Mozart Così Fan
Tutte:
Soloists,
Orchestra and Chorus of
the Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden, cond. Colin Davis.
14.07.2007 (ME)
Filing
out of the stalls after
this performance, I heard
a young man behind me enthusiastically
opining ‘That was the best
I’ve ever heard it sung’
– since he was about nineteen,
that was rather sweet: this
fifth revival of Jonathan
Miller’s Armani-clad, modish-when-it-was-first-seen
production reminds us that
Miller has few equals when
it comes to personenregie,
but your acquaintance with
great Mozart singing would
have to be fairly slight
to regard everything heard
from the stage as an experience
of a lifetime.
Thomas
Allen’s Alfonso is the perfect
controller of the action,
suave and dapper in his
charcoal-grey suit, cradling
his mobile phone like a
baby and posturing as vainly
as the gilded youths before
the pier glass – he is of
course a master of subtle
comedy, and the way in which
recitative trips off his
tongue is a joy. Unfortunately,
the voice is not what it
was, and there were some
very uncomfortable moments
in the Act I trio and elsewhere.
His two young friends were
superbly played by Matthew
Polenzani, making his Royal
Opera House debut, and Lorenzo
Regazzo in a notable role
debut. Polenzani has a very
fine tenor voice, slightly
astringent in the manner
of Alfredo Kraus, but in
this role that’s no bad
thing: his phrasing, diction
and vocal colour are all
impeccable, and he negotiated
the perilous heights of
‘Un Aura amoroso’ most impressively.
Regazzo is a natural comedian
with a great future in lyric
baritone roles – this was
certainly the best Guglielmo
I’ve heard in a long time,
not only vocally but in
terms of the creation of
a believable character.
The
undoubted star of the show
was the Latvian mezzo-soprano,
Elīna Garanča,
as Dorabella; she presented
a ditzy, capricious girl
and yet one with whom you
could sympathise, and her
singing was the best of
the evening, especially
in her duet with Guglielmo
- this is a genuine mezzo
with a lovely rich tone,
recalling Janet Baker at
times, and I look forward
to hearing a great deal
more of her. Rebecca Evans
was singing Despina for
the first time in this house,
and she makes a feisty partner
for Alfonso, sometimes even
convincing me that this
role is not one of the three
most cringe-worthy in the
repertoire. The big disappointment,
and not for the first time
here, was Dorothea Röschmann,
whose Fiordiligi was very
like her Countess – acted
with great commitment, sometimes
beautifully phrased, but
vinegary in tone and often
simply not up to the notes.
The
production has stood the
test of time – the cynical,
worldly approach of Alfonso,
the constant reliance on
phones and mirrors, the
veneer of sophistication
thinly veiling the vulnerabilities
beneath, all speak to our
day as they did to 1995.
Colin Davis led a superb
performance from the ROH
Orchestra, with the woodwind
in particular reaching the
heights of the greatest
playing: Davis really knows
how to shape arias so that
singers have room to breathe,
and he manages the recitatives
so that they are an integral
part of the action. A great
evening in terms of the
orchestra, the Dorabella,
the two young men and of
course the production –
just three more shows, on
17th, 20th
and 22nd (matinee)
and if you haven’t seen
it you certainly should.
Melanie
Eskenazi
LORENZO
REGAZZO as GUGLIELMO &
THOMAS ALLEN as DON ALFONSO
& MATTHEW POLENZANI
as FERRANDO
ELINA
GARANCA as DORABELLA &
LORENZO REGAZZO as GUGLIELMO
Photos
Credit: Johan Persson
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