GUILIO CESARE (Glyndebourne)*****

 

By Louise

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLyrAaHmdvo

Available until: 5pm, 16th August 2020

This is a production from 2005, about six months before I was born. I obviously don’t remember when it was new but we have it on DVD and even before I watched it for the first time, I knew about the production and some of the circumstances around it. I think it’s clear right from the start how special this performance is. It’s a long opera, at just under four hours (without interval), but the music is so beautiful, the plot is so exciting and the singers make the characters so interesting, even when you don’t like them, it seemed a lot shorter. Even though I knew the opera, it was easy to get caught up in the story and I wanted to see and hear what happened next.

William Christie conducted the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and made the music really exciting to listen to – even when there was no singing, the orchestra seemed to be telling us part of the story or something about the characters and how they were feeling.

The stage seemed rather dark, which seems quite common with David McVicar’s productions. This makes some parts difficult to see properly – though I do love Paule Constable’s blue moonlight effect in some of Cleopatra’s scenes - but I love the production because although there is a lot of action with several fight scenes, it focuses on the characters as people. Robert Jones’ set is sparse but very elegant. The rolling waves of the ocean sit at the back of the set with clouds passing above them. It’s beautiful – when the characters allow you to notice it. Props are limited and they are usually there for a clear reason, which makes them into an important part of the action and not just decoration. Pompeo’s severed head wasn’t very nice, but I think I would be a lot more worried if I did like it.

One reason why I love filmed opera productions is because I can see the attention to detail in the performances. Little glances and expressions which I might easily have missed if I wasn’t sitting very close to the stage are much easier to see in close-up. It is a great way of showing how complete a performer the opera singer is. Acting ability does obviously vary in opera, but Glyndebourne have assembled a very talented cast.

Sarah Connolly’s ability to transform herself, visibly and physically, into a man is really exceptional (my brother Cal says she totally messes with his gaydar) and the personality she gives Cesare is so magnetic, it takes a few moments to realise she also has an amazing voice - powerful, flexible and beautiful. I see her as a high-lying mezzo so the role sits low in her voice, not low enough to cause her any difficulties at all but low enough to make the notes feel even deeper and more masculine.

Cleopatra is played by Danielle de Niese. She wasn’t supposed to be playing the role at all, but she replaced the scheduled performer and instantly became a star. She is very beautiful and glamorous, which always helps with a role like Cleopatra, and her dance training enables her to add an extra element to her performance as she joins in gracefully with Andrew George’s choreography. Her Cleopatra is very flirtatious, but she can also seem almost innocent at times because of the sincerity in her performance. She’s also a vocally brilliant Handelian – her voice is sweet and light but has the power to fill any auditorium. Whether she’s singing coquettish coloratura or a more lyrical aria, her voice is stunning.

Patricia Bardon gives a very clever performance as Cornelia. At first, I thought she was quiet and dignified, but then I became aware of the determination and passion under the surface, which occasionally burst out, though she showed a gentler side in her lovely relationship with her son, Sesto. Angelika Kirchshlager doesn’t have Sarah Connolly’s masculinity, but you wouldn’t expect Sesto to. He’s like a teenager, wanting to be a man one moment, then hiding his head in his mother’s lap and wanting to be a baby again. Being a teenager is full of confusions and contradictions and emotions and Angelika Kirchschlager demonstrates this perfectly as, over the course of the opera, Sesto grows up.

Although they are an important part of the story, the villains can sometimes be overshadowed by the romance between Cesare and Cleopatra, as well as Sesto’s desire for revenge for the death of his father, but that that doesn’t happen this production. Christophe Dumaux’s oily Tolomeo and Christopher Maltman’s smirking Achilla are really chilling and creepy. Rachid Ben Abdeslam’s adorable Nireno provides some very welcome relief, but the best men are the ones played by women.

This production will only be available till Sunday 16^th August, but it is available on DVD. It is brilliant and I really do recommend it.