'Agrippina's plot is a little complicated and the first act is long (let's face it, if we were to follow Baroque opera house etiquette, this is when we should really be checking out the audience, being seen, maybe posting selfies of our dressed-up, opera personae).
However the personalities are exaggeratedly familiar from any TV power drama (think 'I Claudius' meets 'The Tudors'). The jokes and innuendo are witty, the costumes are gorgeous, and the airwaves are beautiful throughout. The design team have created another phenomenally simple, effective and striking set. Brisbane Baroque is back; bringing another world-class Handel opera from the Göttingen International Handel Festival.
'Agrippina' is a little different from the highly-awarded Faramondo production of last year. Handel wrote 'Agrippina' young (24), before he was famous and claimed by London as their super-star composer. He was still based in Germany but travelling and learning in Italy and the orchestral music shows great experimentation that settled down in later operas.
A huge variety of instruments (who'd have thought recorders and lutes could hold such mesmerising operatic power?) and styles are given a place, sometimes in close opposition to one another, and the Orchestra of the Antipodes give an outstanding performance.
If the orchestral writing is refreshingly youthful and daring, the voice parts are less mature.
'Agrippina' lacks the intertwining voices of later works with no counterpoint and harmony, even in songs featuring more than one singer. There are a couple of ensemble choruses, but they are simple. However the solo writing does show the psychological insight turned into music that became such a hall-mark of Handel (the success of 'Agrippina' probably helped cement Handel's international popularity). The second act makes us settle down to the emotional drama of deceit, betrayal and unrequited love and lust with the heartrending music of rejected Otho's orchestrated recitative and beautiful aria, stunningly performed by Carlo Vistoli.It's hard to say anything unsuperlative about a cast like this. There were moments when the incredibly difficult synchronisation of highly technical voice and orchestral parts wasn't quite there, but it's a long work. Technically superb and dramatically engaging is a fair summation. Poppea sang by Keri Fuge and particularly Otho, held the star performances (Otho was sung by the counter tenor Carlo Vistoli, interesting as it was debuted by a woman, but in an era we associate with celebrating high male voices). However all of the cast had outstanding moments, and it was good to see a Sydney Conservatorium graduate, Russell Harcourt, returning to Australia and making such a mark in the role of Nero.
Brisbane is lucky to have gained this festival and it's a great opportunity to broaden your view/experience/knowledge of old music with some of the best performances in the world.
'Agrippina' performs Brisbane Conservatorium Theatre 14 & 16 April.
