Savitri 2018Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Read more about the opera Savitri
Holst's Savitri is a highly concentrated little chamber work. It squeezes a lot of emotion into its half-hour span, and provides an excellent challenge for students. The orchestration contains much fascinating detail in its well integrated composition. The two flutes, single cor anglais and nine strings produce an astonishing range of sounds.
This simple staging was designed round a small patch of the forest in which the couple lives - a cluster of five elegant trees soaring into the flies, with subtly varied and atmospheric lighting. Costumes, vaguely Indian and modern in style, were white for the couple and black for Death, allowing him to lurk effectively in the shadows.
The cast was uniformly excellent, dominated of course by Rebecca Godley's plangently sung account of the title role. All three made much of the words, communicating with clarity. The offstage female chorus made an effective contribution. It was all beautifully led by Lionel Friend with his excellent student band
The opera forms the first part of a double-bill that follows with Auschwitz victim Viktor Ullmann's fascinating wartime satire The Emperor of Atlantis.
