Lalo's "Le roi d'Ys": COG at Cadogan

Lalo Le roi d’Ys (concert performance) Soloists; Chelsea Opera Group Chorus & Orchestra / Paul Wingfield.  Cadogan Hall, London, 30.03.2025

Cast: 

Margared – Maria Schellenberg 

Rozenn – Hye-Youn Lee 

Mylio – Luis Gomez 

Prince Karnac - Alexey Gusev 

Le Roi – Thomas D. Hopkinson 

Jahel – Ross Cumming 

St. Corentin – Edward Jowle 

Gallicism meets Wagnerism (Debussy wasn’t the only one) in Eduard Lalo’s Le roi d’Ys. As early as the Overture it is impossible not to hear Lohengrin the harmonic vocabulary, although that was perhaps less pronounced in this COG performance than in some (André Cluyens, in his classic recording with a cast including Rita Gorr, for example). 

Chelsea Opera Group specialises in the revivification of the unusual or forgotten, and always presents the results with aplomb. The orchestra, while not on the finest professional level, gives its all and contains individual members capable of delivering great beauty in Lalo’s various solos, including cellist Sam Whitby and clarinetist Alan Maries, who seem ripe for individual comment. 

The chorus plays a large part in Lalo’s 1888 opera (to a libretto by Édouard Blau), and indeed opens the piece with a celebration of Noël (‘Noêl, c’est l’aurore bénie’); pre-echoes of Massenet ‘s Werther, perhaps, premiered nearly four years after he Lalo. There is some cruel soprano writing involved, and the Chelsea chorus managed well. Jahel, the King’s herald, gets a good workout in this opening scene, and baritone Ross Cumming gave his all; it was the duet between Margared and Rozenn that begins the opera’s dramatic trajectory, though, setting forth the back story of Margared’s love for Mylio (despite being betrothed to Prince Karnac as part of a war truce). Casting was carefully judged: soprano Hee-Youn Lee has a strong, slightly dark soprano against Maria Schelleberg’s forthright mezzo as Margared. But, despite their distance apart on sage, the two sparked off each other brilliantly as Lalo’s harmonic shadows eclipsed their exchanges like an encroaching dusk. Lee’s duet with with Mylio (‘A l’utel j’allis royonnement’) was a real highlight. and then Prayer. I note Lee will sing Cio-Cio San lter this year (June/July) t Gange Park which could be one to bookmark. 

Interestingly, Lalo makes regular use of the full gamut of the soprano range in Maragared’s part – the singer is as likely to be low down as high up, so the requirement is a performer with fully developed range throughout, and Schellenberg was able to project both ends. Lalo actually struts Maragred’s recitative which opens the second act low down and remains in the lower-mid aspect for some considerable time; the effect is to convey Margared’s disquiet as well as to throw into relief the phrases that later soar. Schellenberg was superb here, as Margared ruminates on Mylio loving Rozenn, not her; as she was in the opera’s final moments as Margared offers herself as sacrifice in a Tosca-like moment (jettisoning herself into water as opposed to off a rampart). My previous experience of Schellenberg was singing Megacle Vivaldi L’Olimpiade at the Linbury while Gemma Ní Bhriain walked the part (a dramattc evening all in all, it turned out). Good to experience her as planned, and good to hear a singer whose career can only blossom: I note she won the Michel Oliver Prize atthe London handel Competition, an esteemed event. She previously sang Ulrica Un ballo i maschera for COG in 2023, where she was praised by my colleague Agnes Kory in her review here. 

The Mylio, the male love interest of both Rozenn and Margared, was heroically taken by tenor Lios Gomez. His act I aria, ‘Si le ciel est plein de flames’ was lovely, his voice (at this point) nicely fresh: there was a sense of understandable strain towards the end of the evening. Gomez will, incidentally, be Pinkerton to Lee’s Cio-Cio San Butterfly at Grange Park in the Summer. 

In act I, Lalo darkens the music considerably for the entrance of Karnac, and this sense of menace pursues him often. Baritone Alexey Gusev took the role, a sense of evil exuding every phrase.  

While conductor Paul Wingfield took the piece relatively swiftly (which works well, for example, in the depiction of wedding preparations that open the third and final act), he left space for the more interior moments, one of which takes place at the end of act II. This latter passage effectively begins with Karnac’s ‘Perdu! Je suis perdu!’ - Gusev gripping as Lalo tests the strength of his baritone’s upper register; Margared joins him offering her hand in revenge, and Schelleberg delivered with Ortrud-like malevolence. This whole passage cumulates in an ‘Apparition’: the statue of Saint Corentin (patron saint of Brittany) offers a warning against a sonic backdrop of ecclesiastical organ (electronic, here) given in imperious fashion by bass Edward Jowle. 

But what, I hear you ask, of the titular character, the King himself? Counter-intuitively, this is a relatively small role but one taken with gravitas and authority by bass Thomas D. Hopkinson.  

Lalo’s music s so worth hearing. There are satisfying structural correspondences between the acts, and his music is far more than Wagner-influenced French. I did feel the final act is weaker in pure inspiration tan the first two (an impression if not confirmed, certainly supported by hearing the Dynamic release of a 2008 performance conducted by Patrick Devin, but contradicted by the Cluytens, who offers a white-heat account). There is however no doubting the thrill of the appearance of the organ in this act (at ‘Ah! qu’ils périssent’), something which really should be heard live. 

This performance might be well timed in terms of offering a reappraisal of Lalo’s opera as I notice concert performances in the Concergebouw Amsterdam and MPA Budapest last year are associated with Palazetto Bru Zane, known for their lavish releases. The exciting cast there included Cyrille Dubois, Kate Alrich and Judith van Wanroij. Previous to that, its last outing seems to be in various opera houses in France in 2016 ; there was a similar tranche of French performances in 2007/8, but then one has to go back to 1998 (Metz). The Dynamic recording in the final analysis fails to do Lalo’s score justice; if you have the Cluytens, stick with it. A final mention of a most carefully moulded, simply beautiful performance of the Overture on a Chandos disc of French Overtures recently by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (the clarinet solo is worth the price of the disc alone). Also this link should take you to the full playlist of the Cluytens full opera (YouTube).

May COG continue their good work  forever. A most enjoyable evening.