Opera Reviews
28 March 2024
Untitled Document

A high energy Figaro



by Catriona Graham
Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro
Edinburgh International Festival
August 2015

When two alpha males, albeit from different social strata , lock horns over their women, it is going to be scary for those in the immediate vicinity, but entertaining for the onlookers. So it is in the Budapest Festival Orchestra’s staged concert performance of Le nozze di Figaro.

Why so mimsy? What’s wrong with having the orchestra on stage and the conductor (and director) so visibly in control of operations as Iván Fischer? It’s not as if we don’t know they are there.

The multi-functional clothes-rails at the back of the raised stage-area, a few chairs, the mannequins in 18th century dress – the principals are in black evening dress – provide all that is needed. The restricted playing area conveys the claustrophobic atmosphere of the Almaviva household, where everyone is living cheek by jowl with a minimum of privacy.

The orchestra are already on stage when the audience arrives and, as the overture starts, the young women of the chorus rip open their dress shirts to reveal jewel-coloured corsets. They then rush around, dressing up and bringing on the clothes for the rails, setting the scene for this high energy performance.

The alpha males Figaro (Hanno Müller-Brachmann) and Almaviva (Markus Werba) lead a strong cast. Werba is just pompous enough for us to enjoy his come-uppance, but his good looks and charm keep us on side enough for us to accept when he repents.

From his initial declaration of war ‘Se vuol ballare’, the warmth in Müller-Brachmann’s voice indicates his vengeance is good-natured, rather than vindictive. His Susanna (Sylvia Schwartz) is brisk and lively and her voice supple, and they are a well-matched couple.

Miah Persson’s Countess is slightly withdrawn, no longer the lively Rosina who eloped with the Count three years previously. Her voice shimmers with nostalgia in ‘Dove sono’ till, in the final section she sees her way forward and is revitalised.

Rachel Frankel is a bright, engaging Cherubino. Her body-language and stance is perhaps not gawky enough for a teenage boy, her voice direct and clear. Marie McLaughlin’s eyes sparkle as much as her dangly ear-rings and, in her (Marcellina’s) vocal duel with Susanna, she is sharp as a pin. The young chorus work hard, sometimes sitting in black amongst the orchestra, sometimes in costume in the middle of the action.

For all that Mozart’s music seems to play itself, the glimpses we have of Fischer bringing out excellent performances from orchestra and singers are fascinating. He moves around the front of the stage to accommodate the action and sight-lines. During the set-up of the stage for Act 4, he comments to the audience on progress – and the function of the by-play with wigs throughout becomes apparent; it’s a running joke built up to distract the audience from the scene-shifting.

The production team – Györgyi Szakács (costumes), Andrew Hill (lighting) , Darren Ross (movement) and Veronika Vámos (choreography) – have shown that spectacle need not be vast. If Festival Director Fergus Linehan’s mind boggles at the cost of full-scale productions, perhaps this style is the way forward.

Text © Catriona Graham
Photo © Eszter Gordon
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