Opera

Berlioz’s first opera isn’t very often performed, and it’s not difficult to see why. It is pretty long, there are few memorable melodies in it and the composer’s libretto is distinctly homemade. The basic plot is that the great sculptor and layabout Cellini has to complete a statue for the Pope, with the ultimate penalty if he fails. But Berlioz is so keen to create and maintain atmosphere that the central idea disappears for half-hours at a time, while miscellaneous characters hold up the action andis the only celebrated piece in it, and occurs fairly late in the work. This production is of a semi-demi-staging from Versailles, charming but confusing, since some of the singers are happy to act whilst others are content to sing. Gardiner is a passionate Berliozian, and brings to the playing both excitement and precision. The singers – the men dressed in florid waistcoats-cum-dressing gowns – are mainly up to Berlioz’s strenuous demands, with Michael Spyres superb in the title role, and Sophia Burgos excellent as his beloved Teresa. But her father Balducci is sung by an Italian bass who has a pronounced wobble and is a blot on the cast.