OPERA REVIEW: Orpheus - The Theatre Royal, Nottingham.

The culmination of Opera North’s ‘Orpheus’ season is an ambitious attempt to fuse Claudio Monteverdi’s 1607 ‘Favola In Musica’ with a contemporary score utilising traditional Indian instruments by Jasdeep Singh Degun, arranged by Ashok Gupta. The risks inherent in such a venture are obvious: any attempt to bring western and eastern musical traditions can easily result in something that is neither fish, flesh, nor fowl.  

The present reviewer must admit to a degree of inadequacy in approaching this task, for while he has a reasonable knowledge of baroque opera, his knowledge of Indian and Bangladeshi music is by no means commensurate and while it was clear that the instrumentalists led by the composer on sitar were of the highest skill level (a percussion duet was particularly memorable), there were moments when the elisions between Monteverdi and Degun felt somewhat jarring and contrived. That said, Degun’s score does illuminate some of the similarities between the two traditions, for instance the use of vocal melisma common to both, though some of the lengthier vocal excursions felt like too much of a good thing .

Speaking of which:in his earlier review of ON’s 'Orfeo Ed Euridice', this reviewer noted the slightness of the plot, which is sufficient to sustain a short musical work along classical lines but might seem stretched in other circumstances. This version of 'Orpheus' clocks in at nearly three hours, with an interval - is that too long? Arguably, yes: there were certainly some longeurs and rather too many moments when tension was allowed to flag, perhaps to accommodate the improvisational nature of much of the new score.  As a result, the one and three quarter hour playing time of the first half reached near-Wagnerian proportions and, for once, an interval was sorely needed. Act One did, however, close with one of the evening’s indisputable successes, the long lament for Euridice in which all the vocalists joined.  

As Orpheus, tenor Nicholas Watts carried much of the burden of the evening, bringing to this demanding role an innate musicality as well as an engaging personality, both vital if the work is to have a sympathetic centre. The production, by Anna Himali Howard, seemed to be pitched uncertainly between a staged production and a concert performance, with the band arranged on either side of the stage and the performers occupying the centre. The natural world was represented as a council estate, the underworld as a ‘blank space’, decorated with wedding balloons, though the emphasis throughout was on the music rather than interaction between the characters.  

An interesting experiment then, which might be described as either a qualified failure or a qualified success, depending on your viewpoint. 

Reviewer - Paul Ashcroft\
on - 12.11.22