Intermezzo

at home with Pappano

Not even pausing to check for dust bunnies or sneak a look in his bathroom cabinet, the FT pokes its nose into Tony Pappano's domestic arrangements, current and past.

L'Heure espagnole and Gianni Schicchi at the Royal Opera House

L'Heure espagnole / Gianni Schicchi - Royal Opera House, 20 October 2009

This Richard Jones double-bill blew me away on its debut a couple of years back. I'm surprised to see it has faltered at the box office on this first revival (see here for half price tickets offer). I can only assume it’s the lack of star names and well-known titles that are keeping people away, because it’s one of the finest things in the current ROH repertoire.

Richard Jones is always at his best when he's showing human nature at its worst. Here he gets to play with lust, greed and deception - all shot through with wicked humour. Garish wallpaper and charity shop kitsch frame a pair of frenzied sitcoms. Ravel's has a certain French charm with its macaroon colours and gentle farce. A crudely-painted pair of Beryl Cook bewbs in a polka dot bra is spread across the curtain as the opening image. It sets the tone immaculately. For the darker humour of Gianni Schicchi, the wallpaper's stained and the opening shot is a plate of writhing spaghetti. Secks for the French, food for the Italians. Perfect.

Revivals can be shoddy affairs bearing little relation to the original - perhaps that's why Jones likes to direct his own. But this time he was gettin’ roped up and shot down elsewhere, so the task fell to staff director Elaine Kidd. A brilliant job she's done too. It looks better rehearsed than some revivals, and with most of the previous cast returning characterisations are rounded and performances assured.

Comic opera often isn't really that funny, however much we will it to be, but in the clock-stuffed L’Heure espagnole the timing is so acutely finessed the laughs are genuine. Ruxandra Donose is perfect as the frustrated housewife who baits her unsuitable suitors with barmaid bewbs and the sort of simmering allure I wish Elina Garanca had been able to muster up for Carmen. Yann Beuron as the self-obsessed poet she wants, Andrew Shore as the clapped-out banker she doesn't, and Bonaventura Bottone as her unsuspecting husband are all superb. But it was the happiest of endings when she went for Christopher Maltman, a golden-voiced revelation in a vest.

OK, it sags here and there, but that’s down to the composer not the production. Ravel’s strengths are more pictorial than dramatic. The inventiveness of the score is enhanced by Pappano’s delicately evocative interpretation, but the dramatic pacing, or lack of it, is something even he can do nothing about.

Gianni Schicchi is a different matter. There’s as much action as a full opera, but it’s telescoped down to a fat-free sixty minutes. The music is trimmed to the bone and supports the text without cliche. If story telling is what matters, it’s Puccini’s finest creation. The misanthropy which sometimes strikes a sour note in his work is turned to advantage in darkening a cynical portrayal of the family who'll stoop to anything to get their hands on their recently-deceased relative's fortune.

Thomas Allen sings the title role as though born to it. Looking like he’s stepped out of a round of Super Mario Bros, he favours rude over beauty of tone – and his quivering impersonation of the dying man is a bonus. The young lovers weren't quite as perfect. Stephen Costello (Rinuccio) has a fine voice, but it's not consistently focussed. And he ran out of wind at a couple of critical moments, notably the final bar of Avete torto. On this showing, he's still a work in progress. Maria Bengtsson sang prettily though tentatively, and undermilked the big tune, Lauretta's O mio babbino caro. But this really is the quintessential ensemble piece, and all the cast (especially Gwynne Howell and Elena Zilio) revelled in the sheer awfulness of the grasping family.

OK, so it doesn't pack the emotional punch of Loy's remarkable Tristan und Isolde, and Richard Jones's ironic appraisal takes us even further away from empathising. But a little light relief is always welcome.

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Tristan und Isolde - the final show

Tristan und Isolde - Royal Opera House, 18 October 2009

As I predicted on the very first night (it wasn't a tough call) Ben Heppner didn't make it through to this final performance. A nervy-looking Lars Cleveman took his place, having deputised from the wings while Ben mimed for the previous show. Inevitably there wasn't time for Lars to learn all the detailed gesture and movement which formed such an integral part of Ben's rounded portrayal. Basically he just stood in the right place at the right time and sang his heart out, which is as much as anyone could ask for. But the contrast between his performance style and the others highlighted how much work Christof Loy had put in to make the production style look seamless. Vocally, Cleveman was largely up to the role, though short on power at the lower end.

The originally-cast King Marke, Matti Salminen, could only make the second half of the run due to knee surgery. But, not one to skip a booking lightly, he gamely limped around the steeply-raked stage, Marke's pathetic dignity emphasised by the cane he leant on throughout.

The rest of the cast were even more superb than they had been in earlier shows, Nina Stemme once again receiving a standing ovation for her searing Isolde. Pappano pulled tempos around like never before, slowing the third act prelude down almost to a halt. Bar lines dissolve, time stood still. The hallucinatory quality I think he's been after all along was triumphantly realised.

Incidentally, having sat on the far left of the house in one of the worst of the 'restricted view' seats, I can now provide informed comment about the alleged staging problems. Sure, quite a bit of the action takes place stage left, but I don't think there were more than ten minutes in total where I really couldn't see what was going on.  I don't think it was significantly worse than any other opera I've watched from a similar position.

So I am puzzled by the vehemence and number of the complaints. I am the first to moan when the Royal Opera House get something wrong, but when I buy a restricted view seat, which is significantly cheaper than an unrestricted one, I do expect my view to be restricted - perhaps others don't. Or perhaps it's another way of voicing their reservations about the production design as a whole, who knows (I still suspect that, despite largely positive reviews, most 'real people' didn't care much for the visuals). However I think only people sitting in the second and further rows back, or very close to the stage, would have had much genuinely to complain about.  Anyway, you can see from the uncropped photo below how much of the stage was visible from my seat.

