FROM AROUND THE WORLD: CONCERTS AND RECITALS LONDON.(Brief Article)

The Royal Opera ended its season with two concert performances of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, in the original 1762 Vienna version, starring David Daniels in his debut at the theater. (His previous appearances with the company had been as Sesto in Giulio Cesare at the Barbican during the closure period.)

On June 6, Richard Hickox conducted the ROH Orchestra in a reading that made plentiful nods towards period style, notably in the final sequence of dance movements, though Hickox's manner of pausing between them lost the show's dramatic impetus. Neat and thoughtful though he always is, the overall effect of his conducting on this occasion was a mite sluggish.

A novel feature was the casting of a boy treble as Amor (alias Cupid). Logical as this seems, and efficient as was twelve-year-old Tristan Hambleton's delivery of some tricky music, his timbre sounded out of place, and his choirboy mannerisms (he's a chorister at St. Paul's Cathedral) jarred with the fluidity of the other performers.

Susan Gritton brought a good deal of charm and vivacity to Euridice, ensuring the role some center-stage attention in the rather indecorous marital row that breaks out between husband and wife as he attempts to drag her back from the Elysian Fields without so much as an encouraging glance. Gritton's sparkly light soprano and keen relishing of the text made this scene one of the highlights of the evening.

But it was Daniels's show, and he met all expectations. From his first (and in this instance, offstage) cries of grief during the opening chorus of mourning onward, the sweetness and rounded quality of his tone were never in doubt. Rarely, if ever, has any countertenor sung this music with such sheer beauty. To that vital ingredient Daniels adds musicality and dramatic conviction, making his overview of the role unusually complete. In places, one might want a little more power to add emphasis, but we are unlikely to have that from a male singer in this register without loss of quality -- not, at least, unless another castrato appears in our midst.

Before visiting companies (the Mariinsky Theater, for example) arrived for the summer in London, a final glamorous event was the ...