David McVicar’s production of Mozart’s clash of cultures comedy returns to Glyndebourne for the autumn tour, somewhat shorter than in its original form as staged in the summer, but still including far more dialogue than usual and offering a more serious view of the work than regularly presented.
That’s all to the good. Although there’s plenty of broad humour in Ian Rutherford’s revival, the show never loses sight of the complexity at the heart of the piece, in which two Christian couples find themselves in Muslim territory, and at the mercy of an equivocal Turkish overlord. That the latter – the non-singing role of Pasha Selim, here performed with a riveting combination of dignity and menace by Franck Saurel – is a Christian who has converted to Islam only enriches the ambiguity of response that the work demands of its audience.
But as well as being made to think, there are visual delights in store: Vicki Mortimer’s designs provide a seemingly endless succession of elegant Ottoman interiors and exteriors, plus a wealth of opulent and colourful costumes.
There are some strong elements in the cast, too. Ben Bliss’s Belmonte is physically stiff, even for an 18th-century Spanish nobleman, but his singing is lithe and free-flowing. Conversely, while Ana Maria Labin’s Konstanze needs a little more vocal firmness, she withstands Selim’s alarming physical and psychological threats, registering as a woman determined not to be coerced.
As the second couple, James Kryshak’s Pedrillo is both athletic and vocally charming, while Rebecca Nelsen presents the English servant Blonde as a spitfire not to be messed with, even by Clive Bayley’s grand-scale comic-malignant Osmin, her top notes as fearless as his low notes are terrifying.
Christoph Altstaedt conducts, drawing firm and focused playing from the Glyndebourne Tour Orchestra, though in places a little more dash would not go amiss.
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