Music
Sir John in Love, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow
Keith Bruce
five stars
It is not tricky to work out why Vaughan Williams' Falstaff opera is hardly a staple of the repertoire. Although originally written for students at London's Royal College of Music (it was not until after the Second World War that it had a professional production), it is a demanding work that requires umpteen scene changes and employs a dizzying variation of musical styles. As an apprentice piece for singers that may well have been point, of course, and it certainly requires a large cast of different voices and employs an important chorus at crucial points to mark it out as bespoke end-of-term fodder.
That might also make it over-expensive for many a modern house, and knitting the ingredients together a major challenge, so this production should be recommended as a real treat. Scenically, director Benjamin Davis, designers Guiseppe and Emma Belli and their large team have created a major triumph. The first half's Windsor street with unfolding interiors is cutely post VE-Day, with 50s-ish costuming, Mad Men touches and cheeky little political details all over the place. After the interval we are in more abstract territory but the design work is just as well-crafted and witty, and suits the musical world of the Merry Wives perfectly.
Lovely to look at, the production is also a delight to listen to. It might sound like a cop-out, but it seems wrong to single out any of the fine young singers. Arshak Zuzikyan is a full-voiced Falstaff, his associates are an excellently blended ensemble, and Colin Murray a fine Ford, while Hazel McBain, Heather Jamieson, Eirlys Myfamwy Davies and Penelope Cousland all bring character and musicality to the wily women. More shows tonight and Friday.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article