Anthony Negus's reputation may primarily be as a conductor of Wagner, but he is also a Mozartian through and through, as he proved in this revival of the Welsh National Opera and Gran Teatre del Liceu co-production. Negus brought dramatic verve and finesse to what had, in other hands three years ago, been a rather superficial reading of Mozart's masterpiece. Above all, it was the super-sensitive accompaniment of sopranos Rebecca Evans as the Countess and Elizabeth Watts as Susanna that showed Negus's instinct for the composer's profound perception of human nature. Evans's lustrous tone outclassed Dario Solari's Count Almaviva, and Watts's first playful then more expressive delivery similarly outshone the Figaro of David Soar (though the latter was far more animated this time around). Jurgita Adamonyté's spunky Cherubino had much presence, and Joanne Boag's artfully sung Barbarina was also notable.
Yet, while the staging scores musically and revival director Caroline Chaney has tightened up the ensemble work, it's still hard to be reconciled to director Lluís Pasqual's overall concept, less stylish than stylised. The 1930s setting might be Spain before the civil war – Figaro was the barber of Seville before being employed by the Count – but it feels more arbitrary than that. There's no whiff of the incipient smoke of revolution, though plenty of mirrors that only underline the sense of distortion of what is a sharp social satire. Certainly, Beaumarchais would be hard-pressed to recognise this caricature, since Pasqual's take is inexplicably low on the two fundamentals of sedition and sexual allure. He relies instead on hyping up the element of pantomimic romp and choreographing into it a further layer of artificiality. To treat Mozart like this is to mistrust the ultimate master.
