Akhnaten

by Philip Glass

seen by live streaming from the Metropolitan Opera New York on 23 November 2019

Having written two glowing reviews of Phelim McDermott's production (and having seen it already three times at the Coliseum) I was not sure that I would write about its transfer to the Met, though I was more than happy to see it yet again. However, there is more to say about this endlessly stimulating work.

In New York, once again Karen Kamensek conducted, Anthony Roth Costanzo sang Akhnaten, and Zachary James took the narrative part, and the set and costume designers Tom Pye and Kevin Pollard were credited. Newcomers were J'Nai Bridges as Nefertiti, Dísella Lárusdottír as Queen Tye, Aaron Blake as the High Priest of Amon, Richard Bernstein as Aye, and Will Liverman as Horemheb.

Orphée

by Philip Glass

seen at the London Coliseum on 20 November 2019

ENO are presenting four Orpeus related operas this season; this is the fourth that I have seen. Netia Jones directs and Geoffrey Paterson conducts Philip Glass's opera inspired by (and using the dialogue of) Jean Cocteau's 1950 film of the same name, with Nicholas Lester as Orphée, Sarah Tynan as Eurydice, Jennifer France as the Princess, Nicky Spence as Heurtebise and Anthony Gregory as Cégeste. The production, like the others in the series, is designed by Lizzie Clachan, with the costumes and video projections designed by the director.

Philip Glass chose to use all the dialogue from Cocteau's film; as I have not seen the film I cannot coment on whether the opera as staged closely reflects the film itself (I rather think some extraneous elements have been added, as there are some non-singing parts named as Glass himself, Cocteau and the photographer Lucien Clergue).

Orpheus and Eurydice

by Christoph Willibald Gluck

seen at the London Coliseum on 14 November 2019

ENO are presenting four Orpeus related operas this season; this is the third that I have seen. Wayne McGregor directs Alice Coote as Orpheus, Sarah Tynan as Eurydice and Soraya Mafi as Love in Hector Berlioz's version of Gluck's opera, with Harry Bicket conducting, and designs by Lizzie Clachan.

Gluck's opera is austere compared with the other two works that I have seen so far - only three characters, with a chorus and, under Wayne McGregor's supervision, fourteen dancers. The familiar story is enacted - Eurydice's death; Orpheus's descent into the Underworld at the encouragement this time of the god of Love; his ability to charm the spirits into letting him pass; the test by which he cannot look back at his wife while leading her out of Hades; and his failure and Eurydice's return to death. Somewhat surprisingly, the god of Love returns to console Orpheus by restoring Eurydice anyway, as (apparently) his heart was in the right place.

Così fan tutte

by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, libretto by Da Ponte

seen at Cadogan Hall on 6 November 2019

Ian Page conducted The Mozartists in a concert performance of Mozart's Così fan tutte with Ana Maria Labin as Firodiligi and Emily Edmonds as Dorabella, Matthew Swensen as Ferrando and Benjamin Appl as Guglielmo, Rebecca Bottone as Despina and Ricard Burkhard as Don Alfonso.

There are of course no distracting directorial interventions in a concert performance: here we have just the undiluted pleasure of Mozart's music performed by an excellent group of soloists and an orchestra currently dedicated to performing all Mozart's work in sequence 250 years after composition. Heard in such circumstances, with occasionally racy surtitles to clarify the story, it was an enjoyable evening, and refreshing after the unfortunate tussles between directorial and compositional interest too often witnessed nowadays (see my comments on two recent ENO productions).