Sakari Oramo’s keenness to explore neglected British music has led him to William Alwyn’s final opera, Miss Julie. At least four composers have turned August Strindberg’s best-known play into operatic form, and Alwyn completed his version in 1976. It was broadcast by the BBC the following year and a commercial recording followed in 1983, but not staged until 1997, at the Norfolk and Norwich festival. Since then Miss Julie had not been heard in the UK until Oramo’s fine performance with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Requiring a large orchestra but just four soloists and no chorus, it’s a surprise that no British opera company has taken up the score; many less convincing works, especially verismo pieces, get heard regularly. And the verismo repertory is good point of reference for Alwyn’s score, for though his richly coloured writing reveals a whole range of 20th-century influences – Strauss, Janáček and Ravel especially – it’s the world of Puccini that’s most strongly evoked at the work’s dramatic flashpoints.
Alwyn’s orchestral writing is always characterful, his vocal lines are unfailingly singable. Yet for all the fluency, Miss Julie is too long – the inclusion of an extra character, the drunken gamekeeper Ulrik, seems an unnecessary gloss. But the modest dramatic touches added by Kenneth Richardson’s concert staging showed how effectively it could be in the theatre, especially with solo performances as vivid as these.
Anna Patalong was Julie, nailing her character’s dangerously unhinged brittleness from the start; Jean, the valet with whom she is so desperate to run away, was sung by Benedict Nelson, taking over the role at just three days’ notice with tremendous verve; Rosie Aldridge was the put-upon cook Kristin, and as Ulrik, Samuel Sakker made the most of his cameo. A thoroughly worthwhile revival altogether.
Miss Julie will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 5 October.