Orphée et Eurydice, Gluck
WNO, Oxford Apollo, 19/10/00.

Gluck, in writing Orphée and Eurydice, wanted his opera to achieve a 'beautiful simplicity'. The Welsh National Opera's production strives to fufill his vision, and almost succeeds.

The cast is made up of a full voiced and enthusiastic choir and the three leads - Orphée, Eurydice and L'Amour. Orphée, originally written for an alto castrato, is played by Katarina Karnéus. The suit, and a vaguely butch haircut, isn't really enough to convince one that Orphée is male. Orphée looks suitably mournful, an effect heightened by the 1950's civil servant get up. Eurydice's outfit - a sort of frumpy mid-nineties Sloane - induced a similarly disheartening reaction. However, Orphée unlike Eurydice, had the prescence and vocal ability to transcend any problems in staging or costume, and deservedly received a vigorous ovation. Both, however, suffered by comparison with L'Amour, played with enormous style by Jeni Bern. L'Amour was beautifully arch, infuriating and knowing. The costume was an extravagent confection of gold and peach, with frills and a powdered wig, and Bern's performance was of a similarly gilded standard.

There was, in fact, very little to fault musically, and much to delight in. The orchestra was conducted by Paul McCreesh, a baroque specialist, bringing a purity to this tradgedie-lyrique. Nevertheless, the artistic coherence was ultimately undermined by the staging. The first act set in a wooded glade passed without incident. However, the scene where Orphée descends into Hades seems to have been taken straight out of a Hammer Horror. The chorus had somehow been talked into a frankly silly dance-movement extravaganza, which lifted moves straight from Michael Jackson's Thriller video. The plight of the lost souls, condemned to an eternity of hell fire, didn't seem nearly so awful as that of the chorus. Nevertheless, dignity was recovered in the Elysian fields. The inspiration for this act, thankfully, seemed to be Seurat, bringing a hypnotic calm to Orphée's recovery of Eurydice.

Despite some obvious flaws, Orphée and Eurydice is a success. The skill and enthusiasm of the Welsh National Opera is always evident. They return to Oxford in the spring with The Marriage of Figaro - go and see them.

Sarah Montgomery 20.10.00