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the genius of stupidity

A reminder that Radio 3 broadcast a live recording of the Royal Opera House's recent, unutterably brilliant  Il barbiere di Siviglia on Saturday - available on the iPlayer until the end of the week.

Skip the first 25 minutes if you're not interested in explanations and interviews.

Pappano renews Covent Garden contract !!!

Yay! After all the speculation, the doubts, the playing hard-to-get, it can be revealed - Tony Pappano, maestro of our hearts and captain of the leakiest ship in WC2, has made up his mind to stay at the Royal Opera House.

His current contract runs out in 2012, and he's signed up for another five years. That will see him through the major double bicentenary in 2013 - the 200th birthday of both Wagner and Verdi, for which planning is already underway.

Expect an official announcement 'soon'.

all-new Tristan und Isolde at the Royal Opera House

Tristan und Isolde - Royal Opera House, 29 September 2009

Judging from the audience reaction I may be joining a very exclusive minority group here, but I loved Christof Loy's new production of Tristan und Isolde.

The programme claimed he wanted to strip away performance history crud and get back to basics - translation - minimalist sets (which you can gaze upon here) and a tight focus on character interaction and expression. It was the sets (and perhaps the ending) that provoked the interval whinging and the scattered but loud curtain call boos, predictably proving too revisionist for some tastes.

But Tristan is not a historical drama, and all the business with love potions and lingering death is rendered ridiculous by literal portrayal, just as the Ring's dragon and flying horses are. And for all Loy's assertions in the programme that the characters are very 'human', that doesn't mean they're realistic, the sort of people you might meet. This is Wagner, not Puccini. On the other hand, it's not purely abstract or symbolic or whatever either. That's just another dead end route. Tristan is rooted in human concerns, in the need for love, the yearning for death, even if it's not neatly encapsulated in recognisable people-like-us.

One of the most effective aspects of Loy's approach was to draw in both elements - the realistic and the existential - and treat them separately and differently.

The stage is split in two. In front, a vertiginous rake, a table, a chair, brutally lit in stark white and lowering shadow. Behind, what looked like a museum caff - rows of dining tables and chairs. Between, a heavy velvet curtain, sometimes drawn, sometimes open. The front is the world of the mind and the heart, where Tristan and Isolde play out their feelings and behind is the real world - existence or just memory. Tristan and Isolde trip through their world like dreamers. The logical conclusion - an ending that takes place largely in Tristan's head - may not please everyone, though the mass bloodbath is perfectly congruent with the text.

The casting was pretty much all you could hope for. Nina Stemme offered a tough, steely, powerfully projected, if one-dimensional Isolde. You can't have everything though - I doubt if there's anyone else around today who could sing it better. Ditto Ben Heppner. His vocal unsteadiness (and the occasional crack) made me doubt he'll finish the run. Yet beneath the wobbles is a still-beautiful voice, and his innate musicality lent his Tristan a fragile human dimension the Schwarzeneggers of heldentenordom could never hope to match.

Sophie Koch's Brangäne and Michael Volle's Kurwenal weren't the devoted aides of most productions, more like sensible best friends. This is one dramatic choice that didn't totally work for me, but they both sang fantastically well. I think John Tomlinson has been wise not to tackle Marke up till now - it's clearly never going to be a great fit for him - but he sang with his usual authority and gravitas.

In token contrast to the austere sets, Antonio Pappano's reading was lush and sumptuously late-romantic. The preludes, slowed down to nothing, hovered in magical suspension. Pace and balance was judged to dramatic perfection, the momentum inexorable, and he was confident enough to submerge the singers beneath the orchestral wash when required. For the clarity of his vision alone it's the best performance I've heard at Covent Garden since I don't know when.

 

 

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Pappano - will he stay or will he go?

A year ago, Tony Pappano stated unequivocally that he'd be packing his bags when his Covent Garden contract runs out in 2012.

Now he's not so sure.

As he tells Neil Fisher in the Times, “I can imagine staying on and I can imagine giving up the House, and I don’t know which one is right — honestly. But I’m not going to find an operatic situation that is richer than this one.”

He's already planned his 2012 Olympic tie-in spectacular anyway. “I was inspired by the Olympic ring, so I wanted us to have five ‘rings’ of our own. So I’ll be doing the Ring, and The Trojans and Il trittico. And there’ll be a Mozart-da Ponte cycle and a group of English operas.”

Hopefully that last one is just an empty threat.

Royal Opera House - the Winter Season

Booking for Covent Garden's Winter Season (December to March) starts today for Friends, and 20 October for all you other people.

Not much is massively tempting, though the first of Plácido Domingo's appearances this season is a must-see. He's already sung in Madrid - and been immortalised on DVD - in this striking Graham Vick production of Handel's Tamerlano, conducted for the Royal Opera House by Handel specialist Ivor Bolton. 

Also worth catching - if there are any tickets left - is Plácido 'In Conversation' in the Linbury Studio on 26 February.

Kirill Petrenko is the conductor for Der Rosenkavalier, a dust down for the 1984 John Schlesinger production.  A promising cast is headed by Soile Isokoski, Sophie Koch, Lucy Crowe and Thomas Allen.

Andris Nelsons makes his Royal Opera House debut in December conducting an even more ancient production, John Copley's 1974 La bohème, with Maurizio Benini and Paul Wynne Griffiths substituting in January. Though once should be enough for anyone. Mix'n'match casting includes Piotr Beczala, Hibla Gerzmava and Christopher Maltman. Yards of curtain fabric, acres of creaking boards, smocks akimbo, and even a spot of artistic nudity not mentioned on the ticket (in case you're taking granny).

