CityLife

Elektra

WE didn’t, in the end, get the chance to hear Susan Bullock sing Elektra in the Bridgewater Hall. She had to pull out at just a few hours’ notice because of illness.

What we did get was to see Janice Cairns, her ‘cover’ for the Opera North concert performance, achieve a triumph in the role, with a roaring, stamping storm of applause from the audience at the end.

It was her night: the end of a day which had dawned with her unaware that she was to sing one of the greatest and most testing soprano roles in the repertory by the end of it.

She also sang her cast role of Overseer – which comes only in the opening scene and turned into a simple warm-up for her. But her portrayal of Elektra herself, a woman on the edge but also a classical heroine with a destiny to enact, combined passion and humanity with dignity, a remarkable achievement.

Impersonation

The other soloists shone, too, in this presentation: Rebecca de Pont Davies, in particular, bringing an impersonation of Klytemnestra which revealed her as the real mad woman of the scenario: a twitching, trembling bagful of fears and jealousies – and wonderfully sung.

Alwyn Mellor (Chrysothemis) sang with mellow beauty throughout and came into her own in the final duet. And Robert Bork’s Orestes had an unforgettable imprint of nobility in it.

The point of a concert performance, as much as anything, is to let you hear the glories in the orchestral score of an opera, and Richard Farnes’ (pictured) conducting and the Orchestra of Opera North’s playing were richly rewarding in the quality of their sound as well as in their powerful evocation of mood.

It’s funny old piece in reality: with lines like (in the English translation) ‘You look terrible’ and ‘There are bodies everywhere’, it seems to bring Greek tragedy to the level of the Ewing ranch in Dallas.

But that is to forget the music, which turns it into a brilliant and fascinating work of art. Which is what this evening was about.

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