Planning operatic double payments is at all times one thing of a problem, however having paired early Puccini with Delius in 2022 [see my review], Opera Holland Park has returned with one other intriguing pairing. Taking the imaginative choice to contemplate Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci by itself fairly than in tandem with Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, the corporate paired it with a revival of their 2019 manufacturing of Wolf-Ferrari’s Il segreto di Susanna, placing collectively two operas each by Italians, composed inside lower than 20 years of one another and each coping with matrimonial jealousy, the one comedian and the opposite tragic. 

Leoncavallo: Pagliacci – David Butt Philip, Alison Langer – Opera Holland Park (Photograph: Ali Wright)

We started with Wolf-Ferrari’s Il segreto di Susanna, written in 1909 and one of many composer’s few operas to retain something like its place within the repertoire. Wolf-Ferrari applies a lightweight but imaginative contact to the music, the type is filled with sly references but sparkles alongside. John Wilkie directed, with John Andrews conducting the Metropolis of London Sinfonia with Richard Burkhard because the Rely, Clare Presland because the Countess, and John Savournin within the silent position of Sante. Designs have been by takis.

There was an actual sparkle to the orchestral contribution from the primary notes of the overture (which has a life as a live performance piece). The background to the drama, akin to it’s, was the sensible comedian mime of Savournin because the Rely and Countess’ servant plus the 2 maids,  Naomi Kilby and Valerie Wong.  

Savournin’s method with the character was each comedian and telling, and he managed to be expressive in a silent movie method with out ever saying a phrase. Wilkie retains the comedy going, the manufacturing rattles alongside in parallel to the music, however he’s working with the fabric and by no means sending the characters up. Because the Rely, Richard Burkhard produced a beautiful research in obsessive jealousy, well-observed and humorous, but disturbing too. The person was a buffoon, but his behaviour was perilously near that of Canio in Pagliacci. Clare Presland had been in poor health for the earlier week, however her voice gave solely the barest suggestion. Her Countess was sly and wilful, following the Rely’s orders in identify solely and seeming to benefit from the recreation of deceiving him. The opera’s joke, in fact, is that it isn’t one other man that she is hiding however her ‘evil’ behavior of smoking (one thing girls weren’t presupposed to do, on the time). This factors to a different attention-grabbing hyperlink between the night’s two operas, each cope with complicated topics, the one smoking and the opposite home violence (and when you assume you may’t make a comedy about home violence, the consider Donizetti’s Rita!).

Wolf-Ferrari: Il segreto di Susanna – Clare Presland – Opera Holland Park (Photograph: Ali Wright)

Wolf-Ferrari composed some 15 operas, together with 5 based mostly on Goldoni’ performs and one loosely based mostly on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. To this point, Opera Holland Park have performed two and on this foundation of this manufacturing it will be good to assume the corporate may take pleasure in a bit extra operatic archaeology within the composer’s output.

Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci is a traditional torrid operatic story the place the male protagonists are largely disagreeable and the lady dies on the finish. The work’s actual curiosity comes from the sensible method Leoncavallo depicts the arc of Canio’s jealousy, a present of the position for the precise tenor. 

The brand new manufacturing at Opera Holland Park was directed by Martin Lloyd-Evans and designed by Bridget Kimak, with Francesco Cilluffo conducting the Metropolis of London Sinfonia. David Butt Philip was Canio, Alison Langer was Nedda, Robert Hayward was Tonio, Zwakele Tshabalala was Beppe and Harry Thatcher was Silvo.

Leoncavallo: Pagliacci – Zwakele Tshabalala  – Opera Holland Park (Photograph: Ali Wright)

Kimak’s designs positioned the opera within the post-war interval, however the setting was summary. The 4 gamers merely appeared throughout the prologue, strolling throughout the railway line (a characteristic of the set), giving a suggestion of the improper facet of the tracks and hinting at an remoted neighborhood. However Lloyd-Evans was not interested by social element, this was not the kind of manufacturing that crammed the opera with neo-realistic fussiness, as an alternative we targeted very a lot on the characters. This benefited the opera enormously, avoiding the picturesque and permitting us to focus on the unfolding drama with out worrying concerning the whys and wherefores of the theatre firm doing a Pierrot present. Lloyd-Evans used the fore-stage for the play inside a play with the refrain/viewers on the primary stage, an imaginative contact that used the Opera Holland Park stage to its finest benefit.

David Butt Philip has grow to be identified for his Wagner and Strauss roles and paradoxically these performances (his debut within the position) signify his solely main work within the UK this yr. That his voice is wider than the slim Wagner/Strauss fach may counsel was brilliantly demonstrated by his efficiency as Canio. The darkish baritonal timbre introduced a disturbing richness to Canio’s line. This was a slow-burn efficiency, accumulating because it unfolded. Sure, ‘Vesti la giubba’ was very high-quality certainly, nevertheless it was a part of a better and fairly disturbing entire.

Leoncavallo: Pagliacci – Robert Hayward, Alison Langer – Opera Holland Park (Photograph: Ali Wright)

Alison Langer supplied a high-quality foil to David Butt Philip, poised and interesting, she was fairly much less the unhappy canary than ordinary and at occasions you may virtually say feisty. Her birds aria was right here sung to a cell of cut-out birds, treating the piece as full metaphor fairly than picturesque window dressing. Robert Hayward’s Tonio was a superb portrayal of sheer nastiness. Counting on a persist with stroll, fairly than any kind of incapacity, Hayward’s efficiency was a research in attaining a robust impact with minimal means, very a lot a grasp class. He made a disturbing villain, and even his supply of the Prologue had a high-quality undertow to it.

The opera is concerning the dynamic of those three essential characters, however the two lesser ones are simply as essential. Zakele Tshabalala made an engagingly energetic Beppe, but created a factor of magnificence in Arlecchino’s serenade. Harry Thatcher supplied sterling help within the comparatively underwritten position of Silvio, Nedda’s real-life lover. Thatcher’s Silvio appeared to be a soldier, right down to earth and a high-quality distinction to David Butt Philip’s disturbing Canio.

The Opera Holland Park Refrain, with youngsters from the Pimlico Music Basis, have been in terrific type, filling the stage with energetic motion in addition to superb sounds. Within the pit, Francesco Cilluffo and the Metropolis of London Sinfonia supplied a full-blooded counterpart to the stage motion. This can be a rating stuffed with vivid orchestral moments, which by no means disillusioned. But, Cilluffo by no means overpassed the truth that they have been telling a narrative and music moved alongside admirably. Fairly closely scored at occasions (although this efficiency used a considerably diminished orchestration), Cilluffo ensured that the orchestra by no means dominate.

Pagliacci shouldn’t be an opera that I at all times take pleasure in, however Martin Lloyd-Evans’ stripped-down method paid nice dividends with this terrific solid. I do hope that Opera Holland Park lets the identical staff free on Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, I’d be intrigued by the outcomes.

Wolf-Ferrari: Il segreto di Susanna – Richard Burkhard – Opera Holland Park (Photograph: Ali Wright)

There was one thing fairly luxurious about this double invoice – two casts, two administrators and two conductors – however as a creative entire, it labored fairly effectively, making a extremely satisfying night within the theatre.