Rusalka
Glyndebourne
L’Amour de loin
ENO
The new production of Dvorak’s Rusalka at Glyndebourne is an unmitigated triumph, a perfect demonstration of all the elements in opera fusing to create a bewitching experience. Any qualifications can only be about the piece itself, not about any of the performers or the direction. I had some anxiety about Melly Still as director when I read that this was her first essay in operatic production, since that is usually a warning that the quite extraordinary difficulties of the genre are going to be overlooked, with results as dire as recent Bayreuth Ring cycles or ENO’s Carmen. By refreshing contrast, Still has clearly made a deep study of this problematic piece, and submitted herself to its allure and its awkwardness, without imposing an interpretation, as David Pountney did to brilliant effect at ENO in 1983.
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