Review: Opera North in Norma; Grand Theatre, Leeds (From York Press)

Review: Opera North in Norma; Grand Theatre, Leeds

10:57am Saturday 11th February 2012 in Music news and reviews By Martin Dreyer

ARE WE so unattuned to history that we feel uncomfortable with an opera set in Roman times?

Norma, as Bellini imagined her, was a Druidic priestess in Gaul, under Roman occupation circa 50 BC. But Christopher Alden, an enfant terrible of opera production for three decades, has never accepted anything at face value, least of all history. ‘Relevance’ is his watchword.

So in this new production of the work, Opera North’s first for 25 years, we have all the ritual hocus-pocus of an ancient religion, but transposed into Victorian times.

The Gauls are all local yokels, clad in subfusc smocks and sacking hats, moving as if mentally challenged apart from some mild tree-hugging. Roman proconsul Pollione and his sidekick Flavio are top-hatted and frock-coated, no doubt as hated members of the squirearchy.

These blameless costumes are by Sue Willmington (Scarborough-born but by now internationally recognised), but she is sticking to Alden’s brief. She takes the chance to add some Green-man style imagery to the priestly robes.

Diagonally across the stage, otherwise bare within towering wooden walls, lies a gigantic, stripped oak-trunk, like some half-carved totem pole, in Charles Edwards’s permanent set. As sexual tensions ebb and flow, it rises and falls in phallic symbolism.

All of this could be overlooked if there were any consistency on the musical side. Oliver von Dohnányi conducts with the utmost self-indulgence, relishing every orchestral flourish and further dallying to allow his singers maximum time to flaunt their wares. He needs to get a grip.

He is draining away the drama. Rhythms need to be tauter. Momentum must be developed.

An international cast of principals battles gamely against the odds. Dutch-born Annemarie Kremer’s Norma is a vulnerable creature, caught between love and religion, having borne two sons with Pollione.

At first, her soprano is overblown, as if she feels underpowered – she isn’t – but later when she floats her tone, especially up high, it carries the ring of truth. ‘Casta diva’ passes muster, but is never really sensuous.

American soprano Keri Alkema, another Leeds debutante, is a forceful, full-toned Adalgisa, Norma’s rival in love for Pollione. She is also asked to sing in a variety of positions, including rolling down the sloping stage.

Their two duets are highlights, if more beefy than subtle. Luis Chapa’s full-toned Pollione is not your obvious dreamboat tenor, fluffing the odd high note and looking more geared to a night in the boxing ring. James Cresswell delivers a firm Oroveso.

The chorus is very disciplined. Would that the rest of Alden’s concept were too.

Opera North in Norma; Grand Theatre, Leeds. Further Leeds performances on February 15 & 17, then on tour in Nottingham, Salford and Newcastle.