<<  -- 20 --  Roderic Dunnett    WIT AND ORIGINALITY

Bravely exploring this kind of repertoire is what Garsington should be about: rarely performed works by famous composers, or rarities by composers who are scarcely known about, should have an honoured place on an English stage. Leonard and Rosalind Ingrams' fine Haydn stagings seem, in retrospect, far more enduring and influential an achievement than Garsington's periodic Figaros and Cosìs (which are ubiquitous anyway); although this venue's talent for letting an unexpected young or emerging performer of stature try out a significant major role (Robert Poulton's brilliant Falstaff in 1998, Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts's memorable Albert Herring two years earlier, or Stephen Richardson in the lead of Die Schweigsame Frau in 2003).

Perhaps, in true Ingrams spirit, Anthony Whitworth-Jones should have a look at Salieri (and there are plenty of others behind him, not necessarily the best known ones). And beyond Strauss -- amongst Strauss's contemporaries, for instance -- lies a wealth of excluded repertoire just begging to be let back in. Maybe revivals from the mid-twentieth century other than Britten deserve a look.

Yet here, as usual, Garsington's plucky enterprise and Leonard Ingrams' shrewd and canny programming came off brilliantly. The splendid triumph of Garsington's The Philosophers' Stone is that they amply made the case: tentatively regarded hitherto, this work deserves as from now to enter the repertoire.

Meanwhile, an illustrious Foundation has been set up under the chairmanship of Lord Carrington, the former British Foreign Secretary, to safeguard Garsington Opera's future, with the aim of raising three million pounds over approaching seasons and to establish a new set of awards for promising young singers. If any musical cause in Britain were worth support from opera lovers at this time, this is surely one of the most deserving.