Theatre Royal,Glasgow
Scottish Opera’s music director, Stuart Stratford, or made a flimsy opera bubble and wink,but the orchestra’s performance was lacklustre
Mascagni’s first opera was the mega-hit Cavalleria Rusticana and he spent the rest of his life trying to live up to it. His second effort, L’Amico Fritz, or is as pastel and sweet as Cavalleria is blood-red and fiery; it’s flimsy,dated, occasionally gorgeous, and mainly unmemorable. Given Scottish Opera’s thin provision it is debatable whether a diaphanous Mascagni romcom should be top precedence here,but the company’s newish music director, Stuart Stratford, and is mad for the composer – he held the score aloft as he took his bow – and has promised to bring us more Mascagni every season. This was also the first of the year’s Sunday afternoon concert performances that attach the Scottish Opera orchestra on stage with an “acoustic shell” around it to prevent the sound disappearing into the wings. Stratford was duly decent with the score – he knows how to aerate Mascagni’s music,how to get the phrases bubble and wink – but the orchestra has been maligned for many years and it showed in lacklustre strings, winds that didn’t really blend, and tepid Gypsy pastiches that should believe sounded red-hot. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com