INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL REVIEWS

MUSIC

Hänsel und Gretel Usher Hall JJJJ

Right from the horns’ first notes setting the fairy-tale tone with the key angelic theme of German composer Engelbert Humperdinck’s much-loved opera, Hänsel und Gretel, all augered well for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s concert performance of it at the Usher Hall on Wednesday.

Affectionate and caressing under Andrew Davis’s enveloping baton, the watchful angels magically transformed to bring sparkle and the wonder of the Grimm Brothers’ well-known children’s story rippling through every section of the orchestra in the Overture.

As the main characters appeared, however, the fulsome symphonic sound tended to overbalance them. Big though the voices of Elizabeth Deshong’s Hänsel and Laura Wilde’s Gretel were, it was still difficult to hear the words, with the text only able to be fully followed through reading the surtitles.

And a truly coherent sense of what was going on was a missed opportunity through each soloist having their own opera dress-code – Gretel in floral summer dress, Hänsel in black leggings and long cardigan, the father in full tails – and a hotch-potch of ideas about how to act out their parts.

Only Thomas Blondelle’s stylish witch really carried off the role, with the singers of NYCOS National Girls Choir bringing a touch of pure light at the end.