Crowning glory

Monteverdi’s last and greatest secular masterpiece, L’Incoronazione di Poppea, is an opera we get far too few chances to see. The last time it was performed on stage in London was in the largely brilliant ENO production of 2000, which has never been revived. That does have the consequence, however, that one is always pleasurably shocked by it anew, and though the Zurich Opera’s one-night stand at the Royal Festival Hall was only a partly acted concert performance, the impact was undimmed.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt brought with him the Orchestra La Scintilla of Zurich Opera, around 30 players of authentic instruments, and a starry cast, the most surprising feature of which was possibly the tenor casting of Nerone, whom we are used to hear sung by a counter-tenor or a mezzo, even, in the case of Harnoncourt’s first recording, by a soprano. Considerations of authenticity aside, the higher voice has the sovereign advantage of making the outrageous love duets still more sensuous by having a lot of singing in thirds, with almost Straussian effects of lushness. Still, with the casting we had at the Festival Hall, I wouldn’t want to complain.

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