RadamistoDir David Alden, ENO 7th October-4th November
You can spot a David Alden production a mile off: real singing actors giving performances of true emotional intensity on boldly designed stages. Old school “stand and deliver” practice—singers rooted to the spot, devoted solely to flawless vocals, usually to soporific effect—is, mercifully, banished. His transfixing ENO production of Handel’s Ariodante has been revived countless times and he’s returning with a new production of Handel’s Radamisto. Not so much rarely as barely performed, Radamisto, written in 1720, features a typically Handelian cast of intertwined, dynamic characters at war with one another, in this case literally, with the title character saving his lusted-after wife from the tyrant besieging his city. As with his recent electrifying Peter Grimes, Alden’s hallmark is expressionism. Subtext comes to the fore and passions not only seethe but are shown in high contrast in every sense. Not for nothing is he working with leading lighting designer Rick Fisher.
Opera audiences, more populated by arch traditionalists than any other form, haven’t always embraced Alden. His introduction of a chainsaw into Tchaikovsky’s Mazeppa made him notorious. But his revelation and dramatic amplification of motive and idea always derive not just from the libretto but also from the score. With Handel specialist Laurence Cummings conducting the latter, the music-drama could not be in better hands.
You can spot a David Alden production a mile off: real singing actors giving performances of true emotional intensity on boldly designed stages. Old school “stand and deliver” practice—singers rooted to the spot, devoted solely to flawless vocals, usually to soporific effect—is, mercifully, banished. His transfixing ENO production of Handel’s Ariodante has been revived countless times and he’s returning with a new production of Handel’s Radamisto. Not so much rarely as barely performed, Radamisto, written in 1720, features a typically Handelian cast of intertwined, dynamic characters at war with one another, in this case literally, with the title character saving his lusted-after wife from the tyrant besieging his city. As with his recent electrifying Peter Grimes, Alden’s hallmark is expressionism. Subtext comes to the fore and passions not only seethe but are shown in high contrast in every sense. Not for nothing is he working with leading lighting designer Rick Fisher.
Opera audiences, more populated by arch traditionalists than any other form, haven’t always embraced Alden. His introduction of a chainsaw into Tchaikovsky’s Mazeppa made him notorious. But his revelation and dramatic amplification of motive and idea always derive not just from the libretto but also from the score. With Handel specialist Laurence Cummings conducting the latter, the music-drama could not be in better hands.
