Welsh National Opera paid its annual visit to Oxford in October with Bizet’s Carmen and two Rossini operas billed as Moses in Egypt and William Tell under the description Liberty or Death!. In my heading I abide by the convention that the title should be given in the language in which the opera is sung.
These two operas and the two productions have much in common. Both have at their heart a human interest story of a love spanning the divide between oppressor and oppressed. In the first, the plagues of Egypt are the setting for the romance between Osiride, the son of the Pharaoh, and a Hebrew girl, Elcia, until Osiride drops dead from the plague of the first-born. In the second, it is between Mathilde, an Austrian noblewoman in love with Arnold, son of a Swiss village patriaich, during a time when the Austrians are trying to supress the Swiss, thwarted at the end by William Tell and the apple on his son’s head. Both operas are directed by David Pountney, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of WNO. Both productions use in one scene the same strange scaffold-like set which has no apparent relevance.
There the similarities end. The first question I always ask myself about any production is ‘Did I enjoy the occasion?’. Moses in Egypt is a rare occasion on which the answer is an almost unqualified ‘No’. To the next question: ‘Was this because of the opera or the production?’ the answer is ‘Both’. The idea that an affaire between the son of the Pharaoh and a Hebrew girl could hold up the Exodus beggars belief even in an opera plot. The opera opens with the stage totally in the dark during the plague of darkness, the only light being that of the music stands. When the sun reappears, it does so as a yellow disc on the backdrop which did nothing to illuminate the stage, so the characters and their faces still remained invisible. This is becoming a trade mark of WNO productions; I made exactly the same complaint after The Tudors last year and this has been a feature of recent productions. The lighting designers need a refresher course in the principles of stage lighting. The scenery consisted of two large square movable screens, one red on the right the other blue, reflecting the costume colours of Egyptians and Hebrews. In Oxford the conductor Simon Phillippo replaced Carlo Rizzi, Rossini specialist, who had prepared the opera and conducted the rest of the run. Phillippo’s gestures appeared more appropriate to Debussy than Rossini, and it was only during moments of climax that the orchestra’s training broke through and they sounded their usual selves. The second half was marginally better. At least we were able to see the singers’ faces and appreciate the quality of the performances of Miklós Sebastyén as Mosè, Christine Rice as Faraone’s wife, and Osiride his son played by a very fine Spanish tenor David Alegret; he and Claire Booth singing sweetly as Elcia the Hebrew girl made a good couple. The singers deserved a better production and better orchestral support. We spent the last Act wondering how parting the waters of the Red Sea and subsequent drowning of the Egyptians would be handled: the former obviously by parting the two screens, the latter a complete anti-climax by dragging a billowing blue cloth across the stage and that was it!
I wondered if I was being unfair, and if many faults were due to mounting the touring production of the opera in the confines of the New Theatre. But I don’t think so in view of the production of William Tell the next night.
***
The new production of William Tell, also directed by David Pountney, was a complete contrast. The conductor, Andrew Greenwood, substituting for Carlo Rizzi, was this time an inspiration to the orchestra who played at their best throughout, carrying forward the drama in rip-roaring style from the familiar overture (with a lone cellist at the back of the stage), to the closing storm.
Arnold, son of a Swiss village patriarch Melchtal, has fallen for Mathilde, an Austrian noblewoman. Under their governer Gesler, the Austrians are brutally oppressing the Swiss and take Melchtal hostage. When Arnold learns that his father has been murdered he swears revenge and to fight for independence. Meanwhile Tell’s life will be spared if he shoots an apple from his son’s head. This he does but infuriates Gesler who sets out by boat with Tell in chains for Altdorf Castle. Tell, however, has to be released so that his seamanship will carry the boat across. But Arnold has armed the Swiss, the baddies are killed and the lovers united. All ends in peace. I first saw Guillaume Tell at the Palais Garnier in Paris, where it seems to be regarded as a French adopted National Opera (completely overlooking Berlioz and Les Troyens).The Palais Garnier production lacked the excitement engendered by Pountney and at over four hours seemed overlong. WNO had cut it to three and a half hours. Thank God we were spared a modern version in which the Swiss were Kurds and the Austrians almost anyone else, instead of leaving the audience to make the connection if they so wished.
The singers were all good, as was the ballet, not often in modern opera production, choreographed by Amir Hosseinpour. David Kempster sang well as Tell, Leah-Marian Jones extremely well as Hedwige, Tell’s Wife, and Fleur Wynn charmed in the small roll of Jemmy the son. Barry Banks, Arnold, and Gisella Stille, Mathilde, were a good pair of lovers but it was the two other men, the goody Melcthal and the baddie Gesler, Clive Bayley, who excelled.
It was hard to fault this performance except for the occasional idiosyncrasy in the staging, such as a line of ladies placing a row of black boxes at the front of the stage to no apparent purpose and the appearance of the scaffold set.
A long but enjoyable evening!
Welsh National Opera performed in Oxford on October 17th and 18th 2014. They are touring with these productions until 28th November (Moses in Egypt) and 29th November (William Tell).