Verdi - Otello
ONP Bastille, Paris, Friday April 29 2019
Conductor: Bertrand de Billy. Production: Andrei Serban. Sets: Peter Pabst. Costumes: Graciela Galán. Lighting: Joël Hourbeigt. Otello: Roberto Alagna. Iago: George Gagnidze. Cassio: Frédéric Antoun. Roderigo: Alessandro Liberatore. Lodovico: Paul Gay. Montano: Thomas Dear. Desdemona: Aleksandra Kurzak. Emilia: Marie Gautrot. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. Maîtrise des Hauts‑de‑Seine/ONP Children’s Chorus.
I’ve said it before and even so I’m going to say it again: there seems to be no logic (other than the director’s whim) to the Paris Opera’s decisions to keep or discard productions. Warlikowski’s outstanding Parsifal, seen only once, was replaced by something less outstanding on the grounds it was already ten years old. But already, 15 years ago, I left this dismally conventional Otello (“Bergerac,” muttered my neighbour the other night, meaning the standard was deeply provincial) at the interval. In other words, Paris keeps bad productions while throwing out good ones. What a waste it seems, when opera houses claim to be short of cash.
This year, out of loyalty in particular to Roberto Alagna, whom I admire for his pluck and generosity, I stayed on, and it’s a good thing I did. The first half was, among other things, nail-bitingly touch and go as far as the principals were concerned. Alagna was audibly still congested after the cold that dogged this run from the start and some of his attacks were croaky. His singing was effortful and risky: you feared the worst: a major crack, for example - that fortunately never came. But it wasn’t all plain sailing for Aleksandra Kurzak either. There were times when her emission seemed unstable and her intonation unsteady so again, you weren’t sure what to expect next. George Gagnidze wasn’t a very dark Iago but he was supremely professional, generally overshadowing Frédéric Antoun’s rather plain Cassio. The orchestra was fairly humdrum under de Billy and the chorus was less dynamic than usual, so it seemed to me.
But suddenly, in act four, we were in a state of grace. Aleksandra Kurzak sang and acted beautifully, floating some gorgeous pianissimi without overdoing it (no, I will not speak ill of the dead). And the last act naturally suited Alagna’s potential hoarseness better than 'Esultate!' So, though in 15 years Serban’s production, with its limp palm tree and corny flag-waving, hasn’t got any better, I was glad I came and glad I stayed.
In this video, Maestro Wenarto floats his pianissimi.
Conductor: Bertrand de Billy. Production: Andrei Serban. Sets: Peter Pabst. Costumes: Graciela Galán. Lighting: Joël Hourbeigt. Otello: Roberto Alagna. Iago: George Gagnidze. Cassio: Frédéric Antoun. Roderigo: Alessandro Liberatore. Lodovico: Paul Gay. Montano: Thomas Dear. Desdemona: Aleksandra Kurzak. Emilia: Marie Gautrot. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. Maîtrise des Hauts‑de‑Seine/ONP Children’s Chorus.
This year, out of loyalty in particular to Roberto Alagna, whom I admire for his pluck and generosity, I stayed on, and it’s a good thing I did. The first half was, among other things, nail-bitingly touch and go as far as the principals were concerned. Alagna was audibly still congested after the cold that dogged this run from the start and some of his attacks were croaky. His singing was effortful and risky: you feared the worst: a major crack, for example - that fortunately never came. But it wasn’t all plain sailing for Aleksandra Kurzak either. There were times when her emission seemed unstable and her intonation unsteady so again, you weren’t sure what to expect next. George Gagnidze wasn’t a very dark Iago but he was supremely professional, generally overshadowing Frédéric Antoun’s rather plain Cassio. The orchestra was fairly humdrum under de Billy and the chorus was less dynamic than usual, so it seemed to me.
But suddenly, in act four, we were in a state of grace. Aleksandra Kurzak sang and acted beautifully, floating some gorgeous pianissimi without overdoing it (no, I will not speak ill of the dead). And the last act naturally suited Alagna’s potential hoarseness better than 'Esultate!' So, though in 15 years Serban’s production, with its limp palm tree and corny flag-waving, hasn’t got any better, I was glad I came and glad I stayed.
In this video, Maestro Wenarto floats his pianissimi.
Comments
Post a Comment