both his brother Mime and with Wotan now disguised as the Wanderer, but most of Mime's energies were spent on the intractable problem of bringing up Siegfried and forging a sword for him. Mats Almgrem was Fafnir once again, menacingly growling off-stage for much of the time, but returning onstage for his death scene.