OPERA: Beethoven’s Fidelio
BY: Opera Australia
WHERE: Opera House
WHEN: Until August 29
With its openness, warm, clear lighting and Napoleonic garb, Michael Hampe’s production of Fidelio (first staged by Opera Australia in 1992) celebrates fundamental tenets of the Age of Enlightenment: righteous determination rewarded and triumph over political persecution.
Leonore’s unwavering determination to rescue her imprisoned husband, and the spirit of heroism found in Beethoven’s only opera, has been likened to his dogged will to continue composing even after his hearing had deteriorated, making this morality tale all the more inspiring.
Elizabeth Stannard must be praised for her determination, opening Opera Australia’s 2009 revival as Leonore and continuing in performances as first Lisa Gasteen and then Nicole Youl were forced to withdraw (the latter temporarily) due to injury and illness respectively.
Stannard may not have quite the depth of tone one hopes to hear in the title role, nor was her stagecraft entirely fluid, but her rich mezzo was admirable for its warmth and passion throughout.
Her intensity crystallised during the great second-act duet that sees Leonore finally reunited with her beloved Florestan.
Julian Gavin offered the evening’s finest singing and dramatic performance at the beginning of Act Two, though his full, robust tenor certainly doesn’t give the impression of an inmate chained to a dungeon wall, weakened by starvation and lack of sunlight.
Peter Coleman-Wright as Don Pizarro embodied cruelty, corruption and conspiracy, singing with a full-bodied, dark tone well suited to the cloaked villain.
In Marzelline, ill-fated enough to fall in love with Leonore disguised as a man, soprano Lorina Gore embraces her ideal role, both vocally (light and supple) and dramatically. Her playful scenes rejecting the advances of Jaquino are a delight, among the most enjoyable in this production.
Warwick Fyfe’s Don Fernando concludes the opera with great pomp and composure.
Particularly memorable in John Gunter’s beautifully-balanced design is the moving scene in which the chorus of male prisoners is permitted to step into the sunlight after months and years wasting away in cold, dark cells. Here, musically, the strings are luminous and the voices express wonderment and yearning in perfect harmony.
Though the chorus provided superb support throughout, the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra was often sloppy under conductor Jonathan Darlington, with a lack of refinement in strings and a well controlled but lacklustre brass sound.
The cast’s strength was in duet and in key solo moments of reflection, but together in trios, quartets and ensemble sections the balance was almost always poorly judged.
