Prokofiev: The Love for Three Oranges (Opus Arte)

With a star cast, headed by Willard White, Francois Le Roux and Sandrine Piau, director Laurent Pelly has created a fascinating world out of nonsensical material.

Prokofiev based his opera on a work by the 18th Century Italian playwright Carlo Gozzi (1720-1806), whose plays are remembered today not in their own right but as operas. The two most famous are The Love for Three Oranges and Turandot. While Puccini's final work may seem very different and much darker than Prokofiev's, the source is the same.

Gozzi was a conservative playwright, who wanted to hang on to the outdated conventions of commedia dell'arte, the street theatre prevalent in the 16th and 17th Centuries. He had running battles with a number of other writers during his life-time, most famously with Carlo Goldoni, a far superior playwright who wanted to move theatre in a whole new direction.

Gozzi's world was full of princes, princesses, witches, wizards and the old stock commedia characters. Ironically, while Goldoni's more naturalistic plays have survived, opera versions of his works (by composers as diverse as Salieri, Wolf-Ferrari and Martinu) are less successful than Gozzi's fantasy creations, which seem to lend themselves more easily to operatic treatment.

Prokofiev's opera was premiered in Chicago in 1921 in French and this is the version De Nederlandse Opera is using. At times, the music itself sounds French and stylistically has a lot in common with that of Les Six and even Debussy. The exciting score, with its famous march, is highly appropriate for the unusual subject matter.

The fantastical tale tells of a prince who cannot laugh, much to his father's despair. Faced with the slapstick of the witch Fata Morgana falling on her backside, the prince begins to laugh and she curses him. He is condemned to fall in love with three oranges and he sets off in search of the objects of his strange love. He finds them and inside each is a princess, two of whom die of thirst, while the third gets changed into a giant rat, before being reunited with the prince as her former self.

There are a number of interesting interludes, in which chorus posing as members of the audience, burst into the action and extol the virtues of tragedy, comedy or lyrical drama. These were very much concerns of Gozzi's, whose society seemed to take writing rather more seriously than we do now. He ran popular pamphlet wars against his rival writers and even drove Goldoni out of Venice into exile in Paris.

With stylised movement, frantic chases and some spectacular set-pieces, including a wonderful card game played between Fata Morgana (colourfully characterised by Anna Shafajinskaja) and the wizard Chelios (the majestic Willard White, reliable as ever), director Laurent Pelly creates a magical and whimsical world. The sets by Chantal Thomas, all based on playing cards, are ingenious and often very beautiful. With so many references to kings, queens and cards and the surrealistic storyline, it has echoes of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Francois Le Roux is convincing as the evil Prime Minister Léandre and Sandrine Piau stands out as the lovely Princess Ninette. Other cast members are Alain Vernhes as the King, Martial Defontaine as the Prince, Serghei Khomov as Truffaldino and Richard Angas as the Gigantic Cook. The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Stéphane Denève.

With good performances all round, this is a highly recommended version of an under-performed opera. The set, on two discs, includes an interesting 25 minute documentary with director and cast interviews, as well as backstage scenes.

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