<<  -- 4 --  Robert Hugill    A MODERN STYLE

The cast was completed by Susan Jiwey's amusing Berta and Ian Wilson-Pope's hard-working Ambrogio.

The opera was performed in David Parry's English version. The cast's diction was excellent so that the drama was really propelled by the words. At times the translation seemed overly colloquial and jokey, but this fitted in with the modern style of the production.

John Beswick conducted an admirable band of seventeen, who provided a fine, crisp accompaniment. The string sound was unapologetically lithe rather than lush, but the band was expressive and provided fine accompaniment. My only complaint was in the decision to use harpsichord for the recitative, surely an anachronism. If the company did not feel brave enough to use a modern piano then perhaps it should have experimented with using a cello and double bass as often happened in Italian theatres.

For all its cartoonish elements, the production possessed a sophistication and joie de vivre which is so often lacking in productions of Rossini's popular but tricky opera.