The Marriage of Figaro
Press Reviews
...every gesture carefully conceived, every word audible, and every note precise and true
Opera October 2010
A comfortingly familiar title, a cast-list of household characters, a well-known, if improbably convoluted, tale; and, the expectant audience were indeed treated to a gorgeous production of Figaro – but not quite ‘as they knew it’.
Renowned for unearthing forgotten treasures from the Classical era, Bampton Classical Opera have turned their attention to an ‘alternative’ account of Figaro’s complicated journey to married bliss, composed in 1799 by the Portuguese composer, Marcos Portugal.
The archaeological graft was undoubtedly worth the effort. Portugal’s score may lack Mozart’s driving dramatic ensembles, but its charming arias and duets reveal rich musical resources and a wide emotional range. The young cast were uniformly accomplished. Nicholas Merryweather, playing his second Bampton Figaro (he appeared in Paisiello’s Barber in 2005), displayed outstanding diction, projecting word and line without forcing, and his strong, flexible baritone conveyed the sharp ingenuity of this resourceful barber. Susanna was sung by Emily Rowley Jones. Her coloratura sparkled and her upper register was unfailingly focused, with perfect intonation and sweet tone. She blended deliciously with Lisa Wilson’s Countess in their Act 2 duet. As Cherubino, Joana Seara was fittingly gamine; buoyant vocal lines were matched by an astute sense of comic timing. John-Colyn Gyeantey was an earnest Count, but his unyielding tenor struggled a little at the top, and he sometimes lacked the necessary musical and dramatic stature.
Rossi’s libretto essentially preserves da Ponte’s plot; Gilly French’s and Jeremy Gray’s translation was unfussy and droll, indulging in some clever versifying (‘anxious’/’fractious’) and typically slick one-liners – Basilio’s raucous karaoke to the pleasures of women, riotously delivered by baritone Robert Winslade Anderson, eliciting the snide put-down, ‘His music’s worse than Mozart’s…’. The decorative screens of Almaviva’s Andalucian palace economically evoked Moorish Spain, and there was some witty business with props – Figaro’s bed was delivered by ‘Ikea Sevilla’. The comic confusion was well-choreographed, particularly during the disclosures of the chaotic Act 2 sextet. As the moon gleamed across the shadowy stage, the nocturnal shenanigans in the garden for once made perfect sense.
Portugal’s score is noteworthy for its clarity and lightness, textures always appropriate to situation. Conductor Robin Newton drew warm, sensitive playing from the oboes and horns in some striking woodwind obliggatos; Kelvin Lim’s continuo was consistently idiomatic and alert. Co-ordination between pit and stage was superb, and Newton kept a confident, controlled hand on the reins throughout.
Only in Act 2 Scene 2, when a series of long arias followed a lengthy scene change, did the pace begin to flag. For this was a long evening; at almost three-and-a-half hours, the production asked a lot of its audience. Yet, on this still, cool evening, with every gesture carefully conceived, every word audible, and every note precise and true, Bampton rose to the heights of its own elevated standards.
Looking ahead, the excavation work has begun already, with preparations underway for the UK première of Gluck’s Il parnaso confuso at the Purcell Room in June 2011. Long may the digging continue.
Claire Seymour
uniformly excellent...
The Oxford Times, 30 July 2010
In typically adventurous mood, Bampton Classical Opera’s offering this year was the UK premiere of The Marriage of Figaro by Marcos Portugal, who enjoyed considerable success in 18th-century Europe but has since vanished into obscurity. Comparisons with Mozart’s version were inevitable, and it has to be said that Portugal’s music is not quite as engaging as Mozart’s, and librettist Gaetano Rossi’s adaptation of Beaumarchais’ play not quite as compelling and pacy as Da Ponte’s. And yet, as the familiar characters — Figaro, Susanna, Cherubino et al — filled the stage, it was impossible not to be drawn into this unlikely farce. The witty new translation by Jeremy Gray and Gilly French helped things along, as did the uniformly excellent cast that Bampton Opera is so adept at gathering together.
Nicholas Merryweather, who played Figaro in Bampton’s production of Paiseillo’s The Barber of Seville in 2005, stepped back into the character with ease, delivering a confident, spirited and vocally strong performance. Emily Rowley Jones matched him well as a charming and lively Susanna, Lisa Wilson gave a moving performance as Rosina and John-Colyn Gyeantey was full of convincing rage as the much put-upon Count. But the star performance, for me, was Robert Winslade Anderson’s Don Basilio, played with a subtle drollery that prompted some of the biggest laughs of the night. He also had one of the strongest voices on the stage, and was one of the few among the cast able consistently to make himself heard on this outdoor stage.
Jeremy Gray’s direction was, as always, minimal and unfussy, allowing the action to unfold without gimmicky distractions, and the Bampton Orchestra played with its usual efficiency under Robin Newton’s exacting baton.
