Fresh delights in old lovers' game
Murray Black | September 22, 2009
FOR all its comic brilliance, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte leaves a nasty aftertaste. The game Don Alfonso plays with the four lovers is amusing yet cruel. And the message that all women are fickle and inconstant is blatantly misogynistic.
But Cosi is also about the getting of wisdom. At the opera's end, Ferrando, Guglielmo, Fiordiligi and Dorabella have learned to appreciate the ambiguities and complexities of life and love.
Sung in English, this new production directed by Jim Sharman focuses on the opera's brighter, wiser side. Sharman's stated aim was to capture its glittering surface and emotional depths. By and large, he has succeeded. Much of this success is thanks to one of the strongest, freshest casts for Opera Australia in recent memory.
There was not a weak moment, frayed line or tremulous quiver within earshot. Nor did the singers' energetic performances lapse into caricature. Sexual and comic intrigue was made vivid without becoming crass.
Pure and agile across her tessitura, soprano Rachelle Durkin was genuinely moving as she grappled with Fiordiligi's emotional confusion.
Sian Pendry's richly coloured, warm-toned singing suited Dorabella's more calculating and seductive nature.
As their beaus, tenor Henry Choo (Ferrando) and baritone Shane Lowrencev (Guglielmo) made a convincing transition from boastful complacency to bitter disillusionment. Choo's secure, attractive top-register singing and Lowrencev's dark-hued, resounding timbre were impressive.
Singing with firm, unadorned clarity, Jose Carbo depicted the world-weary Don Alfonso as essentially good-natured, retaining ironic detachment without cynicism. As Despina, Tiffany Speight displayed astute tonal variety to match her winningly perky characterisation. In the pit, conductor Simon Hewett and the orchestra's fleet tempos, buoyant rhythms, sensitive phrasing and clearly defined textures generated vivacity and warmth.
Taking the opera out of its 18th-century context, Sharman and his production team have created an abstract setting that looks contemporary yet timeless.
White dominates the sets, props and lighting, and Gabriela Tylesova's colourful costumes make a bold impact.
Although the production's freshness and lightness of touch were highly appealing, not everything worked. The video projections, seemingly de rigueur these days, were irritating and the Japanese wedding set-piece didn't make sense. Sharman has said there are several ideas about it. They flew high and wide over this reviewer's head.
