First seen in 2011, Mariame Clément’s Glyndebourne manufacturing of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, shared over time between the primary competition and the tour, is now on its sixth outing, revived by Ian Rutherford, carried out by Ben Glassberg, and that includes a largely new solid that's, fairly merely, gorgeous. It divided opinion when it was new, with many, myself included, deeming it a calculating, overly cynical interpretation of an already merciless work. Its hardness of edge, nonetheless, has disappeared with time, and better emotional depth and subtlety have crept in.
Clément’s twist on the narrative is that Norina (Erin Morley) and Malatesta (Huw Montague Rendall) are lovers quite than merely conspirators, their Harmful Liaisons-style video games deceiving not solely the ageing Pasquale (José Fardilha) but in addition his none-too-bright nephew Ernesto (Josh Lovell). Rutherford has tweaked the ending, nonetheless: Norina now stays fortunately with Ernesto quite than coldly dumping him for Malatesta, although it’s additionally clear that her affair with the latter could nicely proceed behind Ernesto’s again. And Pasquale himself, held as much as ridicule and caricature in 2011, has turn out to be an altogether extra sympathetic determine, touchingly weak in addition to humorous.
Any qualms concerning the manufacturing, nonetheless, are blown away on this occasion by the performances, that are sensational. Morley, a fantastic artist and a real star, is right here very a lot a member of an immaculately built-in ensemble, wherein no particular person singer dominates. Her tone is superb, her coloratura and trills exactingly exact, however at all times positioned on the service of character and drama quite than show. She sounds notably ravishing in Tornami A Dir Che M’Ami, her Act III duet with Lovell, a good-looking sounding tenor with a heat, liquid voice and straightforward excessive notes.
Fardilha, who sang the title position through the 2015 tour, makes an unusually endearing Pasquale, admirably suggesting the heat beneath the person’s bluster. It’s laborious to not be affected by his smiles of sheer pleasure on the considered getting married, even at his age, and the sob in his voice when Norina ultimately hits him breaks your coronary heart. Montague Rendall, in the meantime, is one other excellent artist, extremely charismatic on stage, his voice splendidly fluid and expressive: his huge patter duet with Fardilha is each bit the spectacular showstopper it must be. Glassberg conducts with irresistible panache, and there’s some fabulously detailed taking part in from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Immensely gratifying, and the perfect Don Pasquale I’ve ever heard.
Till 27 August
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