Opera

La traviata

Theatre Royal, Glasgow

Keith Bruce

*****

IT is the brilliantly detailed, but non-showy, approach to the story-telling that marks out Sir David McVicar’s staging of Verdi’s adaptation of Dumas’s La Dame aux Camelias as a definitive version. Opera plots can be silly, of course, and there is nothing silly about this production at all. Exactly nine years on from its premiere, its appropriately autumnal opening seems fresh and vibrant in Marie Lambert’s skilful revival, which is, if anything, even more carefully focused and less histrionic.

In this Parisian demi-monde, everyone is aware from the start that Violetta (Gulnara Shafigullina) isn’t long for this life, even the besotted Alfredo (Peter Gijsbertsen). The engraving on the floor makes that clear – these people are literally dancing on her grave. Only Alfredo’s father Giorgio Germont (Stephen Gadd) is out of the loop, which makes him less of a monster in his insistence that she give up the affair. Of the central protagonists, I suspect the soprano and baritone may win the lion’s share of the plaudits, as Gijsbertsen initially seems less powerful, but the projection, pronunciation and intonation of his performance should not be overlooked in what is a cast without a weak link, featuring three Scottish Opera Emerging Artists in characterful smaller roles.

McVicar himself took a small part in rehearsals, paying particular attention to the careful choreography of the chorus. It is all of a piece with clever mirroring of scenes like the hint of an abattoir at the start of the overture and the matador’s dance in the second party scene, and the carnality of the start of Act Two with Violetta’s death bed at the end.

Matching the quality on stage is a top-notch performance from the instrumentalists, conductor David Parry achieving a perfect balance between pit, off stage band and the singing of soloists and ensemble.