Flights of fancy

Michael Tanner

Wednesday, 3rd December 2008

Les Contes d’Hoffmann
Royal Opera

Der fliegende Holländer
Barbican

The other first-rate performance was Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts as Erik, usually regarded as one of the most thankless parts in the Wagnerian canon. Roberts was so intense that in his domestic way he rivalled Senta — but of course she wants metaphysics. Erik’s dream and his cavatina became dramatically cogent, even if legato isn’t Roberts’s strongest suit. The casting of the central role bewildered me: no announcement was made that James Hancock was ill, but he seemed vocally so ill at ease, and so consistently failed to achieve the requisite volume for the role, as well as suffering from intonation troubles, that he must either have been acutely nervous or unwell. There were quieter passages where he showed understanding and musicianship, but each appearance created the wrong kind of suspense. The Daland and the Steersman, both of them rewarding roles, were crudely delivered. Anne-Marie Evans showed everyone what was what. The Dutchman’s crew in Act III came through loudspeakers, so didn’t really stand a chance against the land-lubbers. My high hopes of this occasion were only intermittently fulfilled.