Opera preview: Riders To The Sea, London

Though the Philharmonia mounted immensely successful semi-staged performances of Ralph Vaughan Williams' most ambitious opera, The Pilgrim's Progress, at Sadler's Wells back in June, it has been left virtually to the very end of the 50th anniversary of the composer's death for a British opera company to mount a full production of any of his stage works. Even so, English National Opera is giving just four performances of its new production of Riders To The Sea, which just doesn't suggest much faith in the popularity of what is Vaughan Williams' most compact and dramatically cogent excursion into music theatre. Based upon JM Synge's play, it's a pitiless study in Irish misery, which doesn't loosen its grip for a moment. The ENO show is directed by Fiona Shaw, with designs by Tom Pye and the multimedia artist Dorothy Cross, while the wonderful Patricia Bardon sings the central role of Maurya. • London Coliseum, WC2, Thu 27 to Nov 30 Classical music and opera London listings  ... (link)