High School, Kingussie, 24 February 2004

WHILE SCOTTISH OPERA GO ROUND takes slimmed-down versions of full scale operas to smaller venues around the country (Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin visits Elgin in April), the Essential Scottish Opera package aims at halls even less frequented by opera, and does so on a different basis. They have piano accompaniment in common, but the Essential package features excerpts from a whole range of operatic (and operetta) material.

The formula is straight-forward enough: pack up four aspiring young professional singers, a pianist, a handful of props and a diverse selection of music into a minibus and send them off around the country (this tour ranges from Stranraer to Kirkwall). It is a tried and tested formula, and continues to work very effectively. If Kingussie is at all typical, it also remains very popular with audiences.

This year’s crop of young singers did not include a tenor, which left Daniel Jordan’s sonorous, well-rounded bass-baritone as the only male voice among the singers. Elizabeth Cragg had the more classically pure voice of the two sopranos, and was notably secure in the highest ranges, while Adele Mason’s slightly fuller sonority made for an appealing contrast in the soprano material. Mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill completed the vocal line-up, and impressed in her own right as well as providing an effective foil in the various duets, trios and quartets.

The format of the show does allow them to be wide-ranging in their selection of material, and provides the audience with a whirlwind romp through virtually the full range of opera, from Handel to Britten, and most if not all points between. Popular operas like Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Cosi fan Tutti, Strauss’s Die Fledermaus and Bizet’s Carmen were represented, but not always by the most obvious pieces.

Elsewhere, items like ‘Aleko’s Cavatina’ from Rachmaninov’s Aleko or the ‘Waltz Song’ by the Soviet composer Dmitry Kabelevsky pulled in less obvious fare. The fast interchange of comic and tragic pieces generally worked well, and struck no incongruous notes, while the light hearted closing sequence in which the popular ‘In Solitude and Sighing’ from Die Fledermaus was followed by ‘Three Little Maids from School’ from The Mikado sent everyone home in good mood (they did a hilarious encore as well, which I won’t spoil by giving it away).

It is arguably more difficult to get the more serious or tragic excerpts across in this format, but Elizabeth Cragg did a fine job as the imprisoned Cleopatra in an aria from Handel’s Giulio Cesare, as did Adele Mason as the dying Violetta in a scene from La Traviata, while Jordan and Cargill combined effectively in both the aria from Aleko and ‘Within this frail crucible of light’ from Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia.

Pianist Ian Shaw, a veteran of five of these tours (and some Opera Go Rounds besides) produced his usual heroic work on a piano that did him few favours. The minimal props and sets were imaginatively used and recycled, and it all added up to a grand taste of opera in miniature.

Essential Scottish Opera’s remaining performances in the Highland and Islands are:
Pickaquoy Centre, Kirkwall, Orkney, Tuesday 2 March 2004
Community Hall, Ardross, Thursday 4 March 2004
Universal Hall, Findhorn, Saturday 6 March 2004
Village Hall, Ballachulish, Monday 8 March 2004
Macphail Theatre, Ullapool, Monday 15 March 2004
High School, Thurso, Tuesday 16 March 2004

© Kenny Mathieson, 2004