ENO revives Britten’s Gloriana in well-sung tribute to Queen Elizabeth II

A historic newsreel from the gala premiere of Britten’s Gloriana, composed for Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953, captures the glittering prestige of the occasion. The camera pans around, picking out members of the royal family, foreign kings and queens, and political leaders. There cannot have been a tiara to be had across London.

Nothing survives on film of the performance itself, which is possibly just as well. Audience and critics alike were unimpressed and the opera’s initial failure was an accurate predictor of its future neglect.

Now, following the Queen’s death, English National Opera offered a single performance of Gloriana at the London Coliseum in tribute. It had seemed the opera was to be performed in concert, but the reality was much better than that, fully acted in costume, with lighting effects and plenty of atmosphere, barely worse than an expensive production.

While Arts Council England’s axe hangs over ENO’s head, the company continues to put its best foot forward. The role of Elizabeth I was beautifully sung by mezzo Christine Rice, even if Britten probably intended more of a mature, lyric-dramatic soprano. Robert Murray, though not mellifluous, was a vivid Essex and there was a strong double act from Charles Rice and David Soar as Cecil and Raleigh. It was good to see Willard White back at ENO and decent support came from Paula Murrihy, Eleanor Dennis and Duncan Rock alongside young singers from ENO’s Harewood Artists.

Above all, the performance was a fine showcase for ENO’s chorus in the virtuoso Choral Dances. Gloriana remains a problem opera, a stillborn failure in its dramatic scenario, but conductor Martyn Brabbins gave it his all, letting rip with the orchestra’s full force in the closing scenes.

It is depressing to reflect on the history of ENO during Elizabeth II’s reign. In 1953, the company was rising fast following its triumph with the premiere of Britten’s Peter Grimes and the decades that followed charted a period of ever-increasing international acclaim. Now, in the year of her death, it faces extinction — a sad story.

★★★★☆

eno.org

It takes ambition to put on a solo song recital in the vast expanse of London’s Royal Festival Hall. Attempts at a summer song-recital series back in the 1970s were shortlived, so it was brave of baritone Matthias Goerne and star accompanist Víkingur Ólafsson to revive the idea.

Intimacy is at a premium in this unwelcoming space, but that did not stop the duo trying. Their programme of German Romantic songs — Schubert, Schumann and Brahms — was standard 19th-century drawing-room fare and Ólafsson opened the first song, Schubert’s “Der Wanderer”, with the sound creeping into audibility, answered by the baritone’s softest tones.

Goerne’s voice takes time to settle now, and there were rough edges, but his command of long, arching vocal lines, like broad strokes of a cello, remains masterly. Brahms’s Four Serious Songs found him at his most authoritative and Ólafsson proved an accompanist who pushed the boundaries with inspired creativity. Next time a smaller venue would show them to better advantage.

★★★★☆

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