Trovatore at ROH with Roberto, Dmitri and Sondra

Photo Catherine Ashmore


Update:
I sometimes like to add things or change things based on discussion with friends :-) Not that my opinions have changes significantly, although sometimes they may, but i realise sometimes i haven't said all I mean or exactly as i intended. And i realised that although Sondra got my enthusiastic Bravos the other night, this might have not really come through in my account of the evening. She most definitely is the most exciting soprano voice i have heard for quite some time! Her voice does make the music swipe you away and i am very much looking forward to her upcoming Verdi CD! I just think she can be even better if she adds more feeling to the fascinating tone of her voice :-)
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Too much to do, too little time, but this should really not go unmentioned. The run is sold out so something attracts people to Trovatore. I'm guessing it is good old Verdi, well known tunes, intense conflicts, crazy plots, but who can resist it? I know there are those out there who say Verdi, bah! I'm not one of them :-) I knew opera through Verdi, in fact i grew up with it. It may make me smile, but the buzz his music gives me is unbelievable and has never faded from day one!

So for Verdi i went to see this. Of course it is almost unavoidable to have those big recordings in your head, but i am pretty good at putting those away when sitting there live.... If only this production wouldn't have tried to kill the tension.... I'm not the unconditional supporter of modern productions, i probably tend to err more on the traditional side, i just love period costumes! But pleaseee.... where was the director? Where was the choreograph? At times it felt like the singers were left to create their own movements, think about what to do while on stage. Trovatore is not one where you want to burden the singers with those decisions on top of everything else, the score keeps them busy enough!

Never mind the huge sets, it felt way to much like standing about aimlessly. Don't get me wrong, this is not an opera to do yoga while singing, but maybe singing to each other rather than away from each other might have helped at times. You can pull something like this off when the singing is so out of this world that you don't care what is on stage. But we didn't have Corelli, Bastianini, Tebaldi or whoever on stage, nor do i want to resurrect the dead in any way. I don't think today Verdi, or any other operas/composers can live on singing alone. On the other hand, today we have singers more willing to engage with the stories, with greater flexibility in terms of what they are requested to do on stage. So give them something to do!

Anyways, rant over... but it is the reason why the first act didn't really deliver for me. It started off well, but was dragged of energy in the convent scene.... useless backdrop and aimless standing around singing if ever i have lived through one... Thankfully somehow the 2nd part came alive, due mostly to more engagement from the singers. And to an excellent chorus scene spiced with some amazing fighting, while at the same time beautifully carrying the musical line. Bravo to them!! Easily one of the most entertaining scenes of the night, well prepared, well rehearsed, natural. ( This is another reason while i live period stagings in ROH, where else can one still enjoy beautiful armory and elegant fighting? keep it coming!)

But in the end it is all about the singing, isn't it? The one i was least sure of proved to be a pleasant surprise and definitely rounded up the evening musically for me. Alagna and Manrico? I had more than some doubts... he proved me wrong. Ok, he isn't perfect but i haven't heard an ideal Marico as such these days. He does an excellent job of applying his sunny, lyrical voice to this. Surprisingly, it did not sound overstretched and the evening definitely gained in musical quality from his flowing lines and warm tone.


I never knew he could heft such volume! Ok, maybe some more piano would be nice, but next to Sondra Rodvanovsky someones piani may become inaudible ;-)



Photo Catherine Ashmore

I think overall Roberto and his voice are in better shape than a few years ago, probably his health as well. I am glad he feels and looks better, he comes across more energetic and his singing is very good indeed. Especially considering how much he has sung and what he has been singing. He was also the only one who came buzzing on stage from the first note, who moved around, elastically and purposefully, even if it seemed more like his take on Marico than anyones direction. Also good he kept the energy going till the end, bravo to him for singing the whole Pira. Not that i care much for the Pira, or the fact that it was a B :-) Well done to him and to my ears, i'd rather take a sound lower note than a cracker higher one, thank you very much!

