Rusalka, Norwegian National Opera, Oslo Financial Times 7-September-09 by Desmond Chewyn The first ever production of Antonín Dvorák's Rusalka in Norway marked not just the opening of the ambitious 2009/2010 season but also an exciting beginning for a new artistic team at Norwegian National Opera. The Glaswegian stage director Paul Curran unveiled his first season opener as the company's new director of opera, choosing to multi-task by directing the work himself. There could hardly be a more fitting place to see Rusalka. Norway's new National Opera House, opened in April last year, offers a perfect setting for Dvorák's masterpiece, based on Hans Christian Andersen's “The Little Mermaid”. The building surfaces from the water with lightness and grace and, as though to complement it, this production immersed itself in a similarly half-submerged world. Curran turned the story into a journey of life experience, as seen through the eyes of a simple young girl. Starting out in the girl's bedroom, the story unfolds in the form of Rusalka's sleepless dream when she steps into the fantasy world inside her mirror – Alice through the Looking Glass inevitably comes to mind. Kevin Knight, the designer, provided an impressive transformation scene, as his picture-perfect doll's house submerged before our eyes to reveal a stylish bedroom-cum-forest setting, where most of the action took place. His costumes, however, were less notable and not well matched to his stylised decors. David Martin Jacques's lighting design switched between opaque luminosity, evoking fairy-tale fantasy, and abrasive beams of realism. The final image of Rusalka back in her bedroom, staring at her weathered reflection in the mirror, concluded a poignant story of lost innocence and lost love – themes that this production conveyed with an impressive consistency and focus. The Norwegian soprano Solveig Kringleborn was thoroughly believable in her role debut as Rusalka, with a perfect blend of juvenile candour and touchingly vulnerable naïveté. Combined with lyrical singing that had ample heft when required and a remarkable sensitivity to the words, this was a stellar performance. Equally effective was Magne Fremmerlid's portrayal of a heart-broken Vodník, the Water Goblin, distinguished by the bass's warm and velvety timbre. Randi Stene was a wickedly sexy Queen-of-the-Night style Jezibaba, who appropriately made her first appearance descending from the moon. The Slovak tenor Miroslav Dvorsky delivered direct, old-school singing with plenty of ringing top notes in the first two acts before shifting to a deeper poetry for the final duet. Itziar Galdos's otherwise authoritative Foreign Princess lacked vocal allure. The supporting roles were all solidly sung, especially the local mezzo-soprano and company member Signe Sannem Lund as the Kitchen Boy. In his house debut the young Norwegian conductor Eivind Gullberg Jensen showed much promise. Attentive and always firmly in control, he turned smooth corners at the many changes of mood in the drama. The playing of the orchestra was transparent and delicate in the lyrical passages and, where Dvorák's symphonic manner imposes itself, the music was delivered with full force, even though at times this was a little overbearing for some of the voices. [back to reviews]