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Verdi, Il trovatore: Soloists, chorus and orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Conductor: Carlo Rizzi. Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 2.5.2009 (JPr)

Every review of this revival of Elijah Moshinsky’s 2002 production since it began on 13th April,  seems to have mentioned Enrico Caruso’s declaration that Il trovatore  needs ‘the four best singers in the world’ to succeed. Sadly though,  there must be a better quartet somewhere than those in this production.
 
The production itself has also been praised in some reviews for updating the setting to Risorgimento Italy despite the fact that the libretto puts it in fifteenth-century Spain. This is clearly meant to evoke Luchino Visconti’s 1954 film Senso which takes place in Venice during the same period and which opens at a performance of Il trovatore at La Fenice. In the film, Manrico is seen stirring up the passions of his audience by singing a stirring high C at the end ‘Di quella pira’. There was little chance of excitement like this at Covent Garden.
 
After noting the distinctly mixed reception of Moshinsky’s elderly  production of Lohengrin currently in repertory at Covent Garden -  and after making all due allowances for the budgetary restrictions faced by The Royal Opera in our ‘credit crunch’ culture -  it saddens me to say that this Il trovatore, isn’t necessarily very much better.  Its sheer three-dimensional realism restricts much of the action to a small strip across the front of the stage and while this is where all Verdi singers would doubtless wish to be seen performing,  having them positioned across the stage as if in a semi-staged concert setting does little for natural interactions between the of characters. Even the chorus seemed shoehorned into too small an area for their big moments.
 
Dante Ferretti’s sets give us tall columns for Part I, some huge furnaces or stills for Part II and then an iron-work construction resembling Covent Garden’s old Floral Hall. In   Part III there are large realistic cannons and a one-set-fits-all castle interior which later transforms into a dungeon for Part IV. Anne Tilby’s costumes made me wonder at times whether the tired cast from some east-European touring production of Carmen at the end of a long tour, had accidentally dressed themselves in the wrong clothes.  By the end of this evening my thoughts had less to do with Visconti than with the Marx Brothers’ A Night at the Opera where the climax  is filled with  comic mayhem during another Il trovatore.

Sondra Radvanovsky as Leonora

I am also glad to note that it has at last become acceptable to say that this opera is not a masterpiece - though I agree that ‘masterpiece’, is a difficult idea to define.  But Il trovatore is  surely a ‘numbers’ opera melding many wonderful moments for soloists and chorus with some typical Verdi hokum about anti-clericalism, confused parenting, a romantic hero, unrequited passion and a woman’s sacrifice; not forgetting the added attraction of a gypsy throwing the 'wrong'  baby into a fire, for goodness sake. Il trovatore is an enjoyable romp whichI have been happy to sit through time and again simply because of its principals' vocal fireworks, its undoubtedly stirring choruses and the dramatic music.
 
That being said, even without Caruso's, 'four greatest singers in the world', this  revival needs a stronger cast and conductor than it currently has. I have heard Katia Ricciarelli, Elizabeth Connell, Rita Hunter and Jane Eaglen (in her prime) as Leonora,  and also Carreras, Domingo and the late, yet unforgettable, Franco Bonisolli as Manrico. They were supported by some compelling singers as Ferrando, Azucena and Count di Luna and I assure you I do not listen much to CDs so that most of what I recall, I heard live under some great conductors. This cast had (mostly) all of the correct notes but very little musical magic, especially during the first half.
 
Admittedly - perhaps after a half-time pep-talk -   proceedings did liven up for Parts III and IV but there was little still  colour in the orchestral performance, particularly where there were the ghostly horrors or night-terrors evoked in the libretto and Verdi’s music. The Royal Opera House orchestra gave a such a prosaic account of the score that it was impossible to believe that they were the same orchestra that  gave one of the finest performances of a Wagner score (Lohengrin) the next afternoon,  heard at Covent Garden for perhaps a generation. Carlo Rizzi certainly seemed at odds with his soloists from time to time either wanting to drive them on or holding them back depending on the moment. The chorus sang lustily enough but again without the commitment they usually show and which they also revealed the next day for Wagner.
 
The Polish mezzo, Małgorzata Walewska, was making her house debut as Azucena and it was not an auspicious one. The part needs a wide range and digs deep to notes she did not appear to have. ‘Stride la vampa!’ (The flames are roaring) which tells the story of the burning of her gypsy mother, lacked horrific frisson or even drama.  Most readers will know that Manrico is really the Count di Luna's brother and Azucena is not his mother:  she had cast her own son into the flames and not the true Count’s brother. Much more could have been made of the opening to Part II - virtually the crux of the work -  both dramatically ( Azucena looked noticeably younger than her supposed son) and in the orchestral accompaniment.
 
Leonora was the American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky. She is very experienced in the role but for me seemed to lack a certain purity and focus to her voice. There is the huskiness of the type of dramatic voice that is right for Sieglinde and Elisabeth (Tannhäuser) but not necessarily for Leonora. Following a tender and accomplished ‘D’amor sull’ali rosee’ (Go forth sad sigh on the rosy wings of love) she was her best when combining with Manrico for a deeply affecting ‘Miserere’ in which the chorus sang plaintively off-stage.
 
With a bald pate, baleful appearance and while hobbling around with a stick Mikhail Petrenko’s Ferrando appeared to come from the world of another opera entirely and was not the usual captain of the guards. His effortful singing in Part I failed to get the evening of to the rip-roaring start Verdi intended. He was dressed in military uniform and so later too was Dmitri Hvorostovsky’s Count. The Russian baritone is the personification of ‘cool’ on stage and the uniform was suitable for the Count’s aristocratic droit de seigneur if not so much for his jealousy, lust or vengeful fury. Hvorostovsky’s voice had true Verdian legato for ‘Il balen del suo sorriso’ (The light of her [Leonora’s] smile) but at times was sorely stretched while keeping up with Rizzi’s tempi.
 
Finally the tenor replacement for Roberto Alagna as Manrico for this performance, was another Covent Garden debutant, the Italian Walter Fraccaro. He sang with great ardour and his was the forthright and loud voice seemingly popular in Verona and other European opera houses where he sings regularly. He seemed capable of the refinement necessary for ‘Ah sì, ben mio; coll’essere io tuo’ (Ah yes, my love; when I am yours) in Part III and was equal to the challenge of ‘Di quella pira’ as he sets off to save his mother from the flames. His ‘acting’ was rudimentary however and it is not certain how much on-stage rehearsal he had had  as there were fleeting moments when he seemed unsure of where to stand and what to do next. He was a ‘team player’  however and – since Roberto Alagna, his predecessor in these performances, had done  it - he sang only one verse of his great aria and transposed the end at least to give us - at best - a high B instead of the C,  I think he would have liked to have gone for. Quite what key the rest of it was in left me a bit confused. Fraccaro did not seem sure himself and it was a bit muddled – which sums up the whole evening quite well.

Jim Pritchard

Pictures © Catherine Ashmore

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