by The anniversaries are a great help to the neglected but Giacomo Puccini, who died in a clinic in Brussels on 29 November 1924 at the age of 65, is already the king of operatic Elysium. It cannot go higher. His works dominate the opera performance series tables (yes, there is such a thing – see Operabase). When he died, along with an estimated $230m by today’s estimates, he left behind a mess of infidelities, illegitimacy and rumors of a butler who allegedly stole jewels and went to Monte Carlo . All that interested Puccini was that his last opera, Turandotnot finished, which created the situation.
The Royal Opera House, without deviating too much from the norm, acknowledged its centenary by packing the schedule with Bohèmes, Factorss and Madam Butterflys between now and July. We shouldn’t complain either. Box office success has never been more important, given the current circumstances. These popular works also happen to be creations of genius. If you are tired – is such a thing possible? – of the horse opening i La bohèmelisten to the beady anarchy in the woodwind, or how the harp suddenly sends the emotional temperature up to a boiling point, allowing Mimì, a flower embroiderer, and Rodolfo, a poet, to fall in love in a record of a minute. .
For 14 performances of La bohème, in the visual staging of Richard Jones’ Parisian arcade (2017), designed by Stewart Laing, the ROH has lined up two conductors, three casts and – unfortunately for the logistics – one revival director, Simon Iorio. In the first of these, conducted lovingly but sometimes mentally by Keri-Lynn Wilson, the Scottish tenor Saimir Pirgu, enthusiastic and sparkling as Rodolfo, and the Armenian soprano Ruzan Mantashyan, persuasive and warm as Mimì, were determined lovers. An effective Donna Elvira in Glyndebourne’s Don Giovanni last summer, she was making her ROH debut. As Musetta and Marcello quarrelsome, Australian soprano Lauren Fagan and Russian baritone Mikhail Timoshenko reveled in debate, as well as eliciting sympathy. The chorus of merrymakers rose on Christmas Eve, both adults and children, with riotous challenges Act 2. Often, overall, the ensemble was rickety, and part of the acting has yet to rest and be filled, but it will. Maybe you’re too stubborn to smack your lips from start to finish but some of us aren’t.
Mendelssohn’s thread ran through the rest of the week. At Queen Elizabeth Hall, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Ukraine’s Natalia Ponomarchuk, performed Family Connections: the Schumanns and the Mendelssohns. The focus was on Clara and Robert Schumann, husband and wife, and Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, brother and sister: 19th century contemporaries, colleagues, friends. It looked good on paper but it made for an odd evening. Russian pianist Alexander Melnikov was soloist in Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto, followed by Robert Schumann’s Introduction and Allegro for piano and orchestra.
Neither job is easy to navigate. Dramatic, close-minded and intelligent, Clara, written in her early teens, felt precarious, her story uncertain. Robert’s two-movement work sounded more like a deliberate improvisation. The other works improved. Fanny Mendelssohn’s Overture in C major (1832), her only orchestral piece, bursts into exciting action after a slow introduction. In his brother’s Scottish Symphony, the LPO switched to a collective device, and found that the manner and conviction were lacking in the two Schumanns. Mendelssohn may have been steeped in Scottish turmoil – Holyrood, Walter Scott, “Osian” – but his symphony may stand as the personification of early German romanticism.
After Fanny’s untimely death, Mendelssohn wrote his sixth and last string quartet, in F minor, Op 80 (1847). He called it “Requiem for Fanny”. The IS Treske Quartet Their first Conway Hall recital ended with the piece, mustering all the intensity needed. These young players based in Manchester use instruments made (by WE Hill & Sons workshop) from a single tree. Whether for that reason or not, their sound is carefully blended, aided by the hall’s excellent sound. Each of them spoke a few words about one of the four works – informal, insightful, sharing their enthusiasm.
After opening with another work from the canon, Haydn’s dazzling and radical Quartet in D, Op 20 No 4, they went further for their other selections: Three Pieces for String Quartet (1914, rev 1918), little gems tiny, bright works by Stravinsky, and a work from the present: Carrot Revolution (2015), funny and adventurous percussion, by the Californian Gabriella Smith (b 1991). Conway Hall, built in 1929 and home to the Ethical Society, has a long tradition of playing women’s music, from Ethel Smyth in her day. The organization’s Sunday concerts first began in 1878 as the People’s Concert Society, which was established to “increase the popularity of good music through free concerts”. £15 per ticket (£14 online) honors promised (£7 for NHS staff and other concessions). Tomorrow night: Mark Padmore, tenor, and Roger Vignoles, piano, with actress-singer Hazel Holder. You can not lose.
Star ratings (out of five)
La bohème ★★★★
Family Connections: The Schumanns and the Mendelssohns ★★★
Treske Quartet ★★★★
• La bohème at the Royal Opera House, London, until 16 February
