Belshazzar review: Grange Festival hits the bull’s-eye with this enthralling show

For my money, this is the bull’s-eye hit of the country-house opera season to date – a production of what Handel authority Jonathan Keates describes as “the most markedly dramatic of the oratorios”, sung, played and staged with red–blooded flair.

I’m guessing cuts that will displease purists have been made – the two acts each lasts a lean 70 minutes – but the gain in pace and focus is considerable. There’s usually at least one point in any baroque opera performance when I sneak a hopeful look at my watch. But here I was captivated throughout.

Belshazzar was composed in 1744, shortly after Semele, when Handel was at the peak of his powers. It builds on a robustly fervent libretto by Charles Jennens (compiler of the text for Messiah), drawing on the Old Testament tale of the decadent Babylonian King who keeps the Jewish people in captivity. After he is baffled during a feast by the words ‘Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin’ materialising on a wall, the Jewish prophet Daniel tells him that it is a sign from Jehovah that impious Babylon will fall. The Persians under Cyrus duly invade, releasing the Jews and putting paid to Belshazzar.

From the arrestingly powerful opening recitative in which Belshazzar’s mother Nitocris laments her lot to the final Amen of the liberated Jews, Handel seems completely engaged by this scenario. There are no subsidiary love-interest plotlines and no pointless da capo arias: it moves like thunder and lightning, with the choruses of the national parties brilliantly differentiated – the Babylonians hedonist, the Jews exalted, the Persians resolute.

Individual characterisation is powerful too: Belshazzar emerges as a hysterical ninny, Nitocris as the voice of reason, Daniel as the word of God. The scene of Belshazzar’s collapse, punctuated by a staccato solo violin, is more vividly theatrical than anything in Handel’s Italian operas and the chorus “Recall, o King,” must stand as one of the most hauntingly beautiful that he ever wrote.

Daniel Slater’s staging, elegantly designed by Robert Innes Hopkins, is free of directorial monkey business but also sharp and clear in its depiction of Babylonian “giddy dissipation” and Jewish community. Forcefully conducted by Harry Christophers, Clare Booth’s resinous soprano brings rich emotion to Nitocris’ plight, Robert Murray copes heroically with Belshazzar’s vocal athletics, and counter-tenors James Laing and Christopher Ainslie make their mark as Daniel and Cyrus. But the augmented choir of The Sixteen – impeccably disciplined, supremely stylish – are the true stars of this enthralling show.

Until July 6, in repertory with Falstaff and Le Nozze di Figaro. Tickets: 01962 791020; thegrangefestival.co.uk