Last night saw the first of two performances of Haydn’s rarely performed 1791 work Orfeo: L’anima del filosofo.  I know how much effort and indeed passion went into creating this production and the singing is pretty good.  I wish I could say I enjoyed it but I can’t.  There were just too many issues.

Let’s start with the opera itself.  Maybe it was never completely finished as it was shut down by the authorities during rehearsals in London.  Maybe that’s why it feels horribly unbalanced.  The first half (two acts) tell us of Eurydice being betrothed, against her will, to her father, King Creonte’s, rival Arideo.  She runs off into the forest where she is about to be devoured by beasts when the news is brought to Orfeo who then sings at length before “rushing” off to rescue Euridice.

Creonte hears of this and changes his mind, regifting his daughter to Orfeo.  Arideo is not impressed.  The lovers celebrate with a picnic before Orfeo, hearing disturbing noises, rushes off again to investigate, leaving Euridice alone where she is promptly abducted by Arideo’s henchmen.  Unfortunately for them (and her) she is bitten by a snake and dies.  Creonte is quite cross and declares war.  So here we are about two thirds of the way through the opera and we have just about got to where Gluck’s version begins.

In the second half (three acts) the rest of the Orfeo legend, and then some, is rushed through at breakneck pace.  The chorus mourns, a spirit guide appears and tells Orfeo to get off his butt and do something, they descend to the Underworld and confront the dead, Orfeo negotiates Euridice’s release with Death and then screws it up so Euridice is dead again. Orfeo returns to the surface with the corpse, finds himself in the middle of a battle, dies and a tsunami sweeps everyone away.  All this happens in significantly less time than the draggy first half!

It’s not hugely musically interesting either.  It’s workmanlike but I didn’t catch a single memorable tune.  All the principals get one or two decent arias and the one for the Spirit is quite a nice coloratura showpiece.  The choral writing sounds like Gluck not quite at his best.  And this is a piece written in the same year as La clemenza di Tito and Die Zauberflöte.

Maybe it could work in a really good production and performance but Nico Krell’s production didn’t inspire.  The set was a black stage with a half height black back wall leaving the top half open so we could admire the MacMillan’s electrical wiring.  Everyone except Orfeo, Euridice and the Spirit was in black.  There was lots of smoke and he minimal lighting was provided by occasional spots and moveable Klieg lights (which on several occasions were shone direct into the audience’s eyes).  So, black on black in semi darkness.  It was also quite confusing at times.  For example, at the end, the chorus who a couple of minutes ago were the dead became the warring armies in the upper world with absolutely nothing to signify the transition.

Top this with really weird supertitles.  Part of the problem was they didn’t work all the time but even when they did it was problematic.  Instead of a straightforward abbreviated translation we tended to get vague descriptors.  So, when at the beginning of Act 3, the chorus sing a lament all we got was “[WE MOURN]”.  At other times there was a stream of conscious like approach.. “Sadness… Destiny… Blood… Death” and then for the Spirit’s lines th ere w as th eweird est ker ning e ver.  For no apparent reason.

The performance quality was decidedly mixed.  The principals were very good.  Asitha Tennekoon as Orfeo and Lindsay McIntyre as Euridice sung stylishly, though perhaps somewhat hampered by the tempi in the first half (see below).  Maeve Palmer as the Spirit made a nice hand of her flashy display area and Parker Clements was very solid as Creonte and did well with his “hissy fit” aria.  The chorus, including two countertenors in the alto section, sang and acted with spirit.

The orchestra was the McGill Baroque Orchestra on period instruments.  Now, I’m usually a big fan of using a period band in this rep but they need to be able to pull it off.  This just wasn’t great.  The ensemble was a bit ragged and some of the wind playing indescribable.  Whether it was fear of what would happen if he went faster or no Dorian Komanoff Bandy’s tempi were funereal, especially in the first half.  There was no contrast.  At the very least the recits, both accompanied and dry, needed to be seriously sped up.  To be fair, it was somewhat better after the break but by then heads were shaking.

There’s another performance tonight at 7.30pm.