First seen in 2011, Mariame Clément’s Glyndebourne production of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, shared over the years between the main festival and the tour, is now on its sixth outing, revived by Ian Rutherford, conducted by Ben Glassberg, and featuring a largely new cast that is, quite simply, stunning. It divided opinion when it was new, with many, myself included, deeming it a calculating, overly cynical interpretation of an already cruel work. Its hardness of edge, however, has disappeared with time, and greater emotional depth and subtlety have crept in.
Clément’s twist on the narrative is that Norina (Erin Morley) and Malatesta (Huw Montague Rendall) are lovers rather than simply conspirators, their Dangerous Liaisons-style games deceiving not only the ageing Pasquale (José Fardilha) but also his none-too-bright nephew Ernesto (Josh Lovell). Rutherford has tweaked the ending, however: Norina now remains happily with Ernesto rather than coldly dumping him for Malatesta, though it’s also clear that her affair with the latter may well continue behind Ernesto’s back. And Pasquale himself, held up to ridicule and caricature in 2011, has become an altogether more sympathetic figure, touchingly vulnerable as well as funny.
