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The Financial Times, January 21, 2015 |
Richard Fairman |
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Giordano: Andrea Chenier, London, Royal Opera House, 20. Januar 2015 |
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Andrea Chénier, Royal Opera House, London — review
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Jonas Kaufmann’s dark tenor smoulders in this opulent, unashamedly old-fashioned production
It is 30 years since the last Andrea Chénier at the Royal Opera House.
Nobody seems to have missed it much, but when there is a tenor who aspires
to the title role, Giordano’s opera makes its return. Carreras and Domingo,
two of the “Three Tenors”, sang it last time round. Now Jonas Kaufmann steps
forward as the star tenor of his generation.
David McVicar’s stately
new production makes a fine showcase for him. Andrea Chénier, the story of a
real-life poet during the French Revolution, reads like a paperback
historical romance. It is hard to imagine the opera surviving the attentions
of a cutting-edge director. McVicar has chosen to be shamelessly, opulently
old-fashioned. For the ancien régime his designers have raided the pastel
colours in the paintbox, unfurled yards of silk, and lit every chandelier
from the props room. The Reign of Terror is peopled by rent-a-party
sans-culottes (though the pristine Revolutionary courtroom looks more like
Scandinavia c.2010). Who said they don’t make opera like they used to?
Into this frame Kaufmann steps like the handsome subject of a portrait
by David. He has never sounded better in London. His dark tenor smoulders
with the heat of a poet’s unfulfilled ardour and his top notes ring out
effortlessly (one of them goes from the softest thread of sound to a blazing
forte). He sings intelligible Italian and cuts a dashing figure. Andrea
Chénier’s costume fits him to the manner born. As his aristocratic lover
Maddalena di Coigny, Eva-Maria Westbroek does not sound very Italianate, and
the style is somewhat lumpy, but she makes a worthy match for Kaufmann, not
least in decibels, and Zeljko Lučić is a strong, sturdy Gérard.
The
large cast sports some notable cameos. For five minutes Elena Zilio’s
desolate Madelon makes Giordano’s opera feel a serious tract on the plight
of the suffering. Denyce Graves snatches five minutes of star quality as a
rather blowsily-sung Bersi. Rosalind Plowright makes a delightfully camp
Contessa di Coigny, Adrian Clarke a vivid Mathieu, Carlo Bosi an incisive
Incredibile. Antonio Pappano conducts, as always, as if his life depends on
every note. Giordano’s soft-cover novella could survive on nothing less.
This Andrea Chénier is an old-fashioned operatic success.
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