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Review
A Midsummer Night's Dream review – plenty of glorious singing to open the 2017 Aldeburgh Festival
Britten's children have proved sturdy creatures: the 2017 Aldeburgh Festival, created by the composer 70 years ago, opened with a celebration of the half century of his brilliantly conceived concert hall in the Snape Maltings, a magically landscaped building that glowed with beauty on a golden June evening.
His adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream is bearing up very well too – first performed in the tiny Jubilee Hall in 1960, it is now one of the most popular of his works, happily accommodated in the repertory of the grandest opera houses.
For this special birthday occasion, a new production with a first-rate cast had been assembled. It proved a happy and warmly applauded event, though an unnecessary second interval (no sets to change) made it a rather protracted one. Underpinning its musical excellence was Ryan Wigglesworth, conducting an ad hoc orchestra with a lovely light touch and a fine feeling for the score's lush and playful sensuality.
There was much glorious singing to be heard – Britten would surely have taken special pleasure (no, I am not snickering) in the superb boys' choir, drawn from Chelmsford cathedral. He might also have kicked himself that he never rewrote the role of Oberon, originally tailored to the frail countertenor of Alfred Deller, and made it more flattering to the likes of Iestyn Davies and his supreme technical assurance. Sophie Bevan's rich lyric soprano is also a bit of a mismatch for the mercurial glassy skittering of Titania's music, but she made some irresistibly gorgeous noises.
No cavils elsewhere: the Athenian lovers and the rude mechanicals were cast from strength, with outstanding vocal contributions from Eleanor Dennis as Helena and Clare Presland as Hermia and bags of vitality from everyone else. I particularly enjoyed a dashing soft-shoe routine brilliantly executed by Nicholas Sharratt (Snout) and Simon Butteriss (Starveling).
The star of the show, however, was undoubtedly Matthew Rose, whose sweet bully Bottom is the most gently touching and drily funny I have ever seen. His diction and comic timing are both impeccable, and he never overdoes it for a second. What an artist he has become.
Sadly I can't wax so enthusiastic about Netia Jones's dismally limp and unimaginative staging. Badly lit and furnished with hideous costumes, it otherwise consisted largely of vapid video projections of clichéd woodland scenes, evocative of those embarrassingly coy television ads for personal freshness. A waste of money and resources, at which Britten the realistic businessman would have scowled.
Until Wednesday. Tickets: 01278 687110; www.snapemaltings.co.uk