Nicola Lisle
The other ‘Marriage of Figaro’
Opera Today, October 2010
The opening night of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, in Rome in 1816, was violently disrupted by vociferous protests from supporters loyal to Paisiello, whose own comic interpretation of Beaumarchais’ politically-charged play had appeared in 1782.
Fortunately, Bampton Classical Opera’s presentation of a ‘rival’ The Marriage of Figaro, by the little-known Portuguese composer, Marcos Portugal (1762-1830), was not interrupted by raucous complaints by die-hard Mozartians. Given its UK première in the Deanery Gardens at Bampton in July this year, this is believed to be the first production of this witty and effervescent opera since its première during the Venetian Carnival season of 1800.
Gaetano Rossi’s libretto essentially preserves Da Ponte’s familiar plot and structure, a fact which is not surprising given that at this time it was common for libretti to circulate independently of their accompanying scores. Gilly French’s and Jeremy Gray’s translation was typically witty and droll, some self-conscious rhymes (fractious/anxious) and slick one-liners adding to the air of frivolity and recklessness.
The plot may be immediately recognisable but the characters wear different musical costumes. The young cast were uniformly accomplished and committed; theatrically convincing and consistent, they really entered the spirit of piece, indulging its light-weight humour but also intimating its darker currents. There was a spontaneity and freshness about the on-stage choreography: thus, the ‘parade’ of characters during the overture, which might have seemed contrived, in fact captured a naturalist ‘busyness’ and sense of domestic intrigue. We were given a series of miniature cameos — a sort of cinematic role call — immediately and economically capturing each character’s essential temperament: Figaro’s confident ingenuity, Susanna’s cleverness, Bartolo’s grumpiness and the Countess’s quiet gravity.
Performing his second Bampton Figaro (he appeared as Paisiello’s barber in 2005), Nicholas Merryweather stood out: clear, firm and relaxed of tone, his diction was superb (no mean feat in this venue) and he exhibited a musical and dramatic confidence and ease which surely indicate great successes to come. In his programme notes, David Cranmer explains that, even if Portugal had been familiar with Mozart’s score, it would not have served as a good musical model, for his concise arias — with their energetic accompaniments — would not have provided sufficient opportunity for the singers to show off their virtuosity. Portugal’s first Susanna was Teresa Strinasacchi, evidently a soprano of first-rate technique and expansive range; but Emily Rowley Jones had no difficulty dispatching the demands of Susanna’s sparkling coloratura. Her intonation was unfailing true and her tone engaging.
I first saw this production at Bampton Deanery Gardens, in July, a picturesque outdoor venue which was perfectly placed to capture the ambience of seductive conspiracy, and I was a little worried how it would transfer to the confined space at St John’s, with its theatrical restrictions and limitations. Interestingly, the result was in fact a tighter sense of theatrical timing and movement. Moreover, some of the characters seemed positively to benefit from the more intimate stage space — John-Colyn Gyeantey’s Count, in particular, presenting a much more focused reading of the role. The rather blundering buffoon-like figure from Bampton was here replaced by an angrier, more severe Count, of greater musical and dramatic stature. Previously, I had found his tone rather unyielding, but now he discovered a weight and compass which greatly enlarged the scope of the part and enhanced the dramatic tension.
The role of the Countess seems to have been constrained by the technical limitations of the first interpreter, Rosa Canzoni; and this is a shame as it would have been nice to have heard more of Lisa Wilson’s sweet, composed tone, which blended so beautifully with Rowley Jones in their Act 2 duet.
A gamine Joana Seara pouted and cringed as the frustrated, gauche Cherubino, but while her upper register dazzled, I sensed a slight hard-edge to her tone, particularly in Act 1. Robert Winslade Anderson bellowed warmly as the vivacious, mischievous music-master; Basilio’s drunken karaoke to the pleasures of women was riotously delivered, eliciting the snide put-down, ‘His music’s worse than Mozart …’ from a contemptuous Figaro. Mark Saberton’s Bartolo and Cara Curran’s Marcellina completed the gifted cast of principals; and Edmund Connolly (Antonio) and Caroline Kennedy (his daughter, Cecchina), delivered these minor roles in charming and accomplished fashion.
The sets were devised by Jeremy Gray, Mike Wareham and Anthony Hall, and the lighting design deserves especial mention, with its striking contrasts of bright complementary shades — deep blue suggesting the seductive light of the moon against a rich Seville orange evoking the balmy warmth of both the climate and burgeoning passions; emerald green intimating the cool composure of the Countess juxtaposed against deep purple suggestive of erotic ‘Turkish delights’.