Last year's disappointing Robert Lepage production of The Rake's Progress makes a swift and brilliantly-cast return. Toby Spence (the best Tom Rakewell in town - he was made for this role) is joined by Kate Royal, Kyle Ketelsen, and Stephanie Blythe as Baba the Turk.  Lovely Ingo Metzmacher conducts and tickets are a bit cheaper than usual, with a top price of £110.

Even cheaper, with a top price of £50, is Prokofiev's The Gambler. Covent Garden take a step into ENO territory with a new English language production by Richard Jones. The cast includes Roberto Sacca, Angela Denoke, John Tomlinson, Jurgita Adamonyte and Kurt Streit, and Pappano conducts. No doubt intended to draw in a new audience, as is a half day education event An Introduction to Opera on 20 February.

It's hard to make Mozart dull, but Jonathan Miller's painfully misguided assault on Così Fan Tutte does the trick. Not half as happening as it thinks it is, and it's doubtful if Charles Castronovo, Troy Cook, Sally Matthews and Nino Surgaladze can salvage it. Julia Jones waves the baton for female conductors.

What's on in London in September

Summer is nearly over, and at last the concert calendar is filling up.

Proms and alternatives
The Proms seem to have gone on forever, but it'll all be over for another year on 12 September.

Remaining highlights include Mariss Jansons with the Concertgebouw, Riccardo Chailly with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta and Franz Welser-Möst (replacing the scheduled Harnoncourt).

On 4 September there's an unmissable double header - first Matthias Goerne and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester in Mahler, Ligeti, Schoenberg and Strauss, then a late-night George Crumb special.

Incidentally, operatic highlights for the 2010 Proms - you heard it here first - are expected to include Die Meistersinger with Bryn Terfel, Glyndebourne's Don Giovanni, and a substantial chunk of Tristan und Isolde from the Orchestra of the 18th Century with Ben Heppner.

If you want to skip the ghastliness of the last night - something I cannot recommend too highly - alternatives include the Wigmore Hall season opener which is Die schöne Müllerin from Mark Padmore and Paul Lewis.

Or there's a FREE screening of the 1929 silent movie Piccadilly on an outside wall (don't blame me if it rains) of the Royal Festival Hall accompanied by a new score from composers Suki Mok and Ruth Chan. Following the screening, the score "will become the lynchpin of a cross-artform work incorporating dance, drama and video against a backdrop of the original silent movie".

Opera
The Royal Opera House season opens on 7 September with two concert performances of Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix conducted by Mark Elder and featuring Alessandro Corbelli alongside the hotly-tipped Eglise Gutiérrez and Stephen Costello.

Don Carlo has started rehearsals and promises to turn out even better than first time round. Semyon Bychkov conducts, Jonas Kaufmann is in the title role, and the rest of the cast is much the same as it was first time round, with Marina Poplavskaya, Simon Keenlyside and Ferruccio Furlanetto reprising his definitive Philip.

Don't expect much on stage except the singers in born-again minimalist Christof Loy's new production of Tristan und Isolde. Tristan is Ben Heppner and Isolde Nina Stemme, with Matti Salminen, Michael Volle and Sophie Koch completing the cast. Pappano conducts.

English National Opera's season opens with the much-travelled, highly-praised production of Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre by La Fura dels Baus.

The Arcola Theatre's variable but occasionally brilliant (and cheap) Grimeborn opera festival continues until 5 September. Handel, Poulenc and Mozart are included amongst the mostly contemporary works.

There's an opportunity to hear Rossini's rarely-performed Il Signor Bruschino and La Scala di Seta as well as The Rake's Progress from British Youth Opera between 4 and 12 September.

And Valery Gergiev conducts the LSO in a concert performance of La Damnation de Faust on 22 September, with a cast including Joyce DiDonato, Michael Schade, Thomas Quasthoff and Florian Boesch.

Concerts
The LSO's season opener is on 20 September, with Gergiev conducting Debussy, Dutilleux and Ravel.

At the Royal Festival Hall, Bernard Haitink conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on 23 and 24 September. And on 25 and 26 September Vladimir Jurowski and the LPO tackle Mahler's 2nd Symphony. Anne Sofie von Otter visits on 30 September with songs from her Theresienstadt CD.

At Wigmore Hall, Matthias Goerne continues his Schubert marathon on 18 and 20 September (a different programme on each night).

And on 28 September it's Imogen Cooper's bus-pass birthday concert. She'll be joined by Wolfgang Holzmair, Mark Padmore, Sonia Wieder-Atherton and Paul Lewis.

Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Royal Opera House - opening night report

Il barbiere di Siviglia - Royal Opera House, 4 July 2009 (first night)

What a night!

I won't dwell on Joyce DiDonato's painful accident (see here for the gruesome details). But I will again marvel at her incredible willpower and determination to forge on and deliver an amazing performance, worthy of Rosina herself. She sang just as brilliantly as she did at the final rehearsal, with guts and panache. Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier's rigorously choreographed direction placed her every single note in dramatic context - each one of those trills and turns is linked to the action. And she didn't let them down, even in the tempesta scene where she had to swipe all the furniture to the floor in anger - not easy with a crutch in hand.

But it wasn't just Joyce who made the evening so special. It was an incredible performance all round, one of the greatest I can remember at Covent Garden. Perfectly cast, brilliantly sung from top to bottom, played with freshness and precision - and a production which for all its crayon-bright buffoonery digs intelligently right to the heart of the work. And thigh boots too! What more can a girl ask?

Juan Diego Flórez was perfection itself, his Ecco ridente just meltingly delicious, his comic timing superb. And he - deservedly - got the longest ovation I've ever heard for that snake-pit of fiendish coloratura, Cessa di più resistere. Five minutes? I didn't count. So long that Alessandro Corbelli, staying in character as Bartolo, got a few more laughs by checking his watch.

