Absolute magic! Touring opera group just superb with Mozart at LBT REVIEW.

Byline: By Chris Robins

TITLE The Magic Flute, Swansea City Opera 

VENUE Lawrence Batley Theatre 

THAT The Magic Flute is toured at all is unusual; that it is toured this well is remarkable.

Swansea City Opera have overcome its demand for technical complexity and a large cast - and the big budget this implies - to make a production of absolute integrity at modest cost.

The feat is more remarkable considering the multi-layered nature of the piece. It has to work as musical comedy and serious Masonic allegory.

At the same time its lovers Tamino and Pamina - the principal 'human' (as distinct from 'symbolic') characters - have to develop convincingly.

All was achieved.

But for me the most remarkable achievement was the arrangement, by musical director John Beswick, of Mozart's score for just three woodwinds, a single violin and cello, plus keyboards.

Beswi ck's ingenuity ensured that no orchestral nuance or tone colour was missed in music as diverse as Pamina's Italianate arioso, The Queen of the Night's coloratura, Papageno's street songs and the Bachian counterpoint of ensembles and chorale melodies associated with Sarastro.

The simple yet powerful set consisted of three temples representing nature, reason and wisdom.

Graphics of the opera's magical sequences were projected on to their doors, helping to separate two-dimensional symbolism from the flesh-and-blood humanism of the singers in front of them.

And such singers! All were impeccable, with the well-matched techniques vital for this ensemble piece.

In particular, John-Colyn Gyeantey's Tamino and Michaela Bloom's Pamina were beautifully sustained, despite Pamina's second act aria lacking intense introspection.

And Rebecca Ivey's Queen of the Night was spine-tingling.

CAPTION(S):

CONVINCING: Swansea City Opera's production of The Magic Flute proved a remarkable achievement at the LBT