‘Bill for drapery in this lavish staging of Verdi favourite must have been huge’
La traviata, Scottish Opera Theatre Royal Glasgow Keith Bruce ****
THE early bankability of Sir David Mcvicar as a director of opera was aligned with a skill in supplying memorable productions on a restricted budget. It is reasonable to speculate that this is no longer the case. The bill for curtains alone for his staging of Verdi’s La traviata must have been astronomical – there are a lot of drapes in his and designer Tanya Mccallin’s Belle Epoque salons and boudoirs.
With an enormous cast, all sumptuously costumed, the money is all there on the stage in this second revival of a production that Scottish Opera has also successfully sold on to other houses.
In the pit, the company’s music director Stuart Stratford conducts it for the first time, and his interpretation is one of the glories of this incarnation. The balance is immaculate throughout, between instrumentalists and singers, between pit orchestra and offstage band, and between the soloists and the quite superb Scottish Opera chorus. The subtle gradations of dynamics and tempi, much of the music almost boldly understated, are crucial elements of the measured storytelling that distinguishes this production.
The cast of principals is excellent without ever quite being spine-tinglingly sensational. Established company favourite Hye-youn Lee is as technically assured as ever as Violetta, her confident leaps of pitch always precision-engineered but never, perhaps, truly heart-rending. Her Alfredo, Ji-min Park, is making his company debut, and was clearly emotionally deeply invested in this first night, while his strong tenor voice was married to diction so immaculate that it occasionally seemed to be consuming a little too much of his attention.
Philip Rhodes, another returnee from recent Scotop successes, contributes a very nuanced Germont in shifts between ramrod correctness and emotional honesty during act two. The smaller roles are cast with Scottish Opera’s usual deft skill, with Heather Ireson especially affecting as Violetta’s maid Annina in the tragic last act.
The ensemble impresses most, however. It is a delight to be savoured to see the Theatre Royal stage so full for a production and, alongside some very fine dancers, the chorus sings and moves with consummate skill, with little details of characterisation all over the place.
The complaint is often made that there are too few performances of Scottish Opera’s work, but there are another 14 on this tour, which goes on to Inverness, Aberdeen and Edinburgh over the next five weeks. One to catch if you possibly can.