In any other cast, Corbelli and the great Ferruccio Furlanetto would have stolen the show. Corbelli's unbelievably precise patter in Un dottor della mia sorte and his brilliantly-detailed faux-bad singing lesson aria were a masterclass in buffo technique. And his bumbling avuncular characterisation had the great advantage of making the ending far more credible.

It makes me happier to see the name of Ferruccio Furlanetto on a cast list than any number of overpaid divas. His Don Basilio was an awe-inspiring and utterly original creation, bizarre and faintly sinister, sure to give any children lucky enough to attend the show a few bad dreams. His La calunnia - a brilliantly choreographed assault on Bartolo's person and sanity that ended with the lanky Furlanetto's twisted round Corbelli's humpty-dumpty form - was simply one of the greatest performances I've ever seen on stage.

The late sub Pietro Spagnoli was an able and amiable Figaro. The voice is not particularly refined, but it's big and warm, and he held his own amongst his starry colleagues.

His finest moment came early on in the evening. Entering from the back of the auditorium, he made his way down the aisle singing Largo al factotum, pausing here and there to menace the expensively-seated customers with his tools, eliciting a mixture of genuine amusement and nervous smiles. Then - golazo! Was it coincidence, a wager, or is he really chasing that one-star review? - he waved his scissors in the face of Britain's grumpiest opera critic - who is clearly no fan of audience participation. Talk about an f-off glare - I thought I'd die laughing.

Even the smaller parts were brilliantly taken. The prosthetically-enhanced Jennifer Rhys-Davies was hilarious as Berta, though the ending of her aria shouldn't be nearly as funny as the directors make it. She is after all singing about how love has passed her by, one of the few moments where emotional truth pierces through the rigid stylisation the opera owes to its French origins in the drama of Beaumarchais. And Changhan Lim really made a mark as Fiorello - he can sing (a strong, warm baritone), he can act, and, importantly, he didn't look outclassed sharing a stage with Juan Diego Flórez.

Finally, Tony Pappano, managing both the orchestra and the harpsichord continuo (how did he find the time to rehearse with everything he's been doing recently?) practically reinvented the score. Light, witty, fresh, perfectly balanced, and as minutely detailed as the production itself. It's one of the finest things he's ever done at Covent Garden. At last we could hear what Beethoven raved about.

Standing ovation? You bet:

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the Cheese has landed on the Macaroni

 

There were tears all round when Simon Keenlyside pulled out of the Royal Opera House's forthcoming Il barbiere di Siviglia. But on the showing of today's dress rehearsal, I don't think many will be disappointed by his replacement, Pietro Spagnoli.

His Figaro is a broad-brush portrayal, in keeping with Leiser and Caurier's cartoony production. Spagnoli is a generous performer with a big voice and great comic timing.  He's a less than central presence most of the time, but who wouldn't be when sharing the stage with Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez, Alessandro Corbelli and the great Ferruccio Furlanetto (an alarmingly creepy Don Basilio)? All on top form I should add.

JDF especially. His singing has a range of colour and expression I haven't heard from him before - if he can manage another Cessa di più resistere like today's, he won't be allowed home without an encore. And he has blossomed into a fine comic actor, at last playing to his colleagues instead of the audience. He didn't put a foot wrong. His drunken soldier and upright singing teacher were beautifully detailed.

Detail was a hallmark of the production this time round. Leiser and Caurier have clearly thought and rehearsed every move through. Comedy needs serious preparation. I seem to recall a few longueurs and some over-the-top caricaturing when this production first appeared. All gone. It is simply funnier than it has any right to be.

Pappano, playing the harpsichord continuo as well as conducting, is completely on their wavelength - light, nuanced, alert. 

Even better than La traviata. Yes, really.

 

Calleja DiDonato and Hampson pass health inspection

Joseph Calleja / Joyce DiDonato / Thomas Hampson / Vasko Vassilev / Antonio Pappano - Royal Opera House, 24 June 2009

Finally, after the cancellations of first Rolando Villazón, then just two days ago his replacement Dmitri Hvorostovsky, this recital got under way with Antonio Pappano at the piano, his concert master Vasko Vassilev, and three of the biggest names that could be arm-twisted into appearing.

The (scanned below) programme's eclecticism suggested the brief was "sing what you like, just don't throw a sickie". So Joyce DiDonato revealed her inner Judy Garland, Professor Thomas Hampson nourished our grey matter, Joseph Calleja auditioned for Malta's Got Talent - and Pappano took the whole lot in his stride, equally at home in Mahler and Arlen, as if he'd practising for weeks. Vasko Vassilev's Russian violin interlude was a bonus.

Like Arsenal's trophy cabinet, the stage was bare but for a mirrored backdrop (pinched from Un ballo in maschera, which opens later this week) - an unfortunate reminder that the house was not exactly packed.

Joseph Calleja is one of the big successes of the current La traviata, and set against the simple backdrop of the humble piano his voice is even more impressive. It's just such a gloriously big, open, honest instrument, so full of warmth and sincerity. It took talent to capture Rodrigue's aria from Le Cid so perfectly, but how much more to turn the slushy Because into a heartfelt utterance.

La regata veneziana is one of Joyce DiDonato's party pieces, and she tells the tale with such conviction ("row, Tonio!" she commanded with a wink to her sturdy pianist). She's got the jazz chops for Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man too - not the excruciating trial you might get from some opera-trained singers. But the Willow Song, where she softened that wiry edge that sometimes coarsens her tone, was the highlight. She looked stunning too, in a moss green satin gown with twinkly seaweed beading.

