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Giulio Cesare
“The best singing came from baritone Gerald Finley's robust Achilla” Opera News
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Composer |
George Frideric Handel |
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Libretto |
Nicola Francesco Haym |
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Venue and Dates |
Royal Opera at the Barbican 13, 15, 17, 20, 21, 25, 29 September; 1 October 1997 |
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Conductor |
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Director |
Lindsay Posner |
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Production |
Set designs: Joanna Parker Lighting: Jean Kalman |
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Performers |
Giulio Cesare: Ann Murray
Nireno: Jonathan Peter Kenny |
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Notes |
What the critics say
The Telegraph, September 1997
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/1997/09/27/bpdut27.xml
A heroic, amorous and lubricious exile
THE Royal Opera has begun its exile from Covent Garden with a season at the Barbican Theatre. Good sightlines, comfortable seats and, to my ears, acceptable acoustics. It seats only 1,100, which makes it ideal for this season's opening production of Handel's Giulio Cesare. Its intimacy is right for 18th-century music and will surely be equally good for Britten's The Turn of the Screw next month.
Lindsay Posner's production was cheeky, beautifully lit (by Jean Kalman) and cleverly designed by Joanna Parker. Sometimes the sloping stage was bare, with only the changing colours of the backdrop as "scenery". At other times it was filled with pyramids, ships, camels and crocodiles. The costumes ranged from stage-Roman for Caesar to a camp get-up for Ptolemy, a matronly dress for Cordelia and a sexy trouser-suit, among other outfits, for Cleopatra. Sometimes we were in Handel's time, at others in Oxford Street today. It worked, even if it lacked the sheer style of Nicholas Hytner's ENO Xerxes.
The four hours sped by thanks to the excellence of the musical presentation. Ivor Bolton may not yet have the idiosyncratic sparkle of a Mackerras but he conducted with finesse and sensitivity, bringing out the amazingly "modern" colours of the score. The orchestral playing was neat and fluent.
Ann Murray's Caesar was a magnificent display of ornamental singing, heroic, amorous (her lubricious asides were delightful) and superbly controlled in those long undulating roulades. Her voice has lost some of the lustre of a decade ago, but glorious moments still abound. From Amanda Roocroft as Cleopatra we at last heard the performance on a London stage of which one has always known her capable - strong, clear singing and musical phrasing. Enunciation has always been her weak point, although she has improved it, but as I could never make out more than a word or two of what Joan Sutherland sang and she ended up Dame and OM, what can you say?
The counter-tenor David Daniels, who thrilled everybody last year in Theodora at Glyndebourne, again stole the show as Sesto. He had rivalry from two other excellent counter-tenors, Brian Asawa as a petulant Ptolemy (this was wrong) and Jonathan Peter Kenny as Nireno. Praise, too, for Gerald Finley as Achilla (too small a role for him, though) and Catherine Wyn-Rogers as Cordelia. Perhaps it was because I am a Handelian by application rather than by inclination that I enjoyed the evening more than some of my learned colleagues seem to have done. The old ENO production was better still, of course, but a masterpiece like this can take a bit of nonsense.
Tom Sutcliffe, Opera News, 31 January 1998
Leaving in Egitto off the title of Handel's Giulio Cesare seemed indicative of what turned out a near-disaster, even though Ivor Bolton conducted with distinction. Tackling his first opera, theater director Lindsay Posner evinced little confidence in the piece. Joanna Parker's designs were more like department-store window displays than telling backgrounds to one of the wittiest and sharpest of all opera comedies. Ann Murray's Cesare was skillful but somewhat lacking in energy. The cast included the cream of current American countertenors, which meant that some of the singing was both interesting to hear and technically ravishing. David Daniels was a rather faceless Sesto, his well-rounded tone devoid of conviction. Brian Asawa as Tolomeo (mostly carried around the stage) had much more spark and managed his coloratura effects well. As Cleopatra, Amanda Roocroft's large soprano did not flow freely, and she never responded to those around her with sufficient energy in this ensemble opera. The best singing came from baritone Gerald Finley's robust Achilla. Wyn-Rogers seemed uncomfortable as Cornelia.