Grange Festival
Tchaikovsky: Queen of Spades – 29/06/23
Ellington: From Stride to Strings – 30/06/23
Leading the way in the UK’s country house opera scene, the three (no pun intended) top Gs – Garsington, Glyndebourne and Grange Festival – are notable not only for the high standard of their summer season productions, but the whole experience of a day, or even several days, out at the opera. Each has its own niche within the niche, whether a focus on Mozart in the rolling hills of the Chilterns, the floral gardens perfection along with on-site wind turbine at Glyndebourne or the idyllic vast estate land of rural Hampshire that is home to Grange Festival. What they all have in common, apart from the top-drawer quality music that cuts across everything, is the feeling of conviviality, enjoyment and socialising together with friends old and new, much of which takes place in a long interval or as part of the pleasure of promenading around the grounds before curtain up. In late June, English weather gave a taste of Grange Festival in both blustery sunshine and intermittent drizzle over a couple of adjacent dates. No matter, the charm of the gracious dilapidation of the main house coupled with the swish conservatory conversion theatre, attracts a coterie of evening dress attired returning devotees as well as first-timers. And no wonder. Opera here is classy on stage as well as off. Tchaikovsky’s ‘Queen of Spades’ is particularly notable for its cleverly designed set of flexible and revolving astragal window panels giving a sense of St Petersburg café society in the opening scene but working just as well to form the Countess’s bedroom or the fatal gambling house. While Eduard Martynyuk as Herman didn’t quite ring true as a character who is defined by passion and addiction, the helplessness of a gambler in love came through in his intense vocal delivery. As the focus of his affection, Anush Hovhannisyan was a tenderly felt Lisa, credible both as virginal young lover and dutiful granddaughter to Josephine Barstow’s commanding and emotive Countess. Age 82 and still singing with every nuance the score asks of her, Barstow’s stage skills were second to none. Much of Tchaikovsky’s rich colour palette, of course, comes from the orchestral writing, with Paul Daniel conducting the ever adaptable Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, who make for an ideal fit as long-term Grange Festival partners.
Demonstrating their skilful versatility even further, the BSO were back the next night for ‘Ellington: From Stride to Strings’. As conductor Gavin Sutherland said, it was not only strings but the rest of the orchestra too turning their hand to Jazz at the Grange. What a line-up in the six-piece band led by trumpeter Dominick Farinacci, with particularly stunning virtuoso star turns from pianist Mathis Picard – who had at least part of his early musical education in Scotland – and vibraphone player Christian Tamburr. Coupling technical finesse with compelling charisma, Picard was also soloist in Ellington’s ‘New World A-Comin’, a sort of mini piano concerto. Like ‘Valediction: An Ellington Suite’, it gave an insight into Ellington’s symphonic sound, something that is not usually recognised.