Carmen review – an unappealingly coarse lead

Welsh National Opera’s darkly atmospheric Carmen, conceived in 1997, reappears yet again, just as Mid-Wales Opera’s equally moody Carmen is beginning an extensive tour. All too much. Yet Bizet’s opera – both the music and the psychological drama – has so much more depth than it’s sometimes credited with and always manages to retain an essential integrity. Its inclusion in WNO’s current themed-season, Liberty or Death!, invites a re-examination of Carmen’s own stand for personal freedom. And in Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser’s production, she is seen to be deliberately courting death, using bullfighting body language to headbutt Don José repeatedly, almost by way of inviting his fatal stab.

José’s dilemma is not simply that of a man torn between the lure of Carmen and the pure, young Micaëla; the pull of loyalty to his mother is equally strong and tied to his aspirations to a soldier’s honour. One of the difficulties of the opera’s spoken French dialogue is that these things get swallowed in general garble. With the casting of the excellent Jessica Muirhead as Micaëla, the clarity and intelligence of her delivery meant that this element of the story was for once properly balanced: the girl from home is more than a goody-two-shoes who holds up the action, she is honourable and, in her own way, fearless.

Muirhead’s duets with Peter Wedd’s impassioned José had a palpable intensity. In the title role, Alessandra Volpe made less of an impression, her uneven mezzo never thrilling, the inelegant thrust of the lower notes adding a unappealing coarseness. Her Escamillo, Kostas Smoriginas had plenty of toreador swagger, physical and vocal, but without any great impact. It didn’t help that Erik Nielsen’s conducting often made for inexcusably scrappy ensemble, although the experience of the stalwart chorus allowed them to shine regardless.