Italian Style
19 April

Welsh National Opera rolled into town and started our Easter with a little Italian style.

Our first visit was to the now traditional yoking of Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana and Ruggiero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. The last time Ross and I saw these two was in a performance by our dear friends, the Chisinau National Opera. Thinking back, I can remember a lot about the Cav of that night but little of the Pag. The directness of utterance and emotion of the first piece suited them whilst the more sophisticated music making of the second was not to their taste.

With the Welsh it was completely the other way around. The conductor, new Music Director, Tugan Sokhiev, didn't have the measure of Cav at all but really came into his own with Pag. Susan Gorton's magisterial Mama Lucia and Jonathan Summers' menacing Alfio were the best things about the performance. The production was delightful. Dennis O'Neil (understandably) seemed to be holding something in reserve for the second half. Antonia Sotgiu as Santuzza had no such excuse. I can only give this an average two star rating.

Everything about the Pag was classy. The production (updated but tastefully so) struck the right note and the orchestra revelled in the extra input from the conductor. The chorus and the clown supernuminaries had a whale of a time. Dennis O'Neil and Jonathan Summers struck sparks off each other. Nuccia Focile (last summer's Butterfly in Llandudno) and Leigh Melrose were luscious as the lovers though neither of them really has a big enough voice for this sort of repertoire. I last heard him as Ned Keane in Peter Grimes at the Coliseum. I had the shivers up and down the spine by the end. A sure sign that four stars is in order.

After a day in the garden in a sweltering heatwave on Thursday, it was off in the evening for Gaetano Donizetti's The Elixir of Love. English National Opera's 1998 production suffered from an overdose of trying to make everything relevant. This production got everything right by playing it all straight and by trusting the opera at its own face value. The director relocated the piece to 1950s Italy on the terrace of a seaside hotel. Adina (Natalie Christie) became the owner, Nemorino (Gwyn Hughes Jones) a waiter, Belcore (David Kempster) a naval officer in whites, Dulcamara (Neal Davies) an Elmer Gantry like figure dropping out of the sky in a balloon. The social distinctions were preserved. Singing and acting all went well and Julian Smith conducted an exemplary, if slightly slow, performance. Three stars for a good show.

Good Friday included a meal on the Wirral with my parents. There was also a trip out to Sudley House to look at the paintings.

Otherwise, it's been a restful time. I've played Sim City 4 quite a lot.