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Zerlina sung by Aimee Toshney with Masetto sung by Matthew Tilley. Pictures: Martin Cassell Don Giovanni
Heritage Opera
Rendall Hall, Rye St. Antony School, Oxford
**** WHILE certain areas of the UK are
lamentably short of good quality opera, few are as fortunate as those
who receive a visit from the enterprising, clever and amusing company
Heritage Opera. Founded originally as a
touring ensemble travelling widely in the North West (eg to Preston,
Lancaster, The Wirral, Burnley and Skipton), Heritage, which is
currently delivering a vivid, canny and punchy production of Mozart’s
Don Giovanni
to audiences old and new, has, to its credit, gradually spread its wings
both northwards and southwards. Included among its
current venues are Marlborough (in Wiltshire) and Oxford, and further
east, Hatfield in Hertfordshire and Boston in Lincs. It even pentrates
as far north as Stirling; and one of its daring repertoire pieces, the
Polish composer Moniuszko’s Halka,
virtually the national opera of that
country, they took to the celebrated Polish centre in West London. Heritage runs itself on
a comparative shoestring. So why are its productions so engaging? There
is a tremendous spirit of fun, a flair for paradox and irony and comic
improbability; a marked intelligence in the manner of presentation; and
a bold sense of the mischievous offsetting the serious -
ideal
for a staging like their rightly praised,
The Magic Flute,
and now their latest hot production of
Don Giovanni. What’s more, from the outset Heritage has
betrayed a knack of engaging the audience by vivid, sometimes cheeky
characterisation, perceptive, enterprising productions, excellent
musical judgement and timings, and an instrumental assurance that buoys
it up and carries it along, be it keyboard alone, a small ensemble or
(as here in Oxford, at Rye St. Antony School, on the edge of Headington)
as a very substantial orchestra, the Isis Chamber Orchestra.
One of their greatest successes over the years
has been creative casting. This applies to both regulars and, often
enough, well-chosen newcomers. An ever-reliable kernel forms the basis
of the company’s continuing run of successes, two especially: the tenor
Nick Sales, whose beauty of tone and invariably gorgeous, pure diction
(here, a fabulusly intoned Don Ottavio) has contributed to the triumph
of several of Heritage’s strongest stagings, and soprano Sarah Helsby
Hughes, who also directs, and has a phenomenal range - electrifying in
both high soprano register (Heritage’s searing Queen of the Night, for
instance, and latterly a magnificent, equally fearsome Tosca) and low
mezzo range, and who brings with it a forceful personality and strong
presence which rendered her Donna Elvira here, numbed by the Don’s lies
and betrayal, but vigorously handbagging him in return, one of the
notable successes, rich and rewarding, in this Mozart staging: indeed,
Elvira grew as a character into a constant presence, which gave her
personality even more moral fibre than many Elviras do. The conductor - and writer of an unusually fine
set of programme notes - is Chris Gill. Heritage’s founder, and the
steadying force who has lifted the company to the high musical standards
that are its hallmark - Gill brings a firm pair of hands, a musical
sensibility that teases the best out of repertoire from Mozart to
Britten, and an utter confidence in what he is doing which he invariably
communicates to his team (here, the Isis Chamber Orchestra) on and
offstage. From the violent opening chords to the Commendatore’s final
inevitable revenge Gill’s eminent care and sense of pacing constantly
produced results from those onstage. Quite apart from the solos, the crucial ensembles
- the Act I quartet - some superb orchestral playing - and near the
close the trio (splendidly rounded off by polished woodwind); Act
I’s final septet, rivetingly sung by all; superb violins for Helsby
Hughes’ first Act 2 solo, and paired clarinets rounding off her third
passage in Act 2); the folksy wedding dances whose lightness prefaced
the tense finale;
and
the wondrous solo clarinet that round them off: these were a few of the
mesmerising details in this generally gripping reading of the score.
Gill’s first rate management informs everything as he conducts: the
players respond eagerly to his secure handling. The set was somewhat makeshift, possibly not up to Heritage’s best - a collection of chiffon-like curtaining, but redeemed by several aspects: a set of steps which provided several levels; and lights which produced a series of contrated effects, with blue, purple, orange, red, pink that provided quite effective and attractive contrast, lending different scenes surprisingly different atmospheres. Don Giovanni (Victor Sgarbi) lures on Zerlina (Aimee Toshney) Chinese-born Franco Kong has a host of roles to his credit, and that certainly showed here. His Leporello was beautifully-voiced (not just the catalogue aria - superbly accompanied - early on - ‘in Spain, 1003’, but time and again he shone in recitative). Amusing, entertaining, nervous and edgy, and
looking like an out-of-work coolie, and a wonderful feel for comic
asides, he delivered a sharp-witted, canny performance that effortlessly
matched up to Brazilian Victor Sgarbi’s swaggering, manoeuvring and
utterly ruthless Don. Sgarbi too has a voice well worth hearing: rich
in tone, lucidly enunciated, and catching the overriding cynicism of
this Spanish rake aptly and cleverly. He strutted to good effect, quite
incapable of seeing the fiery doom his grotesque activities will land
him in. Giovanni’s and Leporello’s exchange of recitative was just one
of many fine quick-fire batterings, helped along by Benjamin Cox’s alert
harpsichord repetiteur. If Elvira shone especially among the appallingly
treated female roles, the others were a success as well. Aimee Toshney’s
Zerlina - charmingly gullible, wickedly taken advantage of - produced a
real treat with her two main arias. Just a fraction edgy and loud, yet
also luscious and enchanting. A notable success was Andrea Tweedale as
Donna Anna - mortified at her father’s brutal slaying, and as the opera
progressed, a revelation in Anna’s prayerful laments and soaring
coloratura. For Donna Anna’s scenes to be so energised and vibrant was a
considerable treat, and overall her efforts seem to have made her the
audience’s favourite. Matthew Tilley’s
Masetto ensured that his duets with Zerlina - including the row (‘Batti,
batti’), and with a nice pairing during the folk dances. But one of the
highlights was Paul Hudson’s Commendatore. Seen ominously behind a
curtain, like an eerie stone statue, and then emerging clad in grim grey
armour, he produced a voice that was just what the Commendatore needs:
penetrating, threatening, forceful and commanding. Thanks to him and the
dramatic power of Gill’s orchestra, this
Don Giovanni
ended as strongly and satisfyingly as it began. Roderic Dunnett 25-06-16
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