Icy Blast
5 October

Well, it's suddenly taken a turn for the chillier.

We've started putting the central heating on a little earlier than has been usual for the past few years. Some days, certainly, are quite warm and bright; others and cold and bright; and some are just downright cold and miserable. Maybe this is a sign of a cold winter to come after such a long, hot summer.

It was a chilly stage picture too in Leeds at the premier of Opera North's new Rusalka. I went with Roland. We both benefitted from free tickets as they were comping the house. As it turned out, there was good reason for that.

Rusalka is about the contrasts between the world of nature and the world of civilisation, the world of the material and the world of the spirit, the world of the forest and the world of the town. To set the whole thing in a giant ice cube just went against everything in the music. I counted the references to ice in the text - there were three - water was "icy", weather was "cold" and Rusalka was "frigid". That was it. There were numerous references to salvation and damnation and other Christian words. You never have known it from the stage picture.

Vocally, it was underpowered throughout. It was fifteen minutes into the piece before I heard any of the words and we were sitting in the stalls. Best performances were John Graham-Hall's Huntsman, Susannah Glanville's Foreign Princess and Susan Bickley's Jezibaba. Orchestrally, at least, it was splendid. It was good to have heard the music again but it was a frosty evening out. I'd have given it one star but, after the dire Rigoletto of last week, It was probably worth two for the evident commitment shown on stage.