This review appeared in the Salisbury Journal
The burning question was whether Opera at Chilmark could get La Clemenza to fly.
David Davies, the Musical Director, explained why he decided to put it on. 'For all the reservations people have about La Clemenza, the genius of Mozart shines through. The choral passages are among the best he wrote for opera and the orchestration, especially for the wind section is remarkable.' With Jan Koene, the Director, spicing the tale with an assassination in the overture and a modern take on the story, and the excellent Chilmark orchestra and chorus exploring the strengths of the score with verve and confidence this production did indeed fly.
The reservations about the opera are that Mozart was presented in 1791 with a libretto not of his choosing and told to write a work as a celebration for the Coronation of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, as King of Bohemia. He had less than two months to do it in, he was not well, and he had the Requiem and Magic Flute also on the go. Mozart’s best work was when he was able to engage with a librettist – no chance of that here as Metastasio was dead, though he did appreciate the help of the poet Mazzola in knocking the libretto into something he could work with.
Michael Solomon Williams as Tito oozed goodness and the anguish which goes with it, and Ned Pattenden was the always true and dead honest Prefect. They both treated us to fine singing and excellent unfudged diction.
Sarah Forbes as the chancer Vitellia drizzled her performance with the necessary essence of duplicity while Vanessa Bowers delivered the innocence of Servilia with every bit of the tenderness Mozart intended.
In the fashion of the time two of the male roles were played by a female soprano and male castrato. These roles fell respectively to Emma Watkinson who gave a fluent account of Annio and to Tisbury's Leila Mather as the conspirator Sesto. Perhaps a little too attractively beguiling, but then conspirators can be just that, she took on this huge part without flagging in her musical interpretation for a moment. A special mention should be made of the clarinet playing of Sarah Scutt, sometimes echoing the voice parts and sometimes hovering over them as might a butterfly.
Min Wood
The burning question was whether Opera at Chilmark could get La Clemenza to fly.
David Davies, the Musical Director, explained why he decided to put it on. 'For all the reservations people have about La Clemenza, the genius of Mozart shines through. The choral passages are among the best he wrote for opera and the orchestration, especially for the wind section is remarkable.' With Jan Koene, the Director, spicing the tale with an assassination in the overture and a modern take on the story, and the excellent Chilmark orchestra and chorus exploring the strengths of the score with verve and confidence this production did indeed fly.
The reservations about the opera are that Mozart was presented in 1791 with a libretto not of his choosing and told to write a work as a celebration for the Coronation of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, as King of Bohemia. He had less than two months to do it in, he was not well, and he had the Requiem and Magic Flute also on the go. Mozart’s best work was when he was able to engage with a librettist – no chance of that here as Metastasio was dead, though he did appreciate the help of the poet Mazzola in knocking the libretto into something he could work with.
Michael Solomon Williams as Tito oozed goodness and the anguish which goes with it, and Ned Pattenden was the always true and dead honest Prefect. They both treated us to fine singing and excellent unfudged diction.
Sarah Forbes as the chancer Vitellia drizzled her performance with the necessary essence of duplicity while Vanessa Bowers delivered the innocence of Servilia with every bit of the tenderness Mozart intended.
In the fashion of the time two of the male roles were played by a female soprano and male castrato. These roles fell respectively to Emma Watkinson who gave a fluent account of Annio and to Tisbury's Leila Mather as the conspirator Sesto. Perhaps a little too attractively beguiling, but then conspirators can be just that, she took on this huge part without flagging in her musical interpretation for a moment. A special mention should be made of the clarinet playing of Sarah Scutt, sometimes echoing the voice parts and sometimes hovering over them as might a butterfly.
Min Wood