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la sonnambula
Review

la sonnambula

August 16 2010

LA SONNAMBULA, Opera Australia at the Sydney Opera House until August 24, 2010. Photos by Branco Gaica

WATCHING the expressive hands of conductor Richard Bonynge (no baton) as he coaxes, cajoles, encourages, strokes and exhorts his orchestra and singers to be as one and to do it exquisitely is a beautiful thing. Listening to Bellini’s old favourite from 1831 is equally delightful, especially when the night-prowling virgin of the title is played and sung by Emma Matthews.

Having made her foxy Covent Garden debut earlier in the year in The Cunning Little Vixen, under the baton of Sir Charles Mackerras, Matthews demonstrates in La sonnambula why these two pre-eminent conductors – from their very different musical standpoints – picked her as their leading lady. In the past few years – since she took on and made a brilliant fist of Lulu (for Australia’s other brilliant operatic conductor, Simone Young) – Matthews has steadily and perceptibly matured and grown as a singer and actress. Early training at WAAPA means she has always been dynamic on stage and vocally confident, but Matthews now has command of all the competing and confounding elements of the modern soprano in the bel canto tradition and is a joy to watch and listen to.

Vincenzo Bellini originally wrote the part of the sleepwalking Amina for the Milanese mezzo Giuditta Pasta but it has since become a star vehicle for great sopranos including Jenny Lind, Maria Callas, Anna Moffo and, of course, Joan Sutherland. Matthews was recently asked by a journalist whether she had any fears about filling Sutherland’s shoes and she said, with grace as well as good sense, that she wasn’t afraid of that because she has her own shoes to fill. This is obvious as she explores the delicious musicality of Bellini’s writing for voice: her mid- and lower range is rich, warm and powerful, yet when the time comes to rise to the lark-like trills and embellishments at the top of the imaginative scale, Matthews’ true and pure notes are at once thrilling and sure.

La sonnambula is seen by some as a confection of a silly story and ridiculous characters; all true, but if plausible stories and characters were the measure of opera, very few would make the grade. In this production, directed by former singer Julie Edwardson and designed by Richard Roberts, the dangerously insular silliness of a typical Alpine village and its community is beautifully realised.

la sonnambula

When being critical of a daft story in a Swiss setting, one needs to remember that Switzerland gave us cuckoo clocks and fondue; and you may not know this, but the typical annual knees-up for its small, isolated villages is a mushroom festival. At such an event mushrooms aren’t actually eaten (sausage, beer and a brass band are the go) but on long tables in bunting-draped marquees, they are judged for size and shape and are also displayed in craftwork as ikebana and in tableaux. So it’s no surprise really that a mob of Swiss villagers could believe that a sleepwalking local virgin is actually a ghost and be terrified and think they are either dreaming or cursed. Too much fondue, perhaps, but not that far-fetched.

At any rate what happens is that unknown to herself, Amina is a sleepwalker and, although deeply in love with her fiancé Elvino (Aldo Di Toro), she manages to sleepwalk her way into the hotel bedroom of Count Rodolfo, (Stepehn Bennett). He, recently returned from abroad and newly heir to his late father’s lands, has never been CEO of a major department store, so instead of taking advantage of the helpless young woman, he puts her to bed and leaves. Unfortunately, the owner of the inn is scarlet-clad temptress Lisa (Lorina Gore) and she sees an opportunity to steal the affections and hand of Elvino. She sets up poor snoozing Amina to be found in the Count’s bed and consequently ditched by outraged fiancé. Meanwhile, the villagers (OA Chorus in fabulous form) are as gullible and judgmental as might be suspected and their sympathies sway like poppies in the breeze between one moral standpoint and another. Indeed, through the course of the evening they change their minds so often a casual observer might easily become seasick. But this is opera semiseria, after all, so one has to be seriously-serious and enjoy it for what it is.

What La sonnambula is: melodic but not simple; written for singers and sung by this company with conviction and tenderness. (Compare Bellini’s ability to write for singers with Andre Previn’s Streetcar Names Desire if you’re wondering what I mean.) It’s lovely to look at with costumes, lighting and set making up in imaginative believability for the deliriously holey plot. Altogether, this is another goody from OA and ought to be in the repertoire for as long as a conductor and soprano can be engaged to achieve its potential. A true delight.

 

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