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The Article, 22 MAR 2019 |
by MARK RONAN |
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Verdi: La forza del destino, London, ab 21. März 2019 |
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La Forza del Destino, Royal Opera review: a production to be remembered
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At least one pair of tickets for this opening night with Anna Netrebko as
Leonora and Jonas Kaufmann as Don Alvaro was said to have changed hands at
£7,000. Was it worth it? Only the black market buyer can answer, but for the
rest of us, Ms Netrekbo, who is present in Acts 1, 2 and 4, gave the evening
an unforgettable ethereal quality. She was sublime. Mr. Kaufmann, who had
been worryingly absent from the dress rehearsal, was back in harness, his
marvellously soft high notes well in evidence, though a full emotional
response only developed as the evening progressed, particularly in his Act 3
and 4 encounters with Ludovic Tézier, outstanding as Leonora’s unforgiving
and vengeful brother Don Carlo.
In the original Spanish melodrama
there are two brothers, both killed trying to exact revenge for their
sister’s family betrayal and the accidental death of their father. Verdi
reduces them to one, but Christof Loy’s production, first staged in
Amsterdam in 2017, but new to the Royal Opera, shows one dying young in the
mime scene during the overture. That merges seamlessly into the beginning of
Act 1, where Leonora’s fatal delay in eloping with Alvaro leads to the
argument with her father (the excellent Robert Lloyd) who dies when Alvaro’s
gun accidentally goes off while he disarms himself. As the scene takes
place, it appears on a video projection that recurs later in the opera, a
reminder of the horror that drives Leonora to seek sanctuary as a hermit
under the protection of a monastery nearby.
Loy’s production
with its simple sets elides the distinction between monastery and hermit’s
cave, but otherwise leaves the drama to speak for itself in the hands of
these magnificent singers. Luxury casting with Alessandro Corbelli as the
wittily ill-tempered Fra Melitone, easily slapped down by Ferruccio
Furlanetto as a deeply authoritative Padre Guardiano, head of the monastery.
Veronica Simeoni moved beautifully as the gypsy Preziosilla, but Otto
Pichler’s choreography for the six male dancers in Act 3 was clichéd and
repetitive.
The chorus, however, danced with great musicality,
singing superbly, and Antonio Pappano’s conducting brought out the driving
power of fate that informs the drama. The construction of the set helped
bring the sound forward, and though one might quibble with some aspects of
the production, this was a cast to be remembered for years to come.
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