AIDA - CAMBRIDGE PHILHARMONIC
The elephant in the room at last night’s concert was that there was no elephant in the room. Verdi’s mammoth opera used to feature performing elephants but animal welfare times have changed and West Road concert hall is too small to accommodate anything larger than a tenor. That said, there was no shortage of breath-taking spectacle at the Cambridge Phil’s annual concert-version opera. The scale of ambition in semi-staging this grandest of grand operas was ear blowing and under the waving hands of conductor Timothy Redmond, the whole mighty shebang rightly brought the audience to its feet at the end of an evening of luscious melody, tragic doings and mighty choruses. Actually easily outdoing the size of several elephants (in stage area not individual girths) the Phil’s chorus weighed in at more than 100. Add to this a full-scale orchestra and eight soloists, and you would be right in wondering how these forces fitted into the modest dimensions of West Road.
The soloists were astonishingly wonderful. The tenor Michael Wade Lee shone as Radames, the ancient Egyptian military leader torn between his love for Aida, an Ethiopian slave girl (Linda Richardson) and the scheming Amneris, trumped up daughter of the Pharaoh who had has her lofty sights on our hero. Bulgarian alto Mirouslava Yordanova brought immense power and a towering stage presence to that last part. Singing from memory, the American Wade Lee oozed charisma and was easily able to match the sheer decibel power of the augmented band with its fabulous brass section. Richardson brought a suitable tragic air to the doomed girl (in a tug of war between royalty and slave lass, guess who wins?). The development of this love triangle (or should it be pyramid?) was simple but compelling
I was delighted to see the use of surtitles (always easier to follow) and enjoy the rich musicality of the original Italian libretto. It was inevitable given the forces employed that some of the soloists were occasionally drowned out. There were many spine-tingling moments such as the hauntingly lovely incantation by the high priestess (Madison Nonoa) accompanied by insistent harp beats and ghostly chorus. The Classic FM favourite bits – the famous triumphal march included, brought goose bumps to this reviewer and there was a wonderfully dramatic bit when the high priest Ramfis (deliciously dark basso profundo from Stephen Richardson) calls on Radames to defend himself against the accusation of treason. Calling on his name, the answer comes not except for the brass section and cymbals which have stationed themselves at the back of the auditorium: this was drama in stereo.
The chorus and orchestra were on top form – especially the latter which has to provide an almost symphonic accompaniment such as the delicate Nile River sounds which open Act 3. Every bit of this huge endeavour came off with power, emotion and the highest musical values – what else does an opera need? Certainly not elephants.
