Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center. Orchestra (Seat Z11, $128.50).
Story. See
previous post.
Conductor – Bertrand de Billy. Miller – Placido Domingo, Luisa – Sonya Yoncheva,
Laura – Heather Johnson, Rodolfo – Piotr Beczala, Wurm – Dmitry Delosselskiy,
Count Walter – Alexander Vinogradov, Federica – Olesya Petrova.
The setting is supposed to be rural England around 1850. Not sure if it is that relevant.
The opera is based on a relatively simple story, and is dominated by solos, duets, and other ensemble numbers. While the chorus did put in a few numbers, one of the take-aways was how much ease Verdi had moving from one ensemble number to another.
The Playbill talks quite a bit about the characteristics
of the music, describing it as being at “a pivotal moment in Verdi’s career, so
the score itself has aspects of both the rough vitality of his early works and
the refinement of his middle career.” A
good example is Act II (also because I paid particular attention to it.) It was a relatively short act (2 scenes,
totaling just a bit over 30 minutes) but has in it (i) a duet for two basses;
(ii) a passage where the soprano’s melody is accompanied by chords sung vocally,
with no orchestra accompaniment; and (iii) the famous tenor aria “Quando le
sere al placido.” Interestingly, the
substantive duet of the Millers (father and daughter) didn’t appear until Act
3, even though the love of the daughter for her father played a major role in
how the story unfolds.
Tonight was the first time we saw the Polish tenor
Baczala, and I was impressed. “Quando le
sere al placido” is among the most famous tenor arias, and he put in a superb,
moving performance. His Met debut was in
2006, for this season he sings only this opera.
The two main basses – also the villains – put in strong
performances, managing do very well in the lower registers. Both had their backs turned against the
audience at some point and still managed to get their lines across.
Both Johnson (a last-minute substitute) and Petrova put in
credible performances, with Johnson playing the village girl Laura, and Petrova
the Duchess Frederica.
The names known to me before the opera are Yoncheva and
(of course) Domingo.
We saw Yoncheva for the first time earlier this year as
Tosca, and I was impressed by her singing.
She was equally strong today and did very well even when pitted against other
equally strong male voices. However, her
character didn’t come across as sympathetic as she could be. The Playbill talks glowingly about how the
aria “Tu puniscimi, o Signore” is filled with pianissimo high notes – I don’t
think she managed to pull of the pianissimo.
Domingo seems to be even more active nowadays. Although he was listed as a tenor in the
Playbill, Miller’s role is that of a baritone.
While Domingo’s voice was clearly adequate, it wasn’t quite a match for
the impressive cast. When he sang Germont in La Traviata, I opined that he was
gracious enough not to hog the spotlight; tonight, however, it felt like he was
struggling to keep up. In any case,
there is this clear sense of well-deserved admiration by his fellow cast
members, and I thought the applause he got at the end indicated the audience’s
appreciation of his contributions to the world of opera.
Of course Domingo played the role of Rodolfo before, and
one can find a video of his performance of the aria “Quando le sere” on
YouTube. At his best his singing could
keep up with anyone’s.
The orchestra under de Billy sounded crisp, although at
times I wished the music would come across more clearly.
There was extended applause for Domingo. Probably more for his contributions to the genre over the years than for how he did tonight.
From left: Delosselskiy as Wurm, Petrova as Frederica, Domingo as Miller, Yoncheva as Luisa, Beczala as Rodolfo, Maestro de Billy, Johnson as Laura, and Vinogradov as Walther. Not a single American artist among them.
People knowledgeable about this opera may be able to
explain why this was only the 89th performance at the Met. I don’t understand why the arias aren’t more
popular either. The set used today was
first used in the 2001-02 season, and is quite “classical” and elaborate. Instead of location markings, the titles of
the acts are Love, The Intrigue, and The Poison.
We saw the opera in 2016 in Sydney, and there are quite a
few contrasts worth mentioning. The most
noticeable difference was the set used in that production. I called it minimalist, but it allowed for
continuous action during the performance of individual acts instead of the
pauses (2 in Act 1, and 1 in Act 2) in this production. The Met story was a straightforward narrative,
but the Opera Australia was told as a “flashback,” as I understood it.
Perhaps the impact the 2016 performance had on me has
faded considerably, I don’t recall being so invested in how the characters
fared, describing the tenor aria as “commendable.” I did jot down Car as doing a great job.
The New York Times review talked a lot about Domingo’s performance,
and that Miller was his 149th role.
While there was the usual criticism of how Domingo really didn’t have a
baritone’s voice, the review ended with “he did it in memorable style.”
We originally had tickets for a later performance, but exchanged
tickets for tonight because of a conflict.
The balcony was full, so I “upgraded” to these seats in the Orchestra
section, paying an extra $18 each. Other
than the orchestra sound, these are great seats.
We drove in, and ate Chinese takeout in our car.
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