At least it wasn't Christian Gerhaher this time. A bout of flu reduced Christof Fischesser to miming the role of Hermann in last night's Tannhäuser. Andrew Greenan (above, far right) sang it from the front corner, an acoustic sweet spot from which he could out-decibel even the massive Johan Botha.
It seems Fischesser hadn't passed his germies on - the rest of the cast sounded if anything even better than they did on opening night, and Semyon Bychkov once again drew a magnificent performance from the orchestra.
I still don't care for the visuals, but will admit Tim Albery deserves some credit for crafting the first ROH Wagner production in living memory free of unintentional titters. In a Radio 3 interview (listen here) he explains what he was attempting.
The opera itself is broadcast on Radio 3 on Christmas Day at 6pm.
