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Cenerentola

Published Wednesday 20 June 2007 at 13:25 by Edward Bhesania

New in 2005, Peter Hall’s Cenerentola gets another outing, revived by Lynne Hockney. This time the period instrument Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment is in the pit, playing under Glyndebourne’s music director Vladimir Jurowski, with effortless sparkle and unflagging energy.

Alessandro Corbelli is convincing as the buffoon Don Magnifico - the down at heel Baron, desperate to marry off either of his two daughters to Prince Ramiro, while his stepdaughter, Angelina (La Cenerentola), is left to the domestic chores.

Though a touch on the straight side, Raquela Sheeran and Lucia Cirillo sing well as Clorinda and Tisbe, the ‘ugly’ sisters. And Umberto Chiummo makes an effective presence as Alidoro, the Prince’s tutor and ‘talent’ scout.

But it’s the central trio of characters that excels. Romanian soprano Ruxandra Donose returns as Angelina, dark-hued in her mid-range and though lacking a little brightness at top, amply agile. Her Prince, Maxim Mironov, sings with bright, creamy lyricism and impressive stamina. But Pietro Spagnoli makes an exceptional Glyndebourne debut as Dandidni, the valet with whom the Prince temporarily swaps places in order to observe the women. With an easy flowing richness and instinctive comic and dramatic expression, his is, perhaps, the most complete performance.

There are some gripes though. Cinderella seems all too knowing, Ramiro a touch limp, and the asides to the action - usually the ensembles - take place amid bizarrely disorienting and increasingly tedious lighting changes. And then there’s the embarrassingly awkward slow motion finale to Act I… On the whole, however, the singing, playing and (mostly) the production are so sure-footed as to bring the thing off with panache, if not with abandon.

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