★★★★☆
How fortunate for one of Britain’s leading festivals that there’s such an accomplished Straussian soprano who lives in Lewes! No, I’m not talking about Glyndebourne, but Garsington Opera, which has coaxed Miah Persson a hundred miles northwest to star in Richard Strauss’s final opera, Capriccio.
Capriccio needs a charismatic star to anchor its tricky blend of wit, whimsy and, finally, poignant reflection as its heroine, the Countess Madeleine, dithers over whether to pledge her troth to the composer Flamand or the poet Olivier — and, by extension, decide whether music is superior to words, or vice versa.
Persson sings the part of the Countess with Mozartian grace and purity of line — surely exactly what the Mozart-obsessed Strauss imagined — and acts the