FIDELIO (Opera North/Leeds Town Hall)****

 

By Tommy

Link: https://ondemand.operanorth.co.uk/productions/fidelio-2020 £15

Available until: On demand till Saturday 19^th December at midnight.

Fidelio might seem like a surprising choice of opera for the Christmas season, but it could be considered extremely apt for the times in which we are currently living. A husband and wife, Leonore and Florestan, are enduring a long separation. Florestan is in almost complete isolation from the world, with limited contact with his jailers. Leonore, disguised as a boy named Fidelio, is taking on another role which is completely alien to her in order to survive a difficult time.

Certainly, on watching this excellent concert performance from Opera North, there were certain moments where parallels to the current situation struck me, which I will not attempt to describe in case anyone who is kind enough to read this review is unfamiliar with the opera.

Fidelio is a dramatic German opera, with the music punctuated by sections of spoken dialogue. This is seen by many as a weakness of the opera and it’s a view with which Opera North might agree. The spoken dialogue is replaced by short pieces of narration, written by David Pountney and spoken by Matthew Stiff as Don Fernando, who is looking back at the events of the opera and attempting to work out exactly what happened.

I have never had any particular objection to the spoken word – after all, Die Zauberflöte and Carmen are two of the most popular operas – but other than the fact that the ending of the opera is revealed almost in the first sentence, this approach is very effective, despite the slightly jarring sensation caused by the jump from German singing to English narration. It is quick and concise, and in a matter of seconds, we are once more hearing Beethoven’s beautiful music.

The orchestra has been reduced for this production, but it did not at any point sound inadequate or threadbare. On the contrary, under the baton of Mark Wigglesworth, the Orchestra of Opera North make the music sound atmospheric and textured, with an additional element of danger that reminded me very much of the overture of Don Giovanni. While the music is, of course, very different, the effects produced are similar.

The Chorus of the Opera North are also reduced, but there are enough of them to produce an incredibly beautiful sound. They are socially distant, which gives a greater impression of the chorus as individual prisoners, who are alone and isolated, despite being all in the same situation. Stuart Laing and James Davies sing beautifully as the solo Prisoners.

Rachel Nicholls gives a powerful performance of Leonore, an incredibly courageous woman (or indeed person: many men would not have her courage and determination and nor would I expect them to) who easily elicits our admiration. She scales her voice down when singing with others with lighter voices without compromising herself vocally in any way, then allows it to soar through the auditorium when she sings alone or with Florestan. A fine performance of a very remarkable character.

Florestan does not appear until quite late in the opera, but Toby Spence makes an instant impression with a very impressive characterisation of a man who has been a prisoner so long. A man of strength and courage, but everyone has their limits in both body and mind. He interprets the challenging aria beautifully. Every note is important.

The rich-voiced Brindley Sherratt plays Rocco, a loving and compassionate man under considerable stress. Marzelline is initially flighty, but Fflur Wyn’s sweet soprano is equally able to convey maturity as Marzelline slowly shows more understanding of the world around her. Oliver Johnston’s Jaquino has perhaps not the most incisive grasp of events, but he seems loyal and likeable in a strongly-sung performance. Robert Hayward is a particularly fine Don Pizarro, explosively angry at one moment and coldly cruel the next and, in his new incarnation as a narrator, Don Fernando (Matthew Stiff) is no longer a mysterious character who only arrives at the end but an intelligent and fair-minded man who appears regularly throughout the opera.

At the end of the concert, the singers, conductor, orchestra and chorus stand and face outwards. There is no applause. There are no bows. It is a striking and very profound moment. A show of togetherness. Of not giving up.