<<  -- 2 --  Roderic Dunnett    APOTHEOSIS OF THE MADRIGAL

Anna Dennis's Fortuna got the show off to a rollicking start : terrific flair, a buzzy personality right for the role, and a meaty, cutting, gutsy tone, aptly offsetting Rebecca Bottone's perky, genuinely puerile Amore, who chirped suitably here and went on to produce terrific punch for Amore's wicked final triumph.

The muttering soldiers, who ponder with delightful cheek the goings on in high places (Neil Williams, Edward Lyon) -- another ironic Shakespearian conceit -- were the first of the many strong minor parts; their nervous culminating 'tacciam -- Neron'e qui' -- 'look out, the boss is here' (actually their boss was Ottone, who should have bumped the tyrant off sooner) was wonderfully mischievous yet terrified.

Owen Willetts (Ottone, doubling with David Bates), a scion of Sheffield and Lichfield Cathedral choirs, has a touching countertenor, though far from trumpeting and possibly too mellow here to make a real impact. He held us, just, though an overwimpish stage manner, not helped by some pathetic 'modern' costuming (he actually looked like a student on the way to the JCR bar) makes for rather tedious Monteverdi, and could hamper him in Handel later on; his sense of drama needs dramatic working on, to enable his delivery to grow, develop and vary; but a future Simpleton in Mussorgsky, perhaps.

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