As we grieve over Violetta in her death throes at the end of Verdi’s La Traviata, it’s hard not to see a metaphor here for the embattled English National Opera itself. The company’s music director Martyn Brabbins resigned a week ago in protest at its proposed solution to Arts Council England cuts, describing it as “managed decline”. The possible demise of ENO is a catastrophic prospect and this revived Traviata is a timely reminder of what the company has been so good at over the decades: an integrated company of singers and players presenting in English a bold new take on classic repertoire.
It’s true that of the principals, only Roland Wood as Germont is an ENO regular, but three of the smaller roles are taken by ENO Harewood Artists. And both chorus and orchestra might have been giving an object lesson in the advantages of a cohesive ensemble company. The former was electrifying in the party scenes, for which chorus director Martin Fitzpatrick deserves credit (less so for his clunky translation). The orchestra played superbly for Richard Farnes, whose taut, emotionally charged conducting was in perfect sync with the production.
As for the latter, Peter Konwitschny had long been one of the world’s most radically innovative directorial talents when he made his belated UK debut with this Traviata in 2013. The revival by Ruth Knight, aided by the contribution of Farnes, seemed even more riveting than that of 2015. Played for much of its length in front of red theatre curtains, the staging points up the callous, hypocritical voyeurism of the partygoing Parisian set. It also highlights the social role played by its victim, Violetta, a courtesan smitten by true love, who finally fades away into a black void.
Nicole Chevalier sings the latter part with unflagging potency and considerable accomplishment, while Jose Simerilla Romero is admirable as the bookish, nerdy Alfredo, who abandons his spectacles on finding his love reciprocated. Roland Wood is a fine Germont père and Sarah-Jane Lewis’s Annina and Jonathan Lemalu’s Doctor Grenvil also deserve special mention.
I still wonder about the schoolgirl daughter Germont brings with him to apply emotional blackmail in his appeal to Violetta. Isn’t she a bit young to be thinking of marriage? Others may be more troubled by the cuts made in the interests of maximising dramatic intensity. But this tremendous production shows just what can be done by a theatrical genius working in tandem with an exemplary conductor and committed, experienced choral and orchestral musicians.
London Coliseum, to Nov 12; eno.org
