I spent the first half-hour of this broadcast cursing the BBC for not bothering to provide English subtitles. Then I realised that the production is in English. It is sung unintelligibly by a, mainly Spanish, cast although I doubt if anyone could make it intelligible. The libretto was written by Francis Burdett Money-Coutts, that's Money as in bags and Coutts as in bank, who commissioned Albeniz to write this opera. The music is sub-Wagnerian right up until the final act when there is a splendid ballet sequence in a Spanish idiom. This makes you wonder what might have been if Albeniz had written an opera without the influence of Wagner hanging so heavily on him.
The bass, David Wilson-Johnson, is an excellent Merlin. Eva Marton sings Morgan le Fay but, sadly, her voice is well past its sell-by. Of the rest of the cast, the least said the better. The plot of the opera is totally undecipherable, however, the staging is so sensational that the film is well worth watching. You can pass a pleasant three hours just marvelling at the Flash Gordon costumes and listening to Albeniz's undemanding Wagner pastiche.