The orchestral players were positioned behind the Moorish screens which effectively portrayed Almaviva’s Andalucian palace, but despite this placement, the ensemble between stage and ‘pit’ was surprisingly good; only occasionally did one or two of the singers slightly anticipate — which was surprising as Robin Newton, conducting the lucid, bright London Mozart Players, urged the action along at a brisk pace, whirling us through the first act and establishing an exciting dramatic momentum. Indeed effectively he revealed the dynamic quality of some of Portugal’s ensembles, particularly at the end of Act 1 and during the chaotic shenanigans of the Act 2 sextet.
Leaving the church, one patron was heard to remark, ‘I really hadn’t expected the music to be so good’. In fact, he should not have been surprised: Bampton Classical Opera are committed to reviving works of genuine musical and dramatic value. Their courageous repertoire is meticulously researched and selected, and thoughtfully and inventively staged.
Bampton have give us Paisiello’s Barber and Gazzaniga’s Don Giovanni (1997 and 2004). What’s to come? A neglected Così? Portugal’s Figaro is unlikely to replace Mozart’s barber in the opera-going public’s affection, but his joyful opera is definitely worth hearing. It may lack the intensity of Mozart’s complex dramatic ensembles but its chain of charming arias and duets reveals rich musical resources and engaging invention. It is not merely a ‘curiosity’ but a work of considerable operatic merit — and it’s a pity that not more of the British opera press were here to enjoy it.
Claire Seymour
…a work among the most interesting and attractive Bampton have discovered
Opera Now, Jan/Feb 2011
Bampton Classical Opera have merrily fought the tyranny of the standard rep for the past 18 years, and their latest unearthing was the 1799 version of Figaro by one Marcos Portugal, a (you guessed it) Portuguese composer who wrote the work for Venice.
Now it seems Portugal hadn’t seen Mozart’s Figaro or its score, but I bet someone he knew had – maybe the librettist Rossi; there are moments way too close for coincidence. And the da Ponte libretto certainly forms the basis of the script here – the layout of the aria and recit is nearly identical, the Countess’s entrance delayed and so on.
In many ways Portugal shows how Mozart is better, but this is no rubbish, and in its finales and scoring you hear a Mayr-esque missing link between Mozart and Rossini: woodwind duets jaunt along behind Susanna – whose joyous moments express themselves in Rossinian coloratura – and the finales combine Mozart’s rhythmic gear changes with an adventurous use of modulation, notably as the Count pulls the cast out of the summer-house at the end.
There’s a good deal of simple accompaniment but characters come with an individual orchestral and rhythmic style (Cherubino in particular having a folksy, dancing idiom) that also shows a more advanced ambition than his buffa models Paisiello and Cimarosa – Portugal was of course consciously writing a sequel to Paisiello’s smash-hit Barber.
The garden performance in July was the one to have seen, but this mutatis mutandis version at St John’s had the usual romping Bampton spirit. Nick Merryweather’s expert buffo Figaro led the dance, but the star was Susanna, sung by Emily Rowley Jones, whose strong, bright, warm and focused soprano was well up to the considerable demands that Portugal makes, and whose arching lines had a nice yearning timbre, notably in the lovely Deh vieni-style night-garden number with its elegiac double-cor anglais accompaniment.
Lisa Wilson’s Countess had a gorgeous voice too,a sort-of rivh sadness perfectly suited to the unhappy suspensions of her cavatina. They blended ecstatically in the letter duet – one place where it’s impossible to believe someone hadn’t described ‘Che soave zeffiretto’ to Portugal. Nice support from Joana Seara, Mark Saberton and John-Colyn Gyeantey as a lyric-tenor Count, a sentimental reconciliation scene a million miles from Beaumarchais and a few terrific ensembles rounded out a work among the most interesting and attractive Bampton have discovered.
Robert Thicknesse
What the audience said
Wonderful! The cast a joy to watch as well as a joy to listen to. Good costumes, good lighting, good sets as well as good singing!
Excellently undertaken – attention to detail most enjoyable. We very much enjoyed the evening. Thank you very much. Everything very nicely done in a beautiful setting.
Even better than usual high standard!
It was such fun - wonderfully sung, never mind the directing/acting and the beautifully sounding London Mozart Players. The libretto was very witty and the diction of the singers ensured none of it was lost for the audience to hear. It is now a fixed date in my diary and my friends are delighted to have found such an entertaining and enjoyable opera company.
As ever, every word was audible, and your witty translation came over really well - such a delight. I loved especially the "dashing white sergeant" and "nothing like a dame" references, and was chuckling away at these and others.
[We] were bowled over by both the opera itself and the performance last Friday. Portugal is an amazing find and it was an immense task, significantly fulfilled, to bring an unknown work three hours long triumphantly to the stage. Congratulations to all concerned. The music was tuneful, rhythmic and what occurred on stage held the attention throughout. The production and staging couldn’t have been bettered.
Absolutely terrific show. Enormous congratulations. It was 'the epitome' of a Bampton show and hence of opera in a garden. Wonderful entertainment and standards all round.
