SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

 

Verdi, Il Trovatore: Soloists, Orquesta Oviedo Filarmonía. Coro de la Ópera de Oviedo. Conductor: Julian Reynolds. Teatro Campoamor de Oviedo. 8.10.2010 (JMI)

New Production Opera Oviedo in co-production with Barcelona’s Liceu, Toulouse’s Capitole and Lleida’s La Llotja

 

Director: Gilbert Deflo

Sets and Costumes: William Orlandi

Lighting: Joël Hourbeigt

 

Cast:

 

Manrico: Walter Fraccaro

Leonora: Hui He

Azucena: Elisabetta Fiorillo

Conte di Luna: Dalibor Jenis

Ferrando: Stefano Palatchi

Inés: Marifé Nogales

Ruiz: Albert Deprius

 

Production picture courtesy of Ópera de Oviedo

 

Read JMI’s Seen and Heard International review of last December’s Barcelona performances of the same production here.

 

British conductor Julian Reynolds gave his debut in Oviedo with this performance of Il Trovatore. His performance did not go beyond what you can expect from an expert conductor. He had the forces under control, chose some erratic tempos, and went for a rather heavy orchestral sound here and there. Apart from that that, it was a pretty flat reading of the score. The orchestra was acceptable and never brilliant and the chorus fulfilled its task as statically as if it were a concert performance, although that was not Mr. Reynolds’ fault, of course.

 

Walter Fraccaro is one of the few tenors who can cover a few of the more difficult Verdi roles with some guarantee of success, considering that his voice has plenty volume and his top notes always secure. Fraccaro’s problem is that his singing is too monotonous. He sings all exactly the same, without nuances. In short: he’s a perfectly safe and perfectly boring Manrico.

 

The best performance of the evening came from Chinese soprano Hui He in the part of Leonora. She is a full lyric soprano voice (a little short down below), giving sense to the notes and never struggles with the tessitura. She is not an exceptional soprano, but she, too, is a safe bet for these Verdi roles, a field where not too many colleagues are up to the task.

 

Veteran mezzo soprano Elisabetta Fiorillo knows her virtues as well as her problem zones—and she knows how to handle them. Consequently her Azucena made up for with effectiveness what she lacked in brilliance. Slovak baritone Dalibor Jenis hasn’t the right voice for the Conte de Luna and was monotonous on top of it. With Stefano Palatchi as Ferrando there was another veteran in the cast, though his contribution was an excess of vibrato, rather than efficiency. That Hui He and Elisabetta Fiorillo received the lion’s share of the sell-out crowd’s ovations did not surprise.

José M Irurzun