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The Telegraph, 21 Jan 2015 |
By Rupert Christiansen |
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Giordano: Andrea Chenier, London, Royal Opera House, 20. Januar 2015 |
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Andrea Chénier, Royal Opera House, review: 'powerful'
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Only connoisseurs will go home grumpy from this handsome staging of
Giordano’s hoary melodrama, says Rupert Christiansen
The
casting is gold-plated. Jonas Kaufmann is playing the title role for the
first time and has perhaps not yet fully sung himself in. So intelligent is
his musicianship, so clear his diction, so noble his presence and secure his
tone that one feels ungrateful in carping at a lack of warmth in his
characterisation and the absence of expansive tenorial glow in his top
register – qualities that Domingo in his prime had in abundance.
Eva-Maria Westbroek makes a more emotionally generous impression. She can’t
match Kaufmann’s vocal polish and her “La mamma morta” emerged on the wild
side, but she is a genuine actress who makes the plight of the smitten
aristocrat Maddalena not only plausible but touching.
The evening’s
biggest ovation, however, went to Zeljko Lucic, who gave a generic but
powerful performance as the turncoat Gerard – his impassioned rendition of
the Act III monologue hit the bullseye that Kaufmann and Westbroek just
missed. Further down the line, one registered crisply defined cameos from
Roland Wood (Roucher) and Peter Hoare (the Abbé), as well as turns from
several plucky veterans.
Antonio Pappano conducts with fervour, and
at times uncharacteristically allows the orchestra to overwhelm the singers.
But the fault lies on the right side: this is a score of the third class –
music of shreds and patches, bombastic and crude, fuelled by hot air – which
has to be attacked head-on if it is to make any impact. Unless you keep the
volume high and the pace fast, its essential tawdriness becomes horribly
evident.
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