LA FORZA DEL DESTINO, Royal Opera House, 2 April 2019

Giuseppe Verdi LA FORZA DEL DESTINO,
 Royal Opera House, 2 April 2019 (Cinema Relay)


CAST

Marchese di Calatrava..........................................ROBERT LLOYD

Leonora di Vargas................................................ANNA NETREBKO

Curra, a maid.......................................................ROBERTA ALEXANDER

Don Alvaro..........................................................JONAS KAUFMANN

Don Carlo di Vargas............................................LUDOVIC TEZIER

Alcalde................................................................MICHAEL MOFIDIAN

Maestro Trabucco...............................................CARLO BOSI

Preziosilla............................................................VERONICA SIMEONI

Padre Guardiano................................................FERRUCCIO FURLANETTO

Fra Melitone......................................................ALESSANDRO CORBELLI

Surgeon...............................................................JONATHAN FISHER


Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Conductor.......................................................   ANTONIO PAPPANO

Producer............................................................CHRISTOF LOY



A great triumph for the Royal Opera House in every respect. This opera has not in the past been one of my favourites, although I have always loved the music. This production, however,  managed to turn this rather daft Victorian melodrama into a thing of beauty. I wonder if there will ever again be such a fortunate conjunction of cast, conductor  (Antonio Pappano) and orchestra?  I will never forget this as long as I live.

It may be the best performance that Anna Netrebko has given.

It can't be an easy role to play.....poor Leonora never has one moment of happiness....well, perhaps a fleeting few seconds before their flight is thwarted by her father and the inevitable tragedy ensues. I loved the soaring high notes in 'Pace, pace, mio Dio' and the passion and commitment  she brought to this tragic character. Whatever she tries to do, however sincerely penitent she is, she can't find peace, so tormented by the memories the death of her father and the loss of Alvaro.

However, this wasn't  a case of the the star soprano dominating the scene, the connections between the characters were truly reciprocal.....the relationship between Carlo and Alvaro has a lot of sub-text, I think, depicted with great intensity by Jonas Kaufmann and .Ludovic Tezier.

The performance of 'Solenne in quest'ora' broke my heart........almost a thwarted bromance!!  There is no better pairing than Kaufmann and Tezier, and in this performance they took the scene to heights of sublimity.

And their later confrontation is even more intense and tragic because of what came before.......Alvaro's fate is tied up with the whole Calatrava family, not just Leonora...it's almost as if Alvaro is thinking.....I have to kill you, but that's not really what I want to do.....
..

In this production, the crowd scenes scene with Preziosilla seemed a bit extraneous.....very well performed, but something of an irrelevance.....I assume that was Christof Loy's point. Veronica Simeoni was a very attractive and smooth-voiced Preziosilla. In the crowd/circus scene, I especially liked the Street Vendor, who reminded me of Cut-My-Own-Throat Dibbler, a character created by Terry Pratchett.

It was certainly cast from strength..... I was particularly happy to see beloved veteran Robert Lloyd as the Marchese di Calatrava, and Feruccio Furlanetto as Padre Guardiano. 

I liked the staging, although it has attracted some unfavourable comments. It is one set, based on a room in the mansion of the Calatrava family, which accommodates all the other scenes as well. I thought this was quite effective, especially in the final scene....I realise they are supposed to be in the monastery where Leonora has taken refuge, but the fact that it resembles the claustrophobic home in which Leonora was trapped at the beginning means that the wheel has come full circle..Alvaro and Leonora are re-united when it is too late.

.....During the overture, there was a staging of a 'back story', the childhood of Leonora and Carlo.....with another brother, who dies. It shows that Leonora never really had a chance.....claustrophobic childhood to doomed adulthood.

(In the play on which LA FORZA DEL DESTINO is based.....LA FUERZA DEL SINO.....there are in fact two brothers. Alvaro kills Carlo in their duel, then the other brother....Don Alfonso...tracks him down and forces him to fight a duel.....Alvaro kills Alfonso too).

This was one of the best performances of anything I have ever seen at the Royal Opera House. 

DON CARLO, Royal Opera House, 26 May 2017

Giuseppe Verdi, DON CARLO, Friday 26 May 2017

Cast

DON CARLOS                                                        Bryan Hymel
Infante of Spain

TEBALDO, Elizabeth's Page                                 Angela Simkin

ELISABETH DE VALOIS                                        Kristin Lewis

COUNT OF LERMA                                               David Junghoon Kim

COUNTESS OF AREMBERG                                Rosalind Walters
(Silent role)

RODRIGO, MARQUIS OF POSA                         Christoph Pohl

PHILIP II, KING OF SPAIN                                    Ildar Abradazakov

PRINCESS EBOLI                                                 Ekaterina Semenchuk

PRIEST INQUISITOR                                           Josh Davies

FLEMISH DEPUTIES                                           Wyn Pencarreg,
                                                                              Gyula Nagy,
                                                                              Yuriy Yurchuk, 
                                                                              James Cleverton,
                                                                               Simon Shibambu, 
                                                                               David Shipley

VOICE FROM HEAVEN                                       Francesa Chiejina

GRAND INQUISITOR                                          Paata Burchuladze

Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

CONDUCTOR                                                        Bertrand de Billy



DIRECTOR                                                            Nicholas Hytner


This is a revival of Nicholas Hytner's pared-down, but not minimalist, production, which is effective in conveying the gloomy,brooding atmosphere of Philip II's court - the predominant colours are black, red and grey. There is very little to lighten the darkness, either physical or psychological. Here is an image from the Fontainebleau scene./

Carlos and Elisabeth were sung by Bryan Hymel and Kristin Lewis, both new to these roles.  The young soprano Kristin Lewis brought a freshness and clarity to the role, she was especially touching in the Fontainebleau scene.....this is always heartrending, because you KNOW what is going to happen.......and you watch Elisabeth change from a hopeful young girl to a sad, disillusioned woman. Kristin Lewis is able to encompass all the varied demands of Elisabeth's role and obviously has a deep understanding of the text. She is well-matched by Bryan Hymel - the role of Carlo also makes varied demands on the voice of the tenor, as he is plunged from hope to despair. Here they are together in their brief moment of happiness (which has no equivalent in Schiller's play, but is nonetheless very moving). He was very convincing in his portrayal of Carlo's vulnerability.

All in all a splendid cast. Christoph Pohl as Posa was perhaps rather subdued in the first scene with Carlo, though his singing is never less than mellifluous. The scene with King Philip - Ildar Abdrazakov - was thrilling in its intensity, especially when Posa criticises Philip's 'peaceful' Spain as 'the peace of the grave'. 'Orrenda, orrenda pace! La pace e dei sepolcri!' (Literally from Schiller's 'Die Ruhe eines Kirchhofs!') Philip advances on Posa while the orchestra GROWLS, and I started thinking,...'He's going to hit him, isn't he......' But the moment passes.

Not all the scenes caught fire like this, but everything was very competently done, and the smaller roles - Tebaldo, the Count of Lerma, the Flemish Deputies - acquitted themselves admirably. Ildar Abdrazakov rose to heights of pathos and despair in 'Ella Giammai m'amo', and the scene with the Grand Inquisitor - Paata Burchuladze - was spine-chilling, especially when the Inquisitor enunciated 'Tutto tacer dovra per esultar la fe'......this is all on one note, and Verdi manages to extract the maximum terrifying power from it.

To sum up - a very competent performance, which at times rose to heights of dramatic tension. I loved the precision and the well-judged tempi of the orchestra under Bertrand de Billy.

Verdi Bicentenary

Found this in a charity shop! No history or provenance, but I suspect it might be worth rather more than the six quid I paid for it!!

La Traviata at ENO

Verdi: La Traviata  

English National Opera at London Coliseum, 2 February 2013

Cast

Violetta Valery, a courtesan............................... .Corinne Winters
Alfredo Germont......................................................Ben Johnson
Giorgio Germont.....................................................Anthony Michaels-Moore
Flora Bervoix...........................................................Clare Presland
Gaston.......................................................................Paul Hopwood
Baron Douphol........................................................Matthew Hargreaves
Marquis D'Obigny....................................................Charles Johnston
Doctor Grenvil..........................................................Martin Lamb
Annina........................................................................Valerie Reid
Violetta's servant.....................................................David Newman
Messenger.................................................................Paul Sheehan
Girl...............................................................................Kezhe Julian Temir
                                                                                      Kitty Fry
                                                                                       7,12,21,26 Feb and 3 March)

Chorus and Orchestra of English National Opera

Conductor......................................................................Michael Hofstetter
                                                                                      Martin Fitzpatrick
                                                                                      21, 23 Feb



Directed by PETER KONWITSCHNY



Some wonderful, absolutely stunning singing, especially from the Violetta, Corinne Winters. There was some very sensitive playing from the orchestra under Michael Hofstetter, especially in the delicate strings of the Prelude. I quite liked the staging - it was stripped to the basis, with only a chair and a pile of books on the stage, and a pack of cards in Scene 3 _sic! The opera was reduced to four scenes, and played without an interval. Much use was made of the curtains. 

The major omission was the Gypsy Chorus for the women and the Song about the bullfight for the men at the beginning of Flora's party - and in the last act the Carnival song that we usually hear in the distance outside Violetta's window as she lies dying in the last act.
The chorus was not neglected entirely, however, and they made a very impressive entrance in what is now Scene One rather than Act One.

The way it is staged makes it obvious that they are not really Violetta's friends - one of them even mocks her illness before she comes on and joins them, and then they push her and Alfredo together - Alfredo is portrayed as a bookish boy in glasses, who doesn't look at home in this  environment - he even sings the Brindisi from a book! You can see what attracts him to Violetta, but not quite why she would feel the same attraction to him.

Ben Johnson didn't quite measure up to Corinne Winters' soaring heights, but he is a tenor the ENO can be proud of. She was splendid in 'sempre libera', giving an impression of desperation beneath the glittering determination to enjoy life while she can - she knows she hasn't got long. (She managed the high note, and held it!) 
There is no change of scene between the first and second scenes. (Previously Acts One and Two). I thought maybe the idea was that this is all taking place in Violetta's memory as she dies - a series of flashbacks, perhaps. So they are not in her luxurious country house, for which she is paying, unknown to Alfredo, but still in the almost bare space, with one (1) chair, the pile of books, and the voluminous curtains.

And this is where the concept starts to break down, unfortunately. I was taken with the overall idea - stripping it to its essentials, with minimal staging, but..... first of all, it then makes a nonsense of the fact that the father wonders where all the money is coming from to pay for 'all this splendour'!! Much more serious is the fact that the director has decided that, in order to crank up the emotional blackmail, the father brings Alfredo's sister with him to visit Violetta. Furthermore, she's not a young woman about to enter into matrimony, she is a child in pigtails and glasses. AND the father hits her and knocks her over when she approaches Violetta....

..I have seen productions where he boxes Alfredo's ears, but that is more understandable!! The POINT of the scene is that he would never allow his daughter to be tainted by associating with women like Violetta.
Sadly also, Anthony Michaels-Moore is no longer up to the demands of the role - his voice sounded very raspy, and he kept missing the notes.

 (This is Anthony Michaels-Moore as Giorgio Germont - you see what I mean about the curtains!)

Nevertheless, the scene between Alfredo and Violetta, when she takes her leave of him, was very moving, her 'Amami, Alfredo' bringing tears to the eyes (as usual!) The scene between Alfredo and his father was rather perfunctory, and we moved swiftly on to the next scene - Flora's party. Instead of throwing the money at Violetta, Alfredo pulls one of the curtains down, and then all the curtains get pulled down, and EVERYONE falls to the ground while the stage goes completely dark. The chorus express solidarity with Violetta, but one wonders how sincerely they mean it, considering their behaviour in the first scene......
Finally, she is left alone on the stage - Anina and the doctor come and go. There's one change of text that I found interesting, as it links back to the first scene and the portrayal of Alfredo as a bookish young man, ill at ease in this sophisