Humperdinck’s minor masterpiece Hansel and Gretel is one of those operas that disappears for a time and then comes in waves. I hope that Opera North’s splendid new semi-production of it heralds a fresh wave, because we’ve had a long period without it. It went very well in the grand spaces of Leeds Town Hall, where it has another couple of performances before moving to three other northern destinations. The greatest single cause for pleasure was having the orchestra of Opera North on stage, so that it could be heard to full advantage; I don’t imagine that any other orchestra in the country would have sounded finer. And certainly no one anywhere would have conducted with a surer touch than Richard Farnes, the company’s music director, who brought out the beauties and richness of the score to an extent that I have previously heard only on records.
I suppose he might be criticised for making it too Wagnerian, with climaxes that sounded as sumptuous and massive as almost any in the Master’s own works. They seemed appropriate, however, because Farnes also lavished such care on the whole work, so that its Meistersinger-ish busyness and seamlessness naturally culminated in proportionately cathartic moments of release. Oddly, perhaps, it made the kinship of Hansel with the sound-world of Siegfried all the clearer, too, showing that this opera is the most magnificent example of derivativeness in the whole repertoire.
Peter Hoare’s Witch is hilarious, but could be criticised for being nothing more, though the way in which he sang the part brought out vividly its kinship with Mime, just as the accompaniment, a combination of wheedling and menace, shows how perilously close to quoting from his sources Humperdinck gets.
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