Thomas Hampson (known to cognoscenti as "The Hampster" due to his habit of secreting sunflower seeds in his capacious cheek pouches) just filled the stage from the first note he sang. What amazing presence. 

And I was pleased to find the geriatric tone of his Germont in the current La traviata is no more than dramatic licence. He was in robustly healthy voice here for two of his great specialities, Mahler and American song. Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen was delivered with raw, unapologetic intimacy, as if we were all clustered right there on the stage with him. And it offered the chance, rare in this evening of bits and pieces, to be drawn in for more than a couple of minutes. A draining ride.

He spoke a few useful introductory words before launching into Burleigh's Ethiopia Saluting the Colors - a fascinating piece of folklore.

His Les pêcheurs de perles duet with Calleja wasn't the most delicately nuanced reading, but it underlined how well-paired they are as la famille Germont. Against the odds, a successful evening, and a fitting end to it.

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It's cancellitis day - Hvorostovsky OUT of Wednesday's gig

First Dmitri kindly took over when Rolando cancelled his 24 June Royal Opera House recital with Antonio Pappano.

Now the saviour of the day is sick himself. According to the latest Royal Opera House press release:

"Unfortunately Dmitri Hvorostovsky is now also under doctors' orders to completely rest his voice and it is with great regret that he has had to cancel all his current engagements."

 (UPDATE - he apparently caught a severe throat infection during his recent Russian tour).

The good news is that the concert goes ahead - with three for the price of one! Joyce DiDonato, Joseph Calleja and Thomas Hampson have stepped into the breach, with ROH concert master Vasko Vassilev providing further support.

Statistics indicate that at least one of them should still be standing by Wednesday night.

La traviata at the Royal Opera House - Renee Fleming coughs up

La traviata - Royal Opera House, 17 June 2009 (first night)

For all the prodigious technical gifts of Covent Garden's Coughing Cougar of the Camellias©, I left this show unconvinced that La traviata is the best place to display them. The steely edge that shapes Renee Fleming's luxuriantly creamy tone here becomes a coat of armour. Not a chink of vulnerability peeping through.

Every Violetta needs backbone - it is after all her iron resolve and strength of character that so impress Germont. But this becomes the defining characteristic of Renee's Violetta. It makes her proclamations of love hollow and her tragic end self-regarding. The key weapon of the courtesan - making the man believe he's in charge - is never displayed. And the act around which the whole plot pivots - Violetta's sacrifice - is rendered simply unbelievable. Why would this feisty Scarlett O'Hara give up the man she loves if there's nothing in it for her?

In her Sempre libera, Renee pauses to deliver a cheeky arse-slap to the naked lady ice sculpture (one of this production's delightfully subtle references to the evanescence of beauty). The way she lined up to the sculpture, pausing before administering the immaculately-judged tap, robbing the moment of all spontaneity, exemplified everything about her approach. I bet she irons her knickers.

The little-known Ermonela Jaho, who stepped into the part last year, has nothing like Renee's technical prowess, but her portrayal was an infinitely more touching one. That said, it was impossible to remain unimpressed by Renee's craft, her magnificent breath control, effortless trills and artfully-considered nuances of tone. A croaky start and her habitually mushy diction aside, she was a living, breathing singing lesson - impossible to imagine anyone improving on her musical choices, or executing them with greater skill.

She looks splendid too. She may be 50, but Restylane and Pilates belie the fact. When Germont sings of her youth and beauty, you believe him. The age difference is gracefully set aside in her relationship with Joseph Calleja, who is in reality young enough to be her son. It's more of a seasoned Sarandon/Robbins pairing than a cradle-snatching Madonna'n'Jesus - no suspension of disbelief required.

That's a tribute to the stature of Calleja's Alfredo as well. He's a little too easily flattened by Hurricane Renee - the second act denunciation comes off as a brave attempt to stand up for himself. But especially in his scenes with Germont, there is a growing maturity and confidence about his performance. But he's never too knowing - Alfredo's weakness and impetuousness are effectively conveyed as he cowers before his father. Calleja's singing is old-fashioned in the best possible sense - a big, powerful masculine voice with a touching lyrical side. 

He was one of the best things about the evening, alongside Thomas Hampson's Germont. Hampson's voice sounded less fresh than the last time I heard him. Whether it's an artfully-created effect for this role, or simply the toll of time, who knows, but it conveyed Germont's patrician demeanour to perfection. Hampson has never been a 'Verdi baritone', but he's a terrific singer and actor, so who cares?

One of the most gratifying aspects of this revival was the care and attention to detail taken with the smaller roles, perhaps an effect of Richard Eyre's return as director. Sarah Pring as Annina, Kostas Smoriginas as the Marquis D'Obigny and Haoyin Xue as Gastone were particularly impressive, and the chorus were well-deployed, though never fussily so.

I was pleased to see Eyre hadn't changed much. Bob Crowley's mostly tightly-packed boxy sets not only look good, they provide those all-important hard reverberent surfaces to bounce the singers' voices off. The decor may look busy, but it's mostly deceptively achieved with surface pattern and lighting. 

Only the last act, which should be the emptiest, looks over-cluttered, with too many bits'n'bobs for the singers to bash into and knock over, and too much of the action forced into the central space. I love the dressmaker's dummy with its skeletal skirt frame though, a reminder of Violetta's parties past.

The action is grippingly choreographed - I think everyone in the theatre gasped as Germont shoved Alfredo to the ground in the second act. The only failing remains Violetta's much-debated speed-lap round the bed moments before her death. The comedy is only piled on when, instead of expiring wiltingly in Alfredo's arms, Renee rams at full speed into his 'ample middle range' (thank you Edward Seckerson) like a quarterback hitting a blocker five yards from touchdown. Does she die of consumption or concussion?