I always liked Alagna, but i haven't heard him for many years! I liked what i heard the other night and also what i saw. Add to this the lively, enjoyable conversation the other night and i am content to have rediscovered "my"Roberto, the same crazy, enthusiastic, passionate and engaged singer i heard so many years ago. He's not perfect, but i do believe he is a generous artist, and that for me counts more. I look forward to hearing more of him in next seasons and i hope he stays in as good a form as he is these days.


copyright Tavel Antonov

As the ladies next to me where saying, who can decide between these two? Indeed :-) It's not half as much fun if Luna is not as good or equally as exciting a character as Manrico. Give it to Hvorostovsky to restore the balance :-) Ok, he might not be Marlon Brando on stage ( acting-wise i mean ;-))) but his natural elegance and charismatic stage presence fit Luna like a glove and make it work. Some gorgeous display of jaw-dropping breath control and warmth of tone puts the cherry on the cake. His "Balen" was beautiful and very well received by the public.

And his long duet in the last act with Leonora had enough character to make me happy, as it is definitely my favourite part of Trovatore. Due probably to the fact that they have been singing this for a while together Sondra and Dmitri really made the sparks fly :-)


Photo Catherine Ashmore

And ok, they made you wonder why oh why does she swallow the poison, stupid gal! I tell you, the two sitting next to me were contemplating a totally different decision if faced with the circumstances ;-))

But as it is about the singing, i have to say they managed the scene beautifully and Hvorostovsky not only was able to match Sondra's power, but impose a considerable and credible amount of threat in his singing.

The ladies of the night... Sondra is a class of her own, what a beautiful and satisfying Verdi voice :-) I also appreciated that she can not only belt it out, but creates some great crescendi and descrescendi, a few tender piani here and there, promising to do wonderful things with her voice in the future. Beautiful sound is not all and both her and Hvorostovsky could do with a bit more text interpretation, but as far as their sounds come, there aren't any better ones these days for these roles :-) However, while he made Luna credible, i wasn't entirely sure of her connection to Alagna's Manrico... (Direction, direction... )

Azucena is for me one of the most amazing mezzo roles/scores! I love her and Amneris, i envy what Verdi wrote for them :-) (they are the only ones who ever make me wish i could sing a note, even under the shower... but alas... ;-))))Can't say that Malrgozata did it for me.. she can deliver solid singing all right, but her top register makes my ears hurt, that is how harsh it sounds. Just when you want the music to soar it makes you flinch... Probably not everyone's impression, but i personally don't like harsh female voices. Thus, the "il rogo" which plays such an important part in this score, had a totally different effect on me than expected. Nothing wrong though with the rest of her voice and she had brilliant full and round low notes (here is me hoping she can iron out some things for the future... )

Monika-Evelin Liiv's Ines was a nice surprise, pity we couldn't hear more of her! Mikhail Petrenko was probably the one on stage who did the most acting, with good effect, pity his voice wasn't as good as the acting...

I think Rizzi managed to keep the ensembles together, which is a thing i think he generally does well thinking back also to his Matile. The pace was alert, but the slower bits were a tad bland, maybe trying to accommodate the breath of the singers just a tiny bit too much? ( although i am all for not overpowering them... )

It was all in all an enjoyable night with some brilliant moments, but somehow i have to agree with other people in saying that the bits were sometimes better than the whole. The whole lacked just that bit of umph to became truly excellent. Maybe also due to the continuously interrupting production and the lack of direction. This is supposed to feel like a car crash just happening and it was more like a skating and skittering along the road at times.

Still, even this is not totally hopeless, there is a wonderful effect with Manrico singing the miserere from the top of the auditorium, lushiously flowing down sound! And the final scene of Luna stabbing Manrico, and then holding him splayed in his arms when he finds out it was his brother...Picture perfect image right there! And the grabbing and pulling and dragging between Leonora and Luna in the last duet is also not for the faint hearted ;-)))

I would have liked to see it again, but it is very much sold out... but i so love the music i might give the one in Barcelona a try this autumn, they have loads and loads of it there later in the year ;-))))