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Properly exciting … Michael Fabiano, centre, in Mariame Clément's revival of Poliuto, at Glyndebourne.
Properly exciting … Michael Fabiano, centre, in Mariame Clément's revival of Poliuto, at Glyndebourne.

Poliuto review – Glyndebourne opener is Donizetti like you’ve never heard him

This article is more than 8 years old
Glyndebourne, Lewes
It’s hard to better Mariame Clément’s revival of Donizetti’s opera about persecution and martyrdom

It has been a good year for Gaetano Donizetti. For the season opener, Glyndebourne has chosen Poliuto, his story of religious persecution and martyrdom in Roman-occupied Armenia, never heard in the UK – or, at least, not heard quite like this: at London’s Royal Festival Hall only a few months ago, Opera Rara exhumed Les Martyrs, the sprawling four-act opera into which Donizetti reworked Poliuto to cater for the more extravagant tastes of Paris audiences. Poliuto is far leaner than Les Martyrs – the closing act is so short that, at Glyndebourne, it’s over before the interval picnic has gone down.

The London Philharmonic sounds airy and idiomatic under Enrique Mazzola’s pacy conducting, the chorus is strong and the cast of soloists is outstanding. In fact, the whole evening would fly by if it weren’t for the flatness of Mariame Clément’s production.

Ana María Martínez in Poliuto. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

Designed by Julia Hansen, it references images of street warfare in the Balkans and of fascist Italy, and conjures an atmosphere of paranoia with the clandestine Christians sneaking between great moving slabs of distressed stone. They are very effective at separating the private from the public and solitude from fellowship – which means that the ending, with everyone still visible as the hero and heroine go to their execution, makes death by hungry lion look like a strangely sociable experience. And Clément doesn’t always know what to do with the characters during ensembles; Michael Fabiano’s Poliuto spends the whole of one with a hand clamped to his forehead, as if he’s forgotten to turn off the iron.

Although Fabiano sings the title role ranging from quite loud to very loud, his tenor pings around the auditorium gloriously. It is a properly exciting voice, even if a bit more shade would throw the light into more thrilling relief. Ana María Martínez is a match for him, singing his wife, Paolina, with a silvery soprano as flexible as it is full-bodied. The other figure in the love triangle is baritone Igor Golovatenko as the proconsul Severo, and he delivers the best singing of all – smooth, rich-toned and authoritative, yet his voice is agile enough to sound comfortable in everything Donizetti throws at him. The strong supporting cast is led by Matthew Rose, sounding cavernous as the priest Callistene. Perhaps this revival will prompt other companies to take on Poliuto, but you’ll be unlikely to hear it better sung.

At Glyndebourne, Lewes, until 15 July. Box office: 01273 815000.

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