Photo Sheila Rock
Opera in concert… a different kind of animal and used for pieces where either the plot is a bit too weak to be interesting for staging, such as Linda di Chamounix or where it is too complicated to stage, such being the case of the Damnation de Faust.
I’ve enjoyed both pieces a lot and they couldn’t be more different from each other.
Among the darkness and seriousness of the Don Carlo the Linda was like a breath of fresh air and necessary smiles.
Linda di Chamounix, ROH, 14/09/09
Gaetano Donizetti
Conductor Mark Elder
Maddalena Loustolot Elizabeth Sikora
Antonio Loustolot Ludovic Tezier
Marquis of Boisfleury Alessandro Corbelli
Intendant Luciano Botelho
Linda Eglise Gutierrez
Pierotto Marianna Pizzolato
Carlo Stephen Costello
The Prefect Balint Szabo
I like belcanto and I like Donizetti and this was indeed a good occasion to indulge in just the beauty of voices and melody. This music sounds light and is thoroughly enjoyable but must rely on steely technique to be delivered with the necessary panache.
No better example of such proficiency than Alessandro Corbelli. As in he Barber earlier in the year he is a wonderful example of how you can run don exhilarating scales with a firm whip on diction :-) Eglise Gutierrez meets almost all expectations made of such a promising young artist. However I have to say the “glass breaking” edge on her high notes thrills me much less than her smooth mezza voce. She can do the coloratura, but I think she will be more enjoyable to hear in many more role than that :-)
I don’t understand the hissing that was supposed to have happened in the first performance, I saw the second. However in the one that I saw singers seemed to be more at easy in any case and although still preoccupied with the technicalities of their roles, more emotion came through. Stephen Costello easily engaged the audience and I was actually touched by how naturally he managed to transmit the innocence and love in his character. It’s not his fault that the eternal tones of Lindaaaa! Lindaa!! Lindaaaa!!! put some smiles on our faces ;-) (remember there is a reason why this is not staged that often ;-))))
Both Ludovic Tezier and Elizabeth Sikora rounded up the cast nicely, putting their warm voices to the belcanto lines in wonderful fashion. One thing I wonder with Tezier is how come his totally charming off stage persona doesn’t transmit more on stage? It’s really a pity..
Nevertheless he was the second half in my favourite duo of the night, together with Balint Szabo ( a piece that reminded me of a similar one in Puritani)..belcanto at it’s best, scrumptious!!)
Opera in concert… a different kind of animal and used for pieces where either the plot is a bit too weak to be interesting for staging, such as Linda di Chamounix or where it is too complicated to stage, such being the case of the Damnation de Faust.
I’ve enjoyed both pieces a lot and they couldn’t be more different from each other.
Among the darkness and seriousness of the Don Carlo the Linda was like a breath of fresh air and necessary smiles.
Linda di Chamounix, ROH, 14/09/09
Gaetano Donizetti
Conductor Mark Elder
Maddalena Loustolot Elizabeth Sikora
Antonio Loustolot Ludovic Tezier
Marquis of Boisfleury Alessandro Corbelli
Intendant Luciano Botelho
Linda Eglise Gutierrez
Pierotto Marianna Pizzolato
Carlo Stephen Costello
The Prefect Balint Szabo
I like belcanto and I like Donizetti and this was indeed a good occasion to indulge in just the beauty of voices and melody. This music sounds light and is thoroughly enjoyable but must rely on steely technique to be delivered with the necessary panache.
No better example of such proficiency than Alessandro Corbelli. As in he Barber earlier in the year he is a wonderful example of how you can run don exhilarating scales with a firm whip on diction :-) Eglise Gutierrez meets almost all expectations made of such a promising young artist. However I have to say the “glass breaking” edge on her high notes thrills me much less than her smooth mezza voce. She can do the coloratura, but I think she will be more enjoyable to hear in many more role than that :-)
I don’t understand the hissing that was supposed to have happened in the first performance, I saw the second. However in the one that I saw singers seemed to be more at easy in any case and although still preoccupied with the technicalities of their roles, more emotion came through. Stephen Costello easily engaged the audience and I was actually touched by how naturally he managed to transmit the innocence and love in his character. It’s not his fault that the eternal tones of Lindaaaa! Lindaa!! Lindaaaa!!! put some smiles on our faces ;-) (remember there is a reason why this is not staged that often ;-))))
Both Ludovic Tezier and Elizabeth Sikora rounded up the cast nicely, putting their warm voices to the belcanto lines in wonderful fashion. One thing I wonder with Tezier is how come his totally charming off stage persona doesn’t transmit more on stage? It’s really a pity..
Nevertheless he was the second half in my favourite duo of the night, together with Balint Szabo ( a piece that reminded me of a similar one in Puritani)..belcanto at it’s best, scrumptious!!)
Marianna Pizzolato was a real discovery for me, what a warm voice, accompanied by a fresh and engaging personality, somebody you would want to listen to for much longer! She seems to be born to sing belcanto and i hope this will not be her only visit to the ROH!
Mark Elder energetically conducted the ROH orchestra along the beautiful melodies. An orchestra which I have to say deserves all the Bravos it can get for mastering in a matter of two weeks most beautiful renditions of Donizetti, Wagner and Verdi :-)
Hector Berlioz, La Damnation de Faust
Barbican, 22/09/2009
Joyce DiDonato, Marguerite
Michael Schade, Faust
Willard White , Mepistopheles
Florian Boesch, Brander
Valery Gergiev
London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus
La Damnation on the other hand is a piece of passions and extremes…oh and how I love it! Interestingly enough, last year when I saw this in a direct broadcast from the Met I had some reservations about the staging. But incidentally the music brought those images right back into my mind at the exactly right spots, so it must have been better than I thought!
The orchestra and the chorus were very very good, but… it’s wasn’t Levine’s take on the score which blew me away last year. Good as Gergiev mastered orchestra and chorus with iron discipline, but maybe missing some of the fantasy, not going aaaaaall the way maybe.
The opera in itself is a bit strange maybe because the first two acts are rather slow and most of the action happens in the latter two. So you have to have a Faust able to carry the weight of the first part on his shoulders… unfortunately not the case here. I am sure Michael Schade is a respectable Mozart tenor… but Berlioz isn’t his friend. He was too preoccupied with the French, the notes to be able to really engage with the character. And he was the only one of the singers who really treated this is a concert, rather than an opera. A pity, I hardly recognised the big aria in the second part…
Willard White was a last minute replacement for Thomas Quastoff , but what a show!!! Not only did he have the alluring deep voice of the devil within ;-))) but also the presence, full of irony and intent. A real treat and I liked the sparkling, less dark take on the role, fitted the fantasy much better.
Trying to remember who was the blond girl?... Um… that American whatshername??? Oh yes, Joyce something! … juuuuust joking ;-))) DiDonato is back on her two feet and looking gorgeous in a long roman-type dress. And singing like an angel!!! I know at least half the audience was there for her and it was electrifying. My neighbour tortured me all throughout the opera with his jaw-moving sounds while yawning and even he held his breath during her arias! (thank God for small miracles!!!). She was properly innocent and enchanted and how she produces those notes only she knows....they definitely sound out of this world! I really liked her first Marguerite and it has opened a new wish of maybe, one day, hearing her sing this part alongside another tenor….
Although absolutely knackered on the day I am glad I went, I really love this piece and I hope to see it staged someday live, for the singers and the music and that amazing chorus towards the end and their earth shattering Haas! Hass! Hass! Ahh, nothing like a powerful chorus piece to lift you from the dead :-)
