Michael Tanner

Mozart magic

Le nozze di Figaro<br /> Royal Opera House, in rep until 3 July The Pearl Fishers <br /> English National Opera, in rep until 8 July A Midsummer Night’s Dream<br /> English Touring Opera, in Cambridge

issue 12 June 2010

Le nozze di Figaro
Royal Opera House, in rep until 3 July

The Pearl Fishers
English National Opera, in rep until 8 July

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
English Touring Opera, in Cambridge

The Marriage of Figaro, in a fine performance, makes an impression different from that of any other opera. Almost all the characters are in a state of anxiety or rage or misery or frustrated lustfulness throughout, and they are vividly portrayed in the round; yet the listener is in a constant state of joy, from the mutinous opening scurryings of the overture onwards. When it is as marvellously conducted as at the Royal Opera, by Colin Davis, what is always a pleasure becomes more than that, and one ends in ecstasy, feeling both that one knows the truth about human beings, and that, despite it all, there is an underlying value and lovableness in them.

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