I’ve at all times been of the opinion that anybody who disdains this nice rating or thinks the story foolish must be confined to the TV room throughout a Marx Brothers retrospective and go away the opera home unsullied (and unsillied).
Il Trovatore is a drama about storytelling, and who tells a narrative higher than Verdi does? Although Verdi, occasionally, could omit plot factors that he doubts are “musicabile,” in Trovatore, these factors often happen between acts and are narrated later. Necessary sections of every of the primary 5 of the opera’s eight scenes are taken up by somebody recounting a narrative to another person, confidante or refrain or (the Depend) soliloquy. Then, within the opera’s last scenes, all these rival yarns knit collectively and end up to have been a single labyrinth. The libretto’s penultimate line is the punchline of all opera punchlines: “Egli period tuo fratello,” He was your brother! All the things is ready out neat, moments too late. Correctly staged and sung, this ending ought to devastate and exhilarate directly.
Not all the pieces concerning the Metropolitan Opera’s matinee thrilled me: notably, repeats of all three cabalettas have been omitted, which might have startled Verdi and amazed the singers of yesteryear—fairly current yesteryears. As this lower the operating time by lower than 1 / 4 hour, it strikes me as a false financial system—the opera’s operating time has already been shaved by two intermissions, most likely so {that a} full dinner on the Grand Tier stage will be marketed in the course of the one that is still. On the off likelihood that a lot of the gang has dropped by to listen to wonderful singing, why deprive them of thrills, which elevate enthusiasm and make the operatic expertise extra memorable? Ornamented repeats usually are not encores—they have been decreed by the composer and, if executed effectively, they elevate the pitch of the dramatic expertise.
“The suspense is horrible—I hope it’ll final,” Oscar Wilde’s Gwendolyn piously hoped—and doesn’t each stagecrafty presenter agree? However not within the present Met revival of David McVicar’s Trovatore, directed by Paula Williams, who appears to be embarrassed by excessive vocal feelings, and desperate to distract us from them by inserting a violent duel at times, the place neither the music nor the libretto requires them. However the resolution to not repeat the cabalettas was not taken by Ms. Williams, by which case I apologize to her.
However let’s flip to happier issues: a number of fantastic singing.
Rachel Willis-Sørensen, who has solely sung Mozart on the Met heretofore, revealed a Verdi-sized voice, evenly produced, elegant in decoration (which made me even sorrier that each Leonora’s cabalettas have been shorn), and filled with creamy ardour. She is a good-looking lady and a fantastic actress, and I hope she sticks round and sings a number of middle-period Verdi for us.
The deep and full-ranging mezzo of Jamie Barton is hardly an unknown high quality on the Met, however her Azucena hit a stylistic and dramatic depth I had not skilled earlier than. Her diction was crisp and energetic as she explored the haunted mom’s repressed previous, and her dreamily nostalgic legato in each the Act III memory and in “Ai nostri monti” known as to thoughts many nice Azucenas of the previous—with whom Barton could also be thought of a peer. She was dwelling this position, and whereas she sang, so have been we.
Michael Fabiano is conquering a lot of the Verdi repertory today—he simply sang Gustavo in San Francisco—and one has by no means doubted the scale and masculine drive of his instrument. However the gentler, extra romantic aspect of those roles typically appeared to elude him. It’s due to this fact with real pleasure that I understand he’s been engaged on these very facets of his singing, and his “Ah si, ben mio,” for instance, and his dueting with Barton each confirmed a gracious adjustment to the variations in Verdi’s drama. “Di quella pira” was not so efficient as might need been anticipated—and right here, I feel, the Met’s (whoever on the Met) resolution to carry him to as soon as by, no repeat, and no excessive C—which Fabiano appeared desperate to show (as little doubt he does at different homes)—produced an audible frustration. Restraint shouldn’t be the byword of Il trovatore, by no means thoughts that Verdi didn’t compose that prime C.
Igor Golovatenko’s stunning baritone impressed me a lot final spring, in a number of performances of La forza del destino, and these are qualities one hopes for in a Depend de Luna, a baddie with a craving streak. By and enormous, Golotavenko glad one’s cravings, confronting the lovers with energy and rage in Act I, and matching Willis-Sørensen of their duet. His “Il balen” simply crammed the home, however I discovered it missing in that legato, that inside romance that makes of the Depend so almost sympathetic a personality. His frustration ought to have extra soul to it.
Ferrando was yet one more sturdy, simply dealt with efficiency from the dependable Ryan Speedo Inexperienced. Ferrando is the primary of the night’s storytellers, and his narrative must be memorable sufficient to stay within the thoughts when Azucena provides her alternate model. Inexperienced achieved this together with his accustomed suavity.
Daniele Callegari performed vigorously, often coming close to to drowning out a solo singer or two, and thrashed by the Anvil and Troopers’ Choruses as if decided to wake us all up. I didn’t assume the wakeup name crucial, however since a few people close by had not turned their telephones off, maybe I’m too idealistic.
Charles Edwards’ turntable set is extra paying homage to ruinous civil war-torn Spain than I recall from earlier exposures, maybe as a result of class of Jennifer Tipton’s lighting. Brigitte Reiffenstuel’s costumes appear torn between the Napoleonic and the Carlist conflicts, and the black lace peignoirs appeared a bit excessive class for camp followers intruding on a military siege. However Willis-Sørensen’s heavy overcoat, as informal put on slung over the outfit by which Leonora deliberate her novitiate solely to show it right into a honeymoon was superb and suited the singer’s determine as effectively.
Images: Ken Howard
