Glyndebourne
It is more years than I care to admit since I was last at Glyndebourne, so I was delighted when two friends from London asked me to join their party this year.
We assembled at Victoria Station, complete with picnic hamper and all the necessary food and drink. The train to Lewes took just over an hour and then we were met by a coach from the opera house itself. Despite dire weather warnings, by the time we arrived at Glyndebourne it was a perfect summer afternoon. We selected our spot in the garden and unloaded our picnic. There was then time for a walk around the lake, and a glass of champagne enjoying the afternoon sunshine and admiring the Sussex countryside before we made our way to the opera house.
Opera here started in the 1930s in a converted barn seating just over 300. In the early 1990s a completely new opera house was built. It seats about 1150, is in a traditional horseshoe design but cleverly keeps the twin Glyndebourne themes of ‘summer’ and ‘country’. Inside there are no velvet drapes but instead exposed wood. The outside steps are still in stone or concrete and the balconies around the house are all open: extensively used for opera-goers’ picnics when it is raining.
The opera was Verdi’s”Macbeth”. Glyndebourne have a very careful casting policy. You will not see big names here but you will often catch young singers on the verge of a major career: Sutherland, Pavarotti, Caballe and Alagna all sang here as youngsters. Alternatively you may catch little-known singers who have been carefully chosen because they fit a certain role in a theatre of this size. The latter was the case here.
The title role was sung by Andrzej Dobber, who fulfilled all the vocal and dramatic requirements of the role perfectly well. Even better was Sylvie Valayre as Lady Macbeth, her steely soprano voice just right for the part and well up to the “Cherie Blair” characterisation of Richard Jones’s production. I thought the outstanding vocal performance came from Stanislav Shvets’s sonorous Banquo and it was nice to see Opera North regular Peter Auty as Macduff. The resident orchestra is the London Philharmonic, who played superbly under Damien Iorio.
The production was by Richard Jones. Not always an easy director, I thought his style, often with large elements of back humour, worked well in this opera. There were lots of kilts for the men and the witches were three generations of Glasgow lassies: grannies, mums and short-skirted teenagers. They cooked their witches brew over an exploding gas cooker. After the murder of Banquo (chillingly portrayed), his head is brought to Macbeth in a cardboard box stained with blood – and it is this box that reappears to provoke Macbeth’s outburst during the banquet scene – and even followed him around the stage. Lady Macbeth’s sleep-walking scene was also vividly done with her repeatedly putting on white gloves, only to immediately peel them off and throw them into a washing machine.
The biggest miscalculation of the evening was the decision to include the ballet music. There was no point to it, it held up the action and the tension and the music is not of any distinction. Otherwise this was a production that was never less than interesting and at times totally gripping.
It is easy to dismiss Glyndebourne as a ‘social’ event. There is an 85 minute dinner interval for the picnic (ours was gazpacho, poached salmon and strawberries and cream) or eating in one of the opera house's restaurants. And it is true that it does attract a largely mature and very smart audience: dinner jackets for the men; posh frocks for the ladies. But the standard of the opera is very high indeed and the whole thing continues to set the standard for country house opera. I found it a quite delightful experience.
We assembled at Victoria Station, complete with picnic hamper and all the necessary food and drink. The train to Lewes took just over an hour and then we were met by a coach from the opera house itself. Despite dire weather warnings, by the time we arrived at Glyndebourne it was a perfect summer afternoon. We selected our spot in the garden and unloaded our picnic. There was then time for a walk around the lake, and a glass of champagne enjoying the afternoon sunshine and admiring the Sussex countryside before we made our way to the opera house.
Opera here started in the 1930s in a converted barn seating just over 300. In the early 1990s a completely new opera house was built. It seats about 1150, is in a traditional horseshoe design but cleverly keeps the twin Glyndebourne themes of ‘summer’ and ‘country’. Inside there are no velvet drapes but instead exposed wood. The outside steps are still in stone or concrete and the balconies around the house are all open: extensively used for opera-goers’ picnics when it is raining.
The opera was Verdi’s”Macbeth”. Glyndebourne have a very careful casting policy. You will not see big names here but you will often catch young singers on the verge of a major career: Sutherland, Pavarotti, Caballe and Alagna all sang here as youngsters. Alternatively you may catch little-known singers who have been carefully chosen because they fit a certain role in a theatre of this size. The latter was the case here.
The title role was sung by Andrzej Dobber, who fulfilled all the vocal and dramatic requirements of the role perfectly well. Even better was Sylvie Valayre as Lady Macbeth, her steely soprano voice just right for the part and well up to the “Cherie Blair” characterisation of Richard Jones’s production. I thought the outstanding vocal performance came from Stanislav Shvets’s sonorous Banquo and it was nice to see Opera North regular Peter Auty as Macduff. The resident orchestra is the London Philharmonic, who played superbly under Damien Iorio.
The production was by Richard Jones. Not always an easy director, I thought his style, often with large elements of back humour, worked well in this opera. There were lots of kilts for the men and the witches were three generations of Glasgow lassies: grannies, mums and short-skirted teenagers. They cooked their witches brew over an exploding gas cooker. After the murder of Banquo (chillingly portrayed), his head is brought to Macbeth in a cardboard box stained with blood – and it is this box that reappears to provoke Macbeth’s outburst during the banquet scene – and even followed him around the stage. Lady Macbeth’s sleep-walking scene was also vividly done with her repeatedly putting on white gloves, only to immediately peel them off and throw them into a washing machine.
The biggest miscalculation of the evening was the decision to include the ballet music. There was no point to it, it held up the action and the tension and the music is not of any distinction. Otherwise this was a production that was never less than interesting and at times totally gripping.
It is easy to dismiss Glyndebourne as a ‘social’ event. There is an 85 minute dinner interval for the picnic (ours was gazpacho, poached salmon and strawberries and cream) or eating in one of the opera house's restaurants. And it is true that it does attract a largely mature and very smart audience: dinner jackets for the men; posh frocks for the ladies. But the standard of the opera is very high indeed and the whole thing continues to set the standard for country house opera. I found it a quite delightful experience.
posted by Alnwickian at 8:07 pm
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