Candide 2007Edinburgh International Festival
Read more about the opera Candide
Beforehand, a concert performance of Candide seemed a strange way to kick off the new Jonathan Mills regime at the Edinburgh Festival. But with an excellent group of performers dominated by Sir Thomas Allen as master of ceremonies, it turned out to be an exhilarating way to celebrate the new era.
The BBC Scottish players were in slightly unfamiliar musical territory, but were well steered by Robert Spano, over from his normal base in Atlanta.
The romantic leads Candide and Cunégonde were brightly projected by two young American stars in Matthew Polenzani and Laura Aikin, and the emerging mezzo Jennifer Johnston made much of Paquette.
The magnetically ribald role of the Old Lady allowed us to hear again Scottish Opera's sometime Dido and Brangäne, Kathryn Harries in somewhat different mode.
The evening was held together by the superb control of Sir Thomas Allen, not just through his three characters, Martin as well as Voltaire and Pangloss, but also as the very necessary Narrator.
