Inspired and not-so-inspired

Reinhard Keiser is not a name that triggers many associations in most opera lovers’ minds, even the most frenzied devotees of the Baroque. He was a big figure in his time, though, and there have been odd recordings of his works, so he ranks with Traetta and Cimarosa from later in the 18th century as someone to arouse curiosity. With each of these composers, as with many others, I have had the experience of turning on the radio and hearing a stretch of their works without knowing what the music was, and finding I had to listen to the end because what I was hearing was impressive enough for me to want to hear more. Often enough it’s a matter of finding the music so similar to that of one of the great composers that one wonders whether it’s a work by Mozart, say, or in Keiser’s case Handel, which has escaped one’s attention (not difficult in the case of Handel). Then you make the fatal mistake of listening to the whole work, if that is possible, and realise that a cross-section is all that is tolerable. Sustained not-quite-inspired music is the most exhausting of all to listen to, because you spend the time willing it to be just that bit better, but it obstinately refuses to be.

That was exactly my experience with The Fortunes of King Croesus at Leeds, put on by Opera North and well produced by Tim Albery. He made sure that the designer Leslie Travers didn’t hamper action with elaborate sets, so that most of the time there is almost nothing on stage, and our concentration can be on the characters. There are plenty of them, and they are involved in a plot too complicated to follow, especially since one doesn’t give a damn about any of them.