The Royal Opera House orchestra have been playing splendidly recently, and this night was no exception. Pappano caressed them through the preludes like a tiny newborn kitten, as if he were trying to compensate for Renee's lack of fragility. Precious moments of introspection before red-blooded passion and champagne sparkle took over. Traviata is not generally reckoned the best of Verdi's scores, but Pappano makes you realise it's anything but routine.

Performances of this level of all-round quality don't come around often. It's a reminder that the problem with most traditional stagings of familiar operas is not the traditionalism or the familiarity, but simply that they're done without the love and care and skill and thought lavished upon this one.

********   Click over to see Renee Fleming senza makeup and more!   ********

La traviata dress rehearsal - the countdown begins

Thomas Hampson may not be everyone's idea of a Verdi baritone, but on the showing of today's dress rehearsal, he may turn out to be the best thing about the Royal Opera House's forthcoming La traviata revival.  At least he fully inhabited his role, and he sang unarguably well. Renee Fleming and Joseph Calleja both made predictably lovely sounds, but she overplayed and he underplayed, and neither convinced me of any passion for each other. Still, they've got two days to sort it out. The orchestra, at least, sound quite ravishing, and Pappano has introduced a few daring little tricks that prove he understands this score as much as he loves it.

Unlike most of the critics, I really quite like Richard Eyre's 1994 production - it has a traditional look, but there's more to it than comfortingly sumptuous decor. Much has been made of his return to Covent Garden to personally direct it (last year's revival and others were left to underlings). Thankfully, he doesn't seemed to have messed with much. But I was disappointed by the accumulation of stage clutter and pointless action in Act 3, which used to make an eloquent point about the price of freedom with its vast emptiness.

A couple of comic additions had my whole row shuddering with suppressed giggles. Perhaps they were one-off experiments/cock-ups rather than misjudgements, but I will explain no further at this stage in case it spoils anyone's opening night surprise. Just keep your eyes peeled at the end.

Lulu - rinse and repeat

Lulu - Royal Opera House, 8 June 2009

This was a lot better second time round. With the pressure of opening night behind her, Agneta Eichenholz sang cleanly and securely throughout, Klaus Florian Vogt was more focussed, and the action progressed more confidently. I didn't even notice any amplification on the speaking voices, which I guess means it was done more adeptly this time.

And was it my imagination, or was did the singers move downstage to sing more often? Evidently some changes had been made, because Alwa was murdered (as per Berg's stage directions) this time, instead of committing suicide as Loy had rewritten for the opening night.

There were certainly fewer inaudible episodes. That was partly down to Pappano, who sat on the orchestra every time a singer opened their mouth. Lulu is hardly a classic 'singers' opera' in the bel canto sense, but that's how Pappano treated it, with the orchestra alternately blooming forth gloriously and shrinking into a backing band. Most strange, and often at odds with the drama.

There were, unusually, cameras at the front of the stalls as well as the back to capture this performance, presumably for future DVD release.The clarity of this simply-set production remains its strength, something I suspect will be even more obvious when it's seen on screen.

 

 

 

Lulu: Royal Opera House (nm)

Lulu - Royal Opera House, 4 June 2009 (first night)

What is it with opera directors and their fascination with film? Are they all frustrated Steven Spielbergs? Christof Loy isn't quite as nakedly entranced as the likes of Robert Lepage. His new Covent Garden Lulu foregoes the silent film traditionally played over the central interlude (per composer instructions). But the minimalist production embodies the dark tone and moral ambivalence of classic film noir in its laconic, stylised gestures and anonymous visuals. The set, nothing but a long sectioned wall that stretches across the stage like a length of film, underlines the point.

It's a workable concept, but it was a little lost in the vast expanse of the Covent Garden stage (fully visible from wings to flies thanks to unwaveringly stark lighting). With the cast clad in nineties office-wear and nothing but a chair on stage, it looked like a recently-burgled boardroom. Without scene changes or major lighting variations, it was hard to tell when time and location had changed. Some actions became downright incomprehensible - would anyone who didn't know the opera realise that when Alwa picked up an axe after the Painter's suicide he was breaking open an entirely non-existent door to reach the body? 

And the shortage of reverberant surfaces meant that even the most powerful voices disappeared as their owners moved upstage. Miking them for the spoken sections solved half the problem, but it created a grating disjunct with the singing. If only the budget had stretched to walls.

Clearly some of the audience were less than thrilled - unusually lukewarm applause for the production team even included a few boos, a real rarity here.

It left the cast an uphill task to create something more than a concert performance, but they largely succeeded. Clearly well-rehearsed and choreographed to the inch, movement and gesture were as spare as the set, but every one was telling. Apart from the shoes. Nobody wants to wear stilettos for three hours non stop, but what was with all the taking off and putting back on again?

At the centre, Agneta Eichenholz as Lulu was superb in her Covent Garden and role debut. This Lulu is no coquette. She's a beautiful enigma, objectified in the eyes of those who desire her, but incapable of reciprocating. Agneta Eichenholz may look like Jennifer Love Hewitt as Audrey Hepburn but her Lulu was lethally iced. She started so tentatively I seriously worried she might rush off in tears. But she pulled herself together and nailed the impossible, stratospheric coloratura with ever-increasing confidence. At the end, far from spent, she sounded ready to do it all over again.

Michael Volle's robust Dr Schön was the other big hit. An adventurous director's dream, he has a big, heroic sound, he can act, and he's happy to look a bit of a t1t in the service of Art. Quite handy when you're daubed with lipstick and greasepaint in emulation of the lady wife's stage make-up (another touch that eluded my comprehension).

The blindingly-toothed Jennifer Larmore gave a touching and intelligently-nuanced performance as Gräfin Geschwitz, the reverse-image of the iron-clad Lulu in her femininity and vulnerabilty.

Philip Langridge's sleazy, seedy final act Marquis was his third and finest creation of the evening, following an equally-detailed Prince and Manservant.

Some of the other character doublings weren't so clearly differentiated, particularly Will Hartmann's attractively-sung Painter/Negro and Michael Volle's Jack the Ripper. Perhaps this was intentional - they reappeared for the final act wearing the same bloodstained clothes they'd died in way back in Act I. But this would ignore one of the points Berg's doubling makes - not that these characters are reincarnated but that the same kind of people exist in respectable bourgeois society as the shadowy world of pimps and prostitutes. And instead of being murdered by these 'dead' clients, Loy has Alwa slit his own throat, and Geschwitz is allowed to live - more neatly symmetrical perhaps, but again missing the point that those who truly care for Lulu are in the end destroyed.

Peter Rose's bravely-exposed jelly-belly Athlete raised most of the scant laughs of the evening - for his appearance rather than his commanding singing I should add. Klaus Florian Vogt's Alwa swam disappointingly in and out of focus, though the climactic second act encounter with Lulu 'on the sofa where your father bled to death' was done to devastating effect.

The orchestra were clearly well prepared for their trials and played cleanly throughout. Thanks to a kindly benefactor I was sitting much closer to the stage than I usually do - close enough in fact to observe Pappano in action. I didn't realise quite how much noise he makes or how much energy he expends, huffing and grunting and scrabbling his paws like a Jack Russell dreaming of rabbits. Whether it's for the orchestra's benefit or his own is not clear. Balance was exemplary and there was some beautiful detailing here and there. But in making the singers' difficult job easier by holding back when he could have been powering forward, an efficient accompaniment too often substituted for real dramatic tension.

My close quarters also permitted me to note that a couple of times a singer who shall remain nameless unselfconsciously sent great volleys of saliva arcing into the pit as he blasted forth. My advice to the horn section - if you think the roof's leaking, don't stick your tongue out to check...

**************  curtain call photos on next page  **************

Dmitri Hvorostovsky to replace Rolando in ROH recital (UPDATED with booking link)

 

Following Rolando Villazón's enforced withdrawal from his Royal Opera House recital with Antonio Pappano on 24 June, his place will now be taken by the silver-haired leather-trousered barigod Dmitri Hvorostovsky, the ROH have just announced.

This concert will be Dmitri's first solo recital at the Royal Opera House and the programme will include songs by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov in the first half, and Italian arias and Neapolitan songs in the second. Whether he'll be cooking up Siberian ravioli in the interval hasn't been confirmed.

Existing ticket holders can apply for a refund, and no doubt some will, which means more tickets should be available at some point. So chin up if you missed out first time round - there may yet be hope.

 

******   UPDATE - tickets now available - here   ******

 

Royal Opera House 2009/10 season - all the details

Here first! - a full list of all the Royal Opera House's main stage productions for the 2009/10 season.

The 2009/10 Covent Garden season opens with neither bang nor whimper but with a credit-crunching concert performance on 7 September (repeated on 14 September). Makes a change from last year's Sun readers' special I suppose.

The opera in question is Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix, and the conductor is bel canto genius Mark Elder. The cast includes potential Next Big Things Stephen Costello, Eglise Gutierrez and Luciano Botelho, plus the incomparable Alessandro Corbelli, the first of several welcome appearances this season.

The first staged opera of the season is Nicholas Hytner's lego-loving Don Carlo, with - OMG!- Jonas Kaufmann !!! in the title role. John Tomlinson joins him as the Grand Inquisitor, and the rest of the cast is lifted straight from the first run - Marina Poplavskaya, Simon Keenlyside, fans' favourite Ferruccio Furlanetto, Sonia Ganassi and Pumeza Matshikiza.The conductor is Semyon Bychkov.

This season's contribution to the 2013 Wagnerversary is a new Christof Loy production of Tristan und Isolde. Antonio Pappano conducts Ben Heppner, Nina Stemme, Matti Salminen, Michael Volle and Sophie Koch.

Neigh! Francesco Zambello's ghastly Carmen returns in October, with the latest Covent Garden favourite Elina Garanca back for the title role, fighting off Roberto Alagna, Ildebrando d'Arcangelo, and a farmyard full of furry friends. Bertrand de Billy conducts. It's resuscitated again in June 2010 with a distinctly 'B' cast.

October also sees one of Richard Jones's more subtle and effective efforts back on stage - and attractively cast. The shouldn't-work-but-it-does double bill of Ravel's L'Heure Espagnole (Christine Rice, Yann Beuron, Christopher Maltman, Andrew Shore and Bonaventura Bottone) and Puccini's Gianni Schicchi (Thomas Allen, Maria Bengtsson and Stephen Costello) is conducted by Pappano.

Francesco Zambello steps into Tchaikovsky's The Slippers in November. The new production will be conducted by Alexander Polianichko and features some serious talent fresh from the Mariinsky - Olga Guryakova, Vsevolod Grivnov, Larissa Diadkova, Vladimir Matorin and Maxim Mikhailov.

John Schlesinger's elderly Der Rosenkavalier is dusted off in December. Kirill Petrenko conducts and the cast includes Soile Isokoski, Sophie Koch, Thomas Allen and Lucy Crowe.

Littering the December and January schedules is the inevitable La Bohème. This time Andris Nelsons conducts most of the double-cast performances, which begin with Piotr Beczala and Hibla Gerzmava and end with not a few tbc's.

Robert Lepage's intermittently effective Rake's Progress returns in January 2010. Ingo Metzmacher, Toby Spence (a Tom Rakewell tdf), Kate Royal, Kyle Ketelsen and Stephanie Blythe promise much on the musical side.

Female conductor alert! Top Lisboan Julia Jones wields the baton over Jonathan Miller's Cosi fan Tutte in January. The cast includes Charles Castronovo and Sally Matthews.

A new Richard Jones production of Prokofiev's The Gambler in February is conducted by Pappano, with a cast including Roberto Sacca, Angela Denoke, John Tomlinson and Jurgita Adamonyte.

Plácido Domingo's first appearance of the season is as a tenor. Graham Vick's acclaimed production of Handel's Tamerlano (recorded in Madrid and available on DVD con Plácido) makes its first visit to Covent Garden in March with Christianne Stoijn, Sara Mingardo and Christine Schäfer. Baroque specialist Ivor Bolton conducts.

Bill Bryden's family-friendly The Cunning Little Vixen returns in March with Emma Matthews, Christopher Maltman and Emma Bell, though the presence of Charles Mackerras on the podium has to be the main draw.

Caurier and Leiser's lovely Il Turco in Italia is back in April, with Maurizio Benini conducting, and Aleksandra Kursak, Colin Lee, Alessandro Corbelli, Thomas Allen and Ildebrando d'Arcangelo in the cast.

Aida is subjected to the David McVicar magic in April. His new production is conducted by Nicola Luisotti and features Micaela Carosi, Marcelo Alvarez and Luciana D'Intino. Bare naked elephants?

The last of the Big Three, Richard Eyre's subtly intelligent La Traviata, makes its annual appearance in May and July. This time her name's in the programme - Our first Lady of the Camellias is the fabulous former Netrebko sub Ermonela Jaho. Joining her in her long-awaited return to Covent Garden in May are Saimir Pirgu and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. July's 'B' Violetta is Angela Gheorghiu, who makes do with James Valenti and Zeljko Lucic. Yves Abel conducts.

Laurent Pelly's now-legendary La Fille du Régiment returns in May with the unbeatable original cast of Juan Diego Flórez, Natalie Dessay, Alessandro Corbelli and Felicity Palmer back in place. Bruno Campanella conducts.

What would tempt Sir Colin Davis back into the pit? How about David McVicar's Le Nozze di Figaro? Erwin Schrott, Camilla Tilling, Maruisz Kwiecen. Annette Dasch, Soile Isokoski and Christine Schäfer head the strong cast.

Antonio Pappano conducts Laurent Pelly's new Manon, coming to Covent Garden in June with the announced cast including Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón. Anyone fancy a bet?

In one of those rare operatic fairy stories, June sees a baritone with less than a year's experience thrust into a leading role at Covent Garden. Yes, it's Plácido Domingo again, and this time he's Simon Boccanegra. Antonio Pappano conducts a strong cast including Marina Poplavskaya, Ferruccio Furlanetto and Joseph Calleja. It's the 1991 Elijah Moshinsky production by the way, not the Ian Judge one seen last year.

The season ends in July 2010 with the first revival of David McVicar's controversial Salome. Angela Denoke takes the central role, with Johan Reuter as Jokanaan. Hartmut Haenchen conducts.

No link yet, but more details expected on the Royal Opera House website sometime next week.

****************

*******UPDATE 22/4*******

The Royal Opera House's press releases are now available on their website. Go here for the summary, here for the opera details and here for the ballet.

Royal Opera House Summer Season is on the way

Not long now till the Royal Opera House summer season opens for booking - 25 March for Friends and 28 April for the rest.

The highlight for me is Berg's Lulu, in a new production by Christof Loy, a director for whom drama is never confined to the stage. He famously (allegedly) sacked Tubby Voigt from his Ariadne in 2004, then walked out of his own production - La finta giardiniera - a couple of years later, citing Spinal Tap style "musical differences" with the conductor.

For his Lulu, newbie Agneta Eichenholz takes the title role, but more importantly, Klaus Florian Vogt makes his Covent Garden debut as Alwa. (Which means he'll be hanging around Covent Garden while Lohengrin's on, should either of the scheduled leads catch Netrebkoitis - we can but hope). A welcome return for Michael Volle (Dr Schön / Jack the Ripper) too. Pappano conducts.

Richard Eyre's beautifully coherent and underrated La traviata returns, this time with the cougarific pairing of Renee Fleming and Joseph Calleja in the leads. Will la Renee's unconcealable chemistry with Thomas Hampson (Germont) lend an 'interesting' dimension? Tony Pappano conducts this one too.

The hugely jolly if puddle-deep Leiser and Caurier Il barbiere di Siviglia gets an all-star cast this time round - Simon Keenlyside, Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez, with the fabulous Alessandro Corbelli and the great Ferruccio Furlanetto the cream on top. More Pappano.

Bryn Terfel is the main attraction in Jonathan Kent's tourist-friendly Tosca. Marcello Giordani attempts to fill the shoes last worn by Jonas Kaufmann and Deborah Voigt displays her slimmed-down talents. Jacques Lacombe conducts.

I can't get too excited about Un ballo in maschera with Ramón Vargas and Angela Marambio, though I look forward to Anna Christy's ROH debut as Oscar.

The Mariinsky's summer Ring Cycle is also booking - no casting yet announced. I don't know whether that's good or bad news. But given that the company harbours everything from wet-behind-the-ears teens to world-class soloists, we can only hope for the best. Check out the ticket prices carefully before you book - there are very few cheap seats, even in the amphitheatre.

Gambling types may grab a ticket for Rolando Villazón's recital with Tony Pappano on 24 June.  'Mixed form' doesn't begin to describe Rolando's recent performances, but at least with the opportunity to pick and fine-tune his programme, we may see him at his best.

Finally, the Jette Parker Young Artists Summer Concert on 19 July is an opportunity to hear more from the company's walk-on specialists.