Der Rosenkavalier, by Richard Strauss

Welsh National Opera, Apollo Theatre, 28th June and 1st July 2000

Welsh National Opera's production of Der Rosenkavalier - brought to the Apollo this week together with Carmen and The Turn of the Screw - clocks in at four and a half hours (including intervals), and yet every moment is utterly enthralling. Richard Strauss's Komodie fur Musik is a tale set in a semi-imaginary Vienna, which seems to come partly from fairy tale and largely from satire, with characters who seem to have stepped out of an Austrian version of Hogarth.

The plot of Der Rosenkavalier is on one level a typical tale of the dashing young suitor rescuing a beautiful girl, who is betrothed to the wrong man. The suitor in this case is Der Rosenkavalier of the title, the "Rose Knight" (Octavian) carrying out the supposed, (but, sadly, fictitious) custom of presenting his relative's intended bride with a silver rose, symbolic of his betrothal. Inevitably he falls in love with the girl himself and vows to save her from the boorish, uncouth Baron Ochs whose messenger he is.

The casualty of his love is his former mistress, the Marschallin, proved right in her prediction that sooner or later he would leave her for someone younger (he is 17 to her 33) and more beautiful. It is with the Marschallin that much of the power of the piece lies. Not only does she possess the political power to break the unsuitable engagement and unite the lovers, but also the pathos of her relinquishing her own suitor to a younger woman. Along with this ageing beauty, who knows when to move on with dignity, we are shown the old Roue in the character of Baron Ochs, a "bloated wastrel" as the Marschallin calls him in one memorable moment of surtitling. "With me," he claims, "not a night is too long." Together with his intended fiancee, the audience finds this hard to believe.

Daniel Sumegi, making his Welsh National Opera and British Opera debut, is a splendidly lecherous Baron Ochs, offset beautifully by the calm resignation of Deborah Reidel's Marschallin. 1995 Cardiff Singer of the World, Katarina Karneus, excels in the trouser role of Octavian, The Rose Knight. They are supported by the superb singers of the Welsh National Opera, whose excellent acting matches their singing. This production combines quality of performance with the superb lighting, sets and costumes of what is renowned as one of the best technical and support crews in Opera.

If you have missed WNO in Oxford this season, they will return in October, with Queen of Spades, Orpheus and Eurydice and Carmen.

Philippa Ouvry, 28 / 6 / 00