Metropolitan Opera – Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. April 11, 2018.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra (Seat BB28, $25).

Story.  See previous post.  I probably made the remark when I first saw this opera in 2007 that the synopsis was very difficult to follow, and that the story itself was quite simple.  Well, I didn’t make the remark, but how I described the “story” was quite to the point.

Conductor – Roberto Abbado; Enrico – Luca Salsi, Raimondo – Vitalij Kowaljow, Lucia – Jessica Pratt, Egardo – Vittorio Grigolo, Arturo – Mario Chang.  Harp solo – Mariko Anraki, Glass harmonica solo – Friedric Heinrich Kern.

I wanted to take advantage of the rush ticket program to see this opera.  CS was in the area trying to take photos of gannets in the area, and he decided to come along.  There were many empty seats, so we moved up several rows after Act 1 – I sat in Seat W28 for Act 2 and W20 for Act 3.

I reviewed my writeup of the October, 2007 performance, and many of the comments are valid for this performance also.  The sets are still good, except after more than a decade they begin to look tired; of course that may simply mean people’s taste change over time.  I did call the scene changes clever then, I didn’t feel that way at all today.

The male cast members all did great.  Grigolo is always dependable, and he put in a very believable Edgardo today, playing the role in a “hot-headed” manner.  Pratt as Lucia sounded weak in comparison, at least most the time.  There were many instances when she had duets and her voice was noticeably less robust.

The mad scene, as usual, was much anticipated.  A couple of weeks prior we listened to WQXR’s broadcast, and at intermission there was a discussion of how the glass harmonica accompanied the mad scene.  This knowledge might have contributed to my appreciation of the music.  Pratt by herself did very well also.  Tonight she made Lucia a real sympathetic figure.  I would consider Edgardo’s solo after that a “mini-mad scene” as he went about lamenting Lucia’s death.

I do remember from 2007 the ghost of Ravenwood in the first scene, but forgot about the ghost of Lucia in the final scene.  I wonder if it was added after 2007 – there is no singing involved.

Curtain Call.  Pratt as Lucia, Maestro Abbado, Girgolo as Edgardo, and Kowaljow as Raimondo.

The 2007 performance we saw was when the current production was first used.  The Playbill recalls Natalie Dessay and Marcello Giordani as the leads (we saw Annick Massis), but fails to mention James Levine as the conductor.  I imagine a lot of Program Notes have been rewritten to remove Levine’s name.

The New York Times review heaps praise on Grigolo, calling him the reason to go see this opera - and is otherwise neutral on the opera (Lucia was sung by a different soprano.)

Chung Shu drove in, we had a simple dinner at Europan.