IT’S hard to know how to take Richard Strauss’s opera, Ariadne auf Naxos.

Is it tragedy? Or comedy? Farce? An allegory?

Truth be told, it’s got the lot, but Neil Armfield’s production for Welsh National Opera hyped the farce at the expense of the tragedy – and the opera was so much the better for his treatment.

It made the tragic encounter between Ariadne and Bacchus – sung powerfully and in a constantly controlled way by soprano Orla Boylan and tenor Ricardo Tamura, who sounded slightly strained at times – that much more touching with the culmination of the opera a real moment to savour.

The opening of “the opera” – Act Two in normal terms – had an exquisite trio, sung by Naiad, Dryad and Echo, respectively Mary-Jane O’Doherty, Patricia Orr and Joanne Boag.

But the real highlight had to be the slapstick of the commedia dell’arte troupe. Gillian Keith, singing Zerbinetta, was coquettish in the extreme and her vocal gymnastics should be heard to be savoured. And it all looked so effortless.

Sarah Connolly, singing The Composer, struggled just a little but it’s a demanding part and she carried it off well.

The busy prologue – farcical, tense, busy – worked well, though those of us with highly limited German did struggle when the surtitles broke down.

Lother Koenigs extracted some delicious tones from the always dependable orchestra, which never fails to revel in playing works by Strauss: it’s easy to understand why, for this is one of his most beautiful and lavishly exuberant opera scores.

The scenery might have been fussy, even over-ambitious at times. But this was a performance which exuded energy and clearly delighted the Empire audience. It’s just a shame that it only gets one outing in Liverpool.

Glyn Mon Hughes