Royal Opera House's Don Carlo faces the Inquisition

Don Carlo - Royal Opera House, 15 September 2009

It’s little more than a year since the Royal Opera House premiered this production, but already the temperature has dropped a few degrees.

The main reason is Semyon Bychkov. Pappano was all heart; Bychkov is all head. Where Pappano offered untrammelled passion, Bychkov’s Don Carlo is thoughtfully structured, scrupulously detailed and immaculately performed (the last time the ROH played this well was in Lohengrin for – Semyon Bychkov). His weighty attentions serve the music well, the drama less so. The issue isn't the idiosyncratic tempos – sometimes super attenuated, sometimes dangerously pacy. At least these make you listen in a new way.The real problem is a lack of flexibility and dramatic response. The music feels superimposed on the drama, when it should be the other way round. The great Carlos/Posa freedom duet was more dutiful than ardent; Philip’s ruminative Act 4 monologue had the air of a prepared speech. There is much to admire – and to think about - but I rarely felt drawn in.

The other big change is in the title role. Rolando Villazon’s Carlos was an impetuous boy; Jonas Kaufmann’s is brooding, serious and totally grown-up. Kaufmann’s Carlos has no hesitation in placing his duty to Flanders above his personal desires. But this is the five act version, whose first act narrates the brief meeting of Carlos and Elisabetta. The first act does so much more than contextualise Carlos’s later moping. It changes the story. His joy (Elisabetta's too) is seen as real, but his later obsession as delusory, while her acceptance of her duty is the only pragmatic solution. Playing out the love story diminishes it. We see it ourselves for what it is, a moment of happiness, and not as Carlos presents it, the pivot of his destiny. And then we see the discrepancy between our view and his, and Carlos too is diminished in our eyes. He is merely evading his responsibilities, even if he doesn't realise it.

Jonas Kaufmann has chosen to emphasise the political and idealistic side of Carlos, and while that's right for the four act version, I don't think it works here (for one thing, it makes the first act into a tacked-on appendage). But having said that, and first act simpering aside, he follows through brilliantly. He is every inch the rebel prince, and his singing was out of this world. His ravishingly beautiful mezza voce was used to great effect, but he could turn up the power too. And who else could look that hawt in puffball shorts and pixie boots?

Inevitably this Carlos has more chemistry with Posa than with Marina Poplavskaya’s Elisabetta. She is much improved from last year's outing. Perhaps she really was indisposed all those times she claimed. Her steel-coated power was complemented this time round by smooth grained tone and accurate (if hard earned) top notes, lending Elisabetta's dutiful sacrifice a noble cast.

Simon Keenlyside sounded better than I have heard him for some time. Evidently a summer's rest has done him good. He is not and never will be a Verdi baritone - the heft and depth simply aren't there. Pairing him with the baritonal tenor of Jonas Kaufmann unfortunately emphasises this. But he compensates intelligently and with unquestionable commitment.

Marianne Cornetti is definitely a Verdi singer, but I doubt if Eboli is her best role. She wobbled gamely through the Veil Song, but her voice is simply too weighty to navigate it with the required agility. O don fatale was quite lovely though, and she has the warmth to generate sympathy. Couldn't the make up department have glammed her up a bit more though? - the revelation that Carlos has mistaken her for Elisabetta raised an understandable laugh from the audience.

The most satisfying performance came of course from Ferruccio Furlanetto as Philip. Near-perfect. Every note, every gesture conveys absolute authority. He perhaps more than anyone suffered from Bychkov's counter-intuitive pacing though. Unable to linger or rush where the emotions demanded, he was sometimes less convincing than I know he can be. And his showdown with John Tomlinson's unscary Grand Inquisitor didn't pack the wallop it should have done.

Amongst the smaller parts, Robert Anthony Gardiner as the Conte di Lerma really stood out. His singing, most of it terrifyingly exposed, was bright, accurate and rock-solid, and his presence aristocratically relaxed.

I'm going to see a couple more performances, and I'll write more about the production itself then. But suffice to say for now I was surprised at the stagey gesticulation of some of the principals, and at how much fussy micro-managed movement had been imposed on crowd scenes (the auto-da-fé scene was the most egregious example of extraneous chat, clatter and fidgeting). A case of the director working with what was available perhaps, but not quite what you'd expect from Nicholas Hytner.

 

*****  more photos over page  *****

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Hugh Kerr]

Intermezzo you are a very good critic and your technical knowledge is very impressive however like other critics (are you a friend of Tim Ashley!) you sometimes dont see the wood for the trees.I have been attending the Garden for over 40 years and over 50 opera houses round the world and for me this was the best Don Carlos I have seen and heard.We should be grateful that the Garden is in great form and enjoy! Hugh Kerr

[me]

Friday 18th amphitheatre.

Can. not. wait.

[anonymous]

Bychkov is a problem.\he seems to get good orchestral playing but his sense rhthym and dramatic structure is nonexisistent.He constantlty undermine the timing and drama of the great production.He does not attend production rehearsals.And one point demanded that Keenlyside should be replaced.Why? An artistic incompatibility?No he didm't like Simon's face and he slows his music beyond any sense to show his power.His sense of the score was not based on any knowledge of anything except his own ego drawing funny sounds ouy of the orchestra.He is deeply dodgy

[Laurent]

I’ve come back to your review now that I’ve attended a performance and I agree with 98 % of your comments. Last night, unfortunately, Kaufmann had to strain in a rather perceptible way whenever he had to reach those high notes — of which, fortunately, there are few in that part. And I thought that Marianne Cornetti’s no-prisoners-taken approach to “O don fatale...” was, well, better than nothing but not that effective. Overall, I never felt that the drama completely jelled, and Bychkov is probably at least partially responsible for that. A miracle happened every time Furlanetto was on stage and suddenly there was tension and excitement: as far as I’m concerned, he is God. “Don Carlo” is murder to get completely right. I’ve yet to see a production that I find completely satisfactory.

[Kit]

"I'm going to see a couple more performances"
.... c'mon luv, no slacking ... waiting for your updates...
I agree with Laurent about Kaufman last night: really, really fantastic most of the time, but not totally "at home" up top. And sorry folks I really enjoyed Cornetti (call me common)...
And I had a good laugh reading Tim Ashley AFTER reading your lovely self.

[me]

I saw last Friday's & agree with anon re Bychkov wholeheartedly - not sure what he is doing but it ain't verdi. Rodrigo's entrance was ludicrously slow - Keenlyside it seemed to me actually glared at him and gave him a vocal Bytch-slap by stopming all over the tempo. The orchestra couldn't make any of thier counterpoint during Eboli's spanish song which was a total mess. The only bright moments were 'Ella giammai...' and Elisabetta's final aria which were stupendously coloured and textured - overall though I was wishing for Pappano (and regret more so after hearing his lacrimosa in the new Requiem recording)

One final word though to Kaufmann - an intelligent and moving Carlo if not quite the right voice for my taste, his 'Me Lassu...' was actually the most beautiful thing I have ever heard in an opera house. Astonishing.

[Julian S]

What a fantastic night at the opera. Kaufmann's vocal splendour (I agree the best mezza voce I've ever heard) and Furlanetto is an operatic god! His Philip identifies him as one of the classiest singer/actors around today. Needed a bit more of the visceral in the pit.. listen to Karajan's Autodafe Salzburg 1986 for fireworks and blood! Well done ROH!