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Prom 11: The Trojans – review

This article is more than 11 years old
Royal Albert Hall, London

Less than two weeks after its Covent Garden run, the Royal Opera brought Berlioz's vast epic The Trojans to the Proms, leaving the mixed visuals of David McVicar's production behind. Stripped back to essentials, the result inevitably concentrated attention on the qualities of the musical performance itself.

After six performances in the opera house, these have in some respects risen a notch. Antonio Pappano may lack Colin Davis's sheer bar-by-bar identification with Berlioz's electrifying score, but he brought to it a commanding sense of grandeur and sweep that faltered only in the fourth act, which is less tightly organised than the rest. Throughout he maintained the scale and high dignity of one of 19th-century opera's most ambitious undertakings; the hall itself made its contribution in allowing Berlioz's extraordinary sonic horizons to open up to their widest angles, with the off-stage effects (a brass band) creating an awe-inspiring impact. The orchestra played with a remarkable depth and variety of tone; the chorus sang with vigour and nuance.

Yet The Trojans relies to a considerable extent on three principal singers. Even if she tired slightly towards the end of the second act, Anna Caterina Antonacci's Cassandra remained a potent, gripping assumption, the seer's increasing desperation outlined in the declamation of a great tragedienne. Eva-Maria Westbroek's Dido has gained in security and stature, her deeply human portrayal now more richly imagined and purposefully delivered.

It is possible to conceive a more intense, conflicted Aeneas than Bryan Hymel's, but surely not one sung with greater clarity and confidence; he seemed entirely unfazed by the role's punishing high passages. Secondary assignments were authoritatively presented, from Fabio Capitanucci supplying a rock-solid Chorebus, to Ed Lyon making a special moment of Hylas's nostalgic lament for his lost homeland.

If you're at any Prom this summer, tweet your thoughts about it to @guardianmusic using the hashtag #proms and we'll pull what you've got to say into one of our weekly roundups – or leave your comments below.

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