<<  -- 5 --  Roderic Dunnett    VISIONS OF THE SUBLIME

Paule Constable's ingenious lighting did much to make the most of Macfarlane's subtle settings, some of which -- again surely based on old masters, as so often this duo's best productions are -- poured strange light into Stygian glooms. The winged chariot in which the three impish boys descend is pure delight; their treble delivery, markedly less secure : Covent Garden needs to cast its auditioning net wider. But the three Ladies, weaving in an out of the action, all made a splendid contribution -- and if that trio sets things alight at the outset, a Magic Flute can take wing, just as it did here.

Certain things were obfuscated : the precise role of Sarastro as abductor / former lover / spouse / legitimate father all seemed a little muddled, as the production strove to spin in every strand of the variant versions. The Queen of the Night (Diana Damrau) never quite reached her wiliest and best : a mixed performance, terrific to look at, never secure in the first aria though magnificent in the second, and some pretty rocky acting; Romanian Elena Mosuc, a veteran of nocturnal queens Europe-wide, takes over in June. But the Paminas -- Sally Matthews, a Vilar Artist and a markedly attractive young Royal Opera singer, and Camilla Tilling (during June and July) succeeded Dorothea Röschmann -- are a good bunch, and hence the younger pairings worked well. The Royal Opera Chorus, trained by the immortal (and eternally gifted) Terry Edwards and Stephen Westrop (who has already worked wonders with the LSO choir), was on stupendous form for the later renderings of 'O Isis and Osiris'.

The Opera House orchestra is in fine fettle : not just the usual firm brass, but some subtly shaded intermeshing woodwind made this last chorus particularly memorable. If nowadays one misses a period instrument twang in a Flute or Figaro, and the first violins unexpectedly launched in with a moment of unhappy tuning, everyone soon pulled round : this measured (rather than sizzling) reading vividly confirmed the Magic Flute's overture to be a striking instance of late Mozart pointing the way ahead to Beethoven.

Surging clarinets, the skedaddling, mocking flutes for Monostatos and the glorious mid-register strings and bassoons for Pamina's trial all made for a very good evening in pit and auditorium alike. Keenlyside's Papageno, a delight from start to finish, just once slipped adrift of his bassoon obbligato. But this was a performance to relish : otherwise vocally secure, full of cheerful charisma and hapless, failed self-sufficiency, casting a heartening glow on his unintelligible surroundings, and just longing to be hen-pecked. You can catch Keenlyside again for the last three performances of the present run, on 1, 4 and 9 July 2003. The admired German baritone Roman Trekel, who is carving out a notable name as a Lieder and opera singer -- he recently took part in Daniel Barenboim's recording of Lohengrin, and sings the Herald in Covent Garden's current Lohengrin revival under Mark Elder -- takes over as Papageno during June.