Richard Bratby

A terrific night of opera: Zanetto/Orfeo ed Euridice, Arcola Theatre, reviewed

Plus: the sensational Proms debut of John Wilson’s new orchestra, the Sinfonia of London

Lizzie Holmes as Silvia: one of the two principals whose luminous singing and sensitive acting powered Zanetto. Photo: Peter Mould

For a one-hit composer, we hear rather a lot of Pietro Mascagni. His reputation rests on his 1890 debut Cavalleria Rusticana, the one-act Sicilian shocker that’s usually yoked (not always to its advantage) to Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci. But in recent years we’ve also seen the cod-medieval car crash of Isabeau, and a couple of outings for Iris, an opera that fuses orientalist opulence with tentacle porn, but not in a good way. In fairness, there have been winners too: Opera Holland Park revived L’amico Fritz in July, and this sun-kissed romcom about an Alsatian cherry farmer slipped down like a Negroni with audiences thirsty for a strong, sweet triple-shot of escapism, verismo-style.

And now here’s Zanetto (1896) to confirm my mounting suspicion that Mascagni is at his best when he’s trying least. It’s a bittersweet one-acter with a cast of two, and guess what? It’s a gem. Everyone knows that the juiciest sections of any romantic opera are the blissful meeting and the tearful parting, so Mascagni simply cuts out the middle bit. The widowed hotelier Silvia meets the itinerant minstrel Zanetto, and they dance briefly around each other’s feelings before concluding that it won’t work. Mascagni’s signature weakness — the way he keeps reaching for a great melody, but never quite finds it — becomes a strength: a musical metaphor for a love that’s extinguished before it ever catches light.

This felt like the greatest single performance ever of Korngold’s symphony

Lysanne van Overbeek’s urban outdoor staging for Barefoot Opera reduced the orchestra to an electric keyboard and a double bass. The car alarms and helicopters of Kingsland High Street were frequently deafening and yet the emotion powered through, thanks largely to the luminous singing and sensitive acting of the two principals, Lizzie Holmes (Silvia) and Emma Roberts (Zanetto, a trouser role). Zanetto was the second part of a double bill, and on paper the choice of companion piece looked bizarre — a stripped-down version of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, with the same cast and set plus funky twangs from an electric bass.

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