Reviżjonijiet tal-Produzzjoni Passata
11Movingly articulated at the close of this English-language performance by Grant Doyle’s big-hearted Forester, the inspiring final scene, showing him overwhelmed by the eternal beauty of the environment where he has spent his life, is underpinned by the soaring playing of the City of London Sinfonia in Jonathan Dove’s canny reduction of the composer’s original score under conductor Jessica Cottis.
Grant Doyle sings his noble epilogue about the passing of time and the meaning of life with total security, and seven years on from playing the Forester in Daniel Slater’s brilliant production for Garsington, he’s also won the right to meditate on ageing.
The tenor Peter Hoare was very impressive in the hugely demanding part of Orpheus the man (as opposed to Orpheus the myth and Orpheus the hero, also played well by Daniel Norman and Matthew Smith respectively) but the whole cast coped magnificently with the outlandish score.
This is the last of the four operas based on the Orpheus myth which the ENO had the wonderfully crazy idea of bringing together for the last few months of this year and on the whole the quartet has been a success. It began with Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice which is full of great music and tells effectively the basic story of Orpheus travelling to Hades to try to bring back his beloved Eurydice after her untimely death.
The various supporting roles came in the names of Jennifer France, Krisztina Szabó and Andri Björn Róbertsson, all of excellent level where the latter managed to change himself to a madman
Bass-baritone Andri Björn Róbertsson as Witness 3 and an excellent personification of the Madman
And the singers have to be versatile; for instance, the accomplished British baritone Mark Stone (who will be performing Wotan in Norway next month) has to sing ‘The White Knight, The Cheshire Cat, a Soldier, Bottle 3, Cake 3, Baby 3, Oyster 3, Passenger 5, and Daisy 3’
