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musicweb-international.com |
Jim Pritchard |
Verdi: La traviata, Royal Opera House, 17 January 2008
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Verdi, La traviata
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Anna Netrebko sang on the first night and
conquered her London audience as Violetta but then fell sick with a
recurrence of bronchitis. The Royal Opera management must be sick themselves
of the ‘cancellitis’ they have had to endure this season. But in true ‘show
must go on fashion’ a potentially great disappointment for the sold-out
house was turned into a memorable voyage of discovery. A new operatic
superstar may not exactly have been discovered – Ermonela Jaho who flew in
has after all been singing the role since she was 17 and performed it in
Tirana, Germany, Italy and France – but she will be welcomed back to Covent
Garden anytime. She is undoubtedly one of Albania’s finest exports,
Richard Eyre’s monumental and very solid production was new in November 1994
and I saw it then with Angela Gheorghiu as Violetta, Frank Lopardo (Alfredo)
and Leo Nucci (Germont) and conducted by Georg Solti. This opening night won
for Gheorghiu stardom almost overnight. Redolent of the opulent architecture
of the Paris of Napoleon III with costumes to match it begins with a vision
of Violetta reclining on a chaise longue in a tightly corseted crinoline
gown. I have never seen her on stage but reviews of Netrebko hint that she
possesses outstanding attributes other than just her singing whilst here
Ermonela Jaho is quite petite and slender and must benefit from actually
looking consumptive. Her voice sounded small to begin with and there was an
undoubted East European lilt to it. She remained quite quiet in the
recitatives between the showstoppers but when her big moments in Act I came
along (‘Sempre libera degg’io’) she did not disappoint exhibiting a fine
coloratura with laser-sharp top notes. She was not frightened of singing
with her back to the audience at times as if reflecting on her destiny and
seeking answers from higher powers.
The audience were very receptive and attentive throughout and obviously
willing Ermonela Jaho on despite a number in the house appearing to share
Miss Netrebko’s bronchitis. In the first night reviews the realism of her
character’s cough had been remarked upon, yet her absence this evening put a
new complexion on this. What was unacceptable was that by the opening of Act
III no sooner had Violetta asked Annina (Sarah Pring) for a glass of water
then bouts of hacking coughs plus one or two sneezes spread through the
auditorium. At this point the audience seemed in worse health than the
titular character.
But I am jumping ahead of myself. Miss Jaho was not of course alone on
the stage but shared it with two other imposing principal singers. In Act I
we were introduced to Jonas Kaufmann’s Alfredo. I don’t write this without
due consideration but this tenor reminds me in many ways of Domingo in this
ability to combine singing with presenting a real character on stage. In
front of the supposed ice sculpture at the centre of the stage he sings in
praise of wine and love (‘Libiamo’) and of course it was probably in the
production book but the extra glass of ‘champagne’ he drank for courage
seemed so natural. His is not an Italianate sound but is undoubtedly one of
a rare breed – a German lyric tenor. That he was a bit pallid and lovelorn
was because of the part he was playing but the lack of a sexual spark
between him and Violetta was possibly more the result of them apparently
never having sung together before and therefore possibly only meeting for
the first time on stage that day.
In Act II, in the intimate faded Wedgwood blue country house decadence,
Jonas Kaufmann sang a plaintive account of his cabaletta ‘O mio rimorso! O
infamia’ but signalled much too early that he was cranking up for a top C
that to his credit he got but only just. (News from his own diary published
in a national newspaper reveals he has had a cold since Christmas and this
would also account for the spreading of his tone earlier in ‘Dei miei
bollenti spiriti’.) He was recently a potent Don José, I am also looking
forward to his role debut as Cavaradossi later this season at Covent Garden
but his future undoubtedly lies in Wagner (Parsifal, Lohengrin, perhaps
Siegmund and Walther) and I cannot wait.
Enter the third star of this revival – Dmitri Hvorostovsky – as Giorgio
Germont. His debut with the Royal Opera precedes this production that he
previously sang in 1996 and 2001 but with his white mane he has always
seemed older than his years without ever giving the impression he is a
‘pater familias’. It is astonishing that he has developed so few dramatic
skills during those years and it might well have been a concert performance
when he sang ‘Di Provenza il mar, il soul’ as he stood stock still then as
he did most of the rest of evening. Hvorostovsky’s lack of acting ability is
not new news and the listener can at least luxuriate in the refulgence of
his dark baritone. It was early in his encounter with Violetta that Ermonela
Jaho took an unshakeable grip on the doomed heroine. From the moment she
sank to the floor as she agrees to part from Alfredo, through her despair
when Alfredo throws his gambling chips at her in Scene 2 and on to her
railing against fate at dying so young (‘Gran Dio! morir sì giovane’) in Act
III she transfixes us with her destiny. She too reveals herself as a potent
dramatic actress and perhaps even a future Butterfly.
Act II Scene 2 contains the surprisingly superfluous and over long Gypsy
dance – what was Verdi thinking of? Here in Bob Crowley’s designs it is in a
red imitation of a bull ring with the largest possible lamp hanging over the
large gambling table. It at least allowed the strongly cast comprimarios to
take centre stage for a short while. Act III is less cluttered again and
allows us to experience the huge shadowy apparitions of the Carnival looming
almost like Dickens’s shades of times past over the death chamber.
Maurizio Benini was a conductor who was very supportive of the solo and duet
moments for all three principals; taking his cue from them as when to start,
stop and move on. He seemed unconcerned by the orchestral detail in the
chorus moments in between and these too soon, in most cases, raced headlong
into routine Verdian ‘rum-titti-tum’. The preludes to Act I and III were
undoubtedly eloquent but it was as though the thinking was that the audience
have only paid their money to hear Jaho, Kaufmann and Hvorostovsky and the
rest is unimportant. This does Verdi a disservice. Is it me or does the
Royal Opera House orchestra sound a little military band-like at these
rushed moments? The only conductor I have recently heard at Covent Garden to
draw a true symphonic sound from pit was Bernard Haitink for Parsifal and he
outshone anything his successor has achieved in Wagner or other repertoire
despite the admiration I have for Antonio Pappano’s work.
Despite these reservations Benini never really spoilt anything and under his
baton the closing moments of the opera had great emotional power. Despite
her small physique Ermonela Jaho had been displaying all the powerful
fragility of Sutherland but her final collapse in Alfredo’s arms must have
saddened even the hardest of hearts. Perhaps it is a false memory but wasn’t
there a furore about Gheorghiu running around the stage arms outstretched at
the 1994 première and that this was something she put in herself? Regardless
Violetta’s death-throes here remain immensely moving.
Final credit must go to revival director Patrick Young and his production
staff for integrating Ermonela Jaho into this 13 year old production so
seamlessly at very short notice. Kaufmann’s published diary notes that at
times she improvised ‘so well that no one notices the little mistakes. Her
performance turns out to be fantastic.’ So in traditional fashion ‘a new
star is born’ and it will be interesting to see what effect this success for
a most welcome visitor from Albania has on Anna Netrebko’s recovery from
illness. |
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