Festival Director Jonathan Mills made a bold choice in opening his second festival with this bitter satire on capitalism and decadent society - and one he is reported to have had in mind since his appointment.

A controversial work which caused uproar when first performed in Leipzig not long before the Nazis came to power in Germany, it was banned immediately when they did. All the scores were destroyed and it was thought the work was lost forever, until the original score was found after the war.

Set in America, but spun out of a hedonistic pleasure-seeking European society, a new outing at a time of "credit crunch" for an opera with the blunt message that the only real crime is to be penniless may seem peculiarly apt. A court scene in Act 3, where Toby gets away with murder and Jim gets death for not having money to pay for whiskey he drank, emphasises the crime.

Mahagonny contains some of Weill's finest music and this Festival first was well served by the principals. It is extremely difficult today to put across a basically Marxist message with any degree of intensity, especially when the singer is one of a row fronted by music stands.

It took time for enthusiastic conductor Gruber to extract the maximum performance from Giselle Allen as the prostitute Jenny and authority from Susan Bickley as her madam Begbick. Both roles were difficult, especially with the orchestral accompaniment and, occasionally, intrusions.

The RSNO itself performed admirably, possibly with some lapses in precision or timing, though coping expertly with a score that covered musical styles ranging from honky-tonk jazz, through gentle sweetness, to extremely strident brass.

Hannah Gordon was an impeccable narrator, exact in timing and enunciation.

The Festival Chorus were in fine voice, as were the RASMD girls, especially the one who had one solo entrance - a shriek - and was rewarded with a celebratory kiss from the conductor as he dashed among the orchestra at the end congratulating individual players.

Despite occasional comments among the departing audience that Mahagonny had been somewhat sanitised and lacked sufficient bite, it was an excellent acclaimed performance.

Concert: Aug 8, 2008

Copyright Iain Gilmour August 2008.