Gioaccino Rossini: Mosè in Egitto, Guillaume Tell, Welsh National Opera, New Theatre,
Oxford, 17,18 October 2014.
Welsh National Opera paid its annual visit to Oxford in October with 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 he 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. Regular readers will know that the first question I 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 is 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. Th 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 whiich 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 rather than Rossini and it was only 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 Allegret; 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 am being unfair and that 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.
Welsh National Opera paid its annual visit to Oxford in October with 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 he 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. Regular readers will know that the first question I 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 is 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. Th 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 whiich 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 rather than Rossini and it was only 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 Allegret; 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 am being unfair and that 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.