DON CARLO, Royal Opera House, 18 September 2009

DON CARLO, Royal Opera House, Friday 18 September 2009

CAST (In order of appearance)


DON CARLO, Infante of Spain........................Jonas Kaufmann


TEBALDO, Elisabeth’s page......................   Pumeza Matshikiza


ELISABETH DE VALOIS..............................Marina Poplavskaya


COUNT OF LERMA.......................................Robert Anthony Gardiner*


COUNTESS OF AREMBERG......................Elizabeth Woods


CHARLES V/MONK........................................Robert Lloyd


RODGRGO, MARQUIS OF POSA................Simon Keenlyside


KING PHILIP II OF SPAIN..............................Ferruccio Furnlanetto


PRINCESS EBOLI.........................................Marianne Cornetti


PRIEST INQUISITOR......................................Téo Ghil


FLEMISH DEPUTIES................................... John Cunningham, Daniel Grice,


                                                                         Lukas Jakobski*, Dawid Kimberg*,


                                                                        Changan Lim*, David Stout


VOICE FROM HEAVEN..............................Eri Nakamura*


GRAND INQUISITOR...................................John Tomlinson


(Singers marked with * are participants in the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme)






CONDUCTOR.........................................   Semyon Bychkov


DIRECTOR.................................................Nicholas Hytner


Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House.








The first thing that struck me about this performance of DON CARLO was that Bychkov conducts at a slower tempo than Pappano did when this production was first performed last year. I was happy with this, as his pace adds gravitas to such crucial scenes as the confrontation between Philip and Posa, and of course to Philip’s monologue “Ella giammai m’amò”, while – just! – avoiding the risk of ponderousness in, for instance, the Fontainebleau scene.


Jonas Kaufmann takes over from Rolando Villazon as the doomed Infante. He seemed to be vocally hesitant at his entrance, but I concluded that this was part of the characterisation, and actually very far from being a flaw...he is a shy young man, whose hopes for happiness in life are brutally cut short just as he thinks they are starting to blossom. He never recovers from this, and Kaufmann’s sensitive lyric tones (and brooding good looks) are ideally suited to the portrayal of this wrecked life.

 His final scene with Elisabeth was especially moving, singing in seemingly hushed tones which were nevertheless audible in the farthest reaches of the auditorium.


Elisabeth de Valois was again sung by Marina Polavskaya, who gave a very convincing portrayal of Elisabeth’s development from an ardent young girl, full of hope, to a sad, disillusioned woman. She says that she is going to her new home “happily and full of hope”..(ne andrò giuliva, pieno il core di speme)...this is so poignant, when we know what is going to happen to all this youthful ardour. The production emphasises the change in her; in the Fontainebleau scene she first appears laughing with the hunters, and is relaxed and mobile in her encounter with Carlos, but once she is made Queen, the Spanish envoys wrap her in a black, embroidered coronation robe, and she never again has the (literal and metaphorical) freedom of movement that she had up till then.

 Her farewell to the Comtesse d’Aremberg (Non pianger, mia compagna) was very well sung, showing great depths of feeling, but she was perhaps at her best in the final duet with Carlo.


Simon Keenlyside was again the Posa, and this time he gave a more nuanced, intelligent performance than on the previous occasion – although he was good then too! But I felt that this time he gave more weight and commitment to the crucial confrontation with King Philip.

.and yes, the Death Scene was also very moving and convincing, but Posa’s role in the drama makes more sense if it’s clear that what is important to him is the campaign for freedom in Flanders – this is the legacy he leaves to Carlo. I have added a YouTube clip of Keenlyside in the Death Scene...it is not from this production,, and there is no further information, about the conductor or orchestra, for instance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVZ_DoYifRE





 Keenlyside’s lyric baritone is ideal for this role, and indeed contrasted very effectively with the sonorous bass of Ferruccio Furlanetto as King Philip – whose “Ella giammai m’amò” was deeply heart-felt, revealing the torment of this lonely old man. Yes, it’s his fault that he’s a lonely old man, but this doesn’t make his sorrow any less heart-breaking. And then he tries to put on a brave face for his confrontation with the Grand Inquisitor – masterfully sung by John Tomlinson. The Grand Inquisitor gets the better of the King in the end, and in this performance the tension between them was palpable, quite frightening!

I wasn’t too impressed with the Eboli, Marianne Cornetti – she sang competently, not very inspiringly, but made little or no effort to act in the way the others did, I found that I was just sitting there waiting for her to finish “O Don Fatale” so we could get on with the Prison Scene, which is much more interesting. I don’t think that Eboli is INTRINSICALLY less interesting than the other characters, but there was a rapport between Kaufmann and Poplavskaya, and between Kaufmann and Keenlyside,

that Marianne Cornetti didn’t share – just a lack of dramatic spark.


The role of Charles V/Monk was well sung by my beloved veteran Robert Lloyd, and the smaller roles were all competently sung.