Rossini's Armida is the ideal festival opera. Though few would doubt the haunting, tragic quality of the score, it's atrociously difficult to perform. Assembling the requisite cast is almost impossible in the jet-setting world of today's opera houses. For the title role of the sorceress who causes sexual mayhem among crusading soldiers besieging Jerusalem, you need the best coloratura soprano you can find. The score also contains six lead tenor roles, though the infamous "six tenor" section is actually a myth: Rossini, doubling parts, wrote the work for four.
Edinburgh, however, went for all six - and spectacular they were, soaring one after the other to top Cs as the audience roared its approval. Bruce Ford, heroic in tone and effortless, dominated as Armida's lover Rinaldo, though he and dreamy-voiced Kenneth Tarver, cast as his jealous rival Gernando, would have been better suited to each other's roles. Barry Banks was electric as Goffredo, the military leader, Campbell Russell was his dithering brother Eustazio, while Paul Austin Kelly and Norman Shankle were impressive as the soldiers sent to rescue Rinaldo from the sorceress's clutches.
Armida herself was played by Cecilia Gasdia, at times sour rather than seductive in tone. But the role covers nearly three octaves and the notes were all comfortably there, which is a feat in itself. Carlo Rizzi, conducting, swerved between flamboyance and sensual tenderness. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra relished every second of Rossini's unusually luscious instrumental writing. A brave undertaking, unfailingly exciting despite occasional flaws.
