The skewed white planes and chipped frescoes of David Fielding's sets for Mozart's last opera are once more in place in Glyndebourne, where the mobile arm of the home company always kicks off its tour. Even when adapted for hasty construction in smaller theatres, these sets are impressive, filling the whole stage. The only noticeable thing to have been sacrificed from the main season this summer is the ladder from which Sesto sang as Rome burned. A giant eagle's wing, suspended from the flies, still dominates the final scene.
Nicholas Hytner's production, revived for the third time by James Robert Carson, wears well. Not since the years immediately following its composition has La Clemenza di Tito been anything of a favourite among Mozart's operas, and even Glyndebourne, where Mozart is king, didn't commission this, their first production of the work, until 1991. The recitative passages seem far longer than those in, say, Cosi or Figaro, and the classical storyline can make the work seem at a glance like an imitation of a Handel opera seria. Yet Tito is comparatively brief, and Mozart has taken the best element of such operas - Handel's gift for effortlessly sustained melody - as a starting point for a work that is distinctively his own.
The Glyndebourne Touring Opera Orchestra may lack the finesse of the London Philharmonic, but under Kenneth Montgomery they gave no half measures. Their playing was energetic and dramatic; fortes really were loud and one or two of the pianissimos were magical. The largely young chorus sang their brief episodes with vigour.
This is one opera where the title role might be said to be the dullest from the point of view of characterisation - there is little to be done with the goody-goody emperor. Carlo Vincenzo Allemano sang Tito with firmness and agility, hitting his top notes accurately, yet he needed to find more contrast between his piano doubts and forte assertions as he decided Sesto's fate. The gloriously evil Vitellia was sung by Susannah Glanville in her rich, bright soprano, and Annio by an expressive Imelda Drumm. Both singers could have used just a little more focus, but Emma Selway's Sesto was more secure, even and liquid-toned. It is Sesto who is really the central character, and Selway's portrayal gave him just the right mix of dignity and vulnerability.
This production leaves Glyndebourne at the end of the month and will be touring until mid-December. Those who already know the work will find in it much to enjoy; those who don't may find it a revelation.
• Box office: 01273 813813
