It is a relief, after so many Opera North digressions into the world of operetta, to get back to the operatic hard core. And how.

Verdi’s Don Carlos is a blockbuster, even in its truncated, four-act version of 1884, given here in Andrew Porter’s direct translation. The problem for the producer, Tim Albery, is to marry the grand public spectacles with the private passions.

Fortunately, he has a masterful ally in Richard Farnes, who will also conduct the recording for Chandos at the end of June. For despite singing of a consistently high standard from the principals, it is the orchestra that truly carries the drama. It is not just the blazing brass at the auto-da-fé – one of the grandest scenes in all Verdi – or the searing strings at the start of Act 4. The private touches are equally spell-binding: the intensity of Philip II’s loneliness, convinced of his wife’s infidelity with his son, is brought home by solo cello, or the rumbling trombones when the Grand Inquisitor confronts Philip.

Farnes makes the orchestra the protagonist – and is lucky, in return, that he has voices strong enough to carry above his boldest gestures.They are led by Julian Gavin’s ringing, determined Carlos, his vocal focus unerring right from the start and stamina unflagging. Not quite as forceful but compensating with his stage-sense is William Dazeley’s Posa: his death is especially moving. Janice Watson’s icy Elisabeth takes time to reach her best, but reaches a peak when it counts, in her farewell to Carlos. Brindley Sherratt’s Philip, while always reliable, is slightly undercooked, both in his lack of vocal bite and in his less-than-threatening demeanour. Philip II was, after all, one of Spain’s cruellest rulers. Clive Bayley, as Grand Inquisitor, has rarely sounded so cavernous or magisterial. Jane Dutton is a really spunky Eboli, capable, too, of venom when thwarted in her pursuit of Carlos.

With Hildegard Bechtler’s Spartan sets, adorned with leafless trees, Charles Edwards’ conspiratorial lighting and a chorus on typically intense form, this is drama torrid enough to satisfy the senses on many levels.

Martin Dreyer