The Scottish Mail on Sunday

DAVID MELLOR

Glyndebour­ne, East Sussex

- Luisa Miller Mané Galoyan as Luisa Miller

Until Sunday

Tristan Und Isolde Glyndebour­ne, East Sussex Until Saturday

Glyndebour­ne ends its season strongly with quality performanc­es of Verdi’s Luisa Miller and Wagner’s Tristan Und Isolde. Luisa Miller is finally getting its due, with opera houses and audiences increasing­ly prepared to overlook the flaws – notably a barely credible plot where the two principals, Luisa and Rodolfo, are naive beyond belief – because the music is strong, notably the aria Quando Le Sere Al Placido.

At Glyndebour­ne the music is very stylishly presented, the drama less so. Star of the evening is the conductor Enrique Mazzola. His easy command of Verdi’s idiom is obvious throughout, and it’s no surprise he is to become music director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The mostly East European cast’s efforts make it difficult to understand why, back at its premiere in Naples in December 1849, Luisa Miller made so little impact. Mané Galoyan as Luisa, Vladislav Sulimsky as her father and Krzysztof Baczyk as a slimy Wurm are stylish singers I’d love to hear again.

As is Evgeny Stavinsky as Count Walter, though his acting is a bit crude, putting himself about as if auditionin­g to be the next dictator of Belarus.

Happily, Glyndebour­ne splashed the cash on the American tenor Charles Castronovo, who was a first-rate

Rodolfo, Luisa’s ineffectua­l lover. Lots of people liked Christof Loy’s direction, but I didn’t much. The chorus, having been banished offstage by Covid, gave Loy a chance to focus on the dramatic interactio­ns between the principals. Instead he populated the bare white stage with modern-dress, black-andwhite-clad extras, like an Armani fashion show. The class element between the earthy Millers and the Count, so vital to the plot, was thereby all but lost, as they all looked the same.

The semi-staged (by Daniel Dooner) concert performanc­e of Tristan Und Isolde, with the orchestra on stage, gave us a welcome opportunit­y to think our own thoughts without being assailed by the often alien ideas of modern Wagner directors. Conductor Robin Ticciati gave us a detailed reading; lyrical but without the elemental power of a top Wagner conductor. The concluding Liebestod is strangely limp, although that may be due to the conductor trying to help a fastfading Miina-Liisa Värelä as Isolde. The Finnish soprano is the only disappoint­ing cast member. Simon O’Neill is a tireless Tristan, and Karen Cargill a resolute Brangäne. The Chinese bass Shenyang, a Cardiff Singer of the World winner, makes a first-class impression as Kurwenal, as does John Relyea as

King Marke.

QUALITY:

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