Judgment of Paris 2011St Andrews Opera
Read more about the opera Judgment of Paris
St Andrews Opera (under Dr Michael Downes of the Music Centre at St Andrews University) offered an intriguing double bill, teaming this excellent, but little known masque by Eccles with Lennox Berkeley's delightfully frivolous comedy from 1954, A Dinner Engagement.
The wide open Younger Hall stage made it essential to keep the staging basic. In line with modern views which tend to find simple beauty contests offensive, the competition was set within the context of a fashion show, which worked quite well, and the weapons of war displayed by Pallas turned out to be golf clubs. The small orchestra, placed at audience level to the right of the stage, played this attractive Purcellian score very effectively, and the performance was a thoroughly enjoyable introduction to a work which should be better known. Laurie Slavin revealed a sweet-toned tenor as the shepherd.
