A long, frozen winter, the surprise of spring renewal, bird song and folk melody: Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden (1882) pulls us deep into the poetic world of Russian folklore and the story of the ice girl who will melt if exposed to the sun. Only with her death can winter end. That sudden moment when white turns to water and spring bursts has long obsessed Russian artists – novelists, playwrights, landscape painters, but no one more potently than Stravinsky in his ballet The Rite of Spring. Rimsky’s opera, gentle in comparison but not without its raw moments, opened Opera North’s 2017 season of fairytale operas.
John Fulljames’s new staging is described as the first “full professional production” in this country for 60 years. In Russia it remains mainstream. Numerous versions exist of the archetypal tale, its origins probably Slavic. Arthur Ransome introduced the icicle maid in his Old Peter’s Russian Tales. Rimsky-Korsakov based his libretto on Alexander Ostrovsky’s play, a more elaborate and adult affair spurned by the literary world. Tolstoy, usually a fan, found it dull. You can see why, but it makes an ideal foil for music.
A mentor to so many of his fellow Russian composers, Rimsky was at his most brilliant in the kitchen of orchestration. The solo woodwind, clarinet especially, and the vivid splash of Russian, eastern and western styles makes The Snow Maiden instantly enchanting. Using the if-you-like-this ploy, usually quite unreliable, anyone should feel confident to try this rarity by the composer of that popular symphonic suite, Scheherazade. Fascinating, too, is the way this music points towards the 20th century. Stravinsky was Rimsky’s student; the younger composer’s Funeral Song, found recently and performed last month in St Petersburg, was dedicated to Rimsky’s memory. The quirky marches of Shostakovich and Prokofiev are there too, incipient in their irony.
Yet The Snow Maiden is an odd, lopsided work in Rimsky’s fluent telling. The first half concentrates on customary folk-fairy elements – lost girl, benign ruler, ritual pricking, pinching and beating of one dubious character. The remaining two acts expand into a more affecting human love story, with ambitious, lyrical music and memorable arias and choruses, enthusiastically delivered by the forces of Opera North conducted by Leo McFall in his company debut. Some of the jigsaw refused to fit together. Giles Cadle’s sets, with costumes by Christina Cunningham and video designs by Will Duke, looked attractive in a busy, brightly coloured picture-book way.
No distinction is made between traditional and contemporary. Lel, the trouser-role love interest engagingly portrayed by Heather Lowe, carries a smartphone. The village women work in a sewing sweatshop straight out of The Pajama Game, producing clothes for all seasons, from jeans to bridal gowns, which bob by on a pulley behind them. Spring Beauty, touchingly sung by Yvonne Howard, wore a traditional sun headdress and green cloak, while Father Frost – the Snow Maiden was a product of their careless liaison – was robustly delivered by a silver-coated James Creswell. The crystal-voiced Aoife Miskelly was a canny choice for the title role, with Elin Pritchard generous and winningly blowsy as the vodka-steeped Kupava.
It’s hard to pinpoint what was missing. Perhaps the restraints of the slim story were too sorely exposed when sung in an artful English translation by Alasdair Middleton. Opera North’s flexibility in performing some works in English, some in the original language as they see best, is admirable. Here, though, you needed the rich sounds of Russian, as integral to Rimsky-Korsakov’s palette as the hearty choruses of boyars and village peasants. Ensemble was not always good, and some of the cast suffered intonation problems – all of which could be attributed to first-night nerves. The production tried too hard, resulting in a confusion between stylisation and naturalism. Next on the fairytale front: Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel (Susan Bullock’s Witch is sure to be one of the unmissable performances of the season) and Rossini’s La Cenerentola.
Whatever you think about piano competitions, if you think about them at all – with so many around, the instinct to ignore them is understandable – some stand out as important. The Honens, taking place every three years in Calgary, Canada, is one. The 24-year-old Italian Luca Buratto, the 2015 prize laureate, attracted a crowd of serious pianists and pianophiles to Wigmore Hall for his UK debut last week. One appeal was the interesting programme, which ranged from a John Dowland pavan (arranged by William Byrd) to Thomas Adès’s Darknesse visible, to Beethoven’s Appassionata and Schumann’s majestic Fantasie. Graceful, analytical, meticulous, Buratto is a name to watch. His playing is economical of gesture and outward expression. Next time perhaps he will allow himself a flicker of smile when he takes his bow. Without compromising his integrity and reserve, he now needs to let rip. Then the results should be not just formidable but hotly compelling.
Star ratings (out of 5)
The Snow Maiden ★★★
Luca Buratto ★★★★
- The Snow Maiden is in rep at the Grand theatre, Leeds until 17 February, before touring to Newcastle (3 March), Salford (10th), Belfast (17th) and Nottingham (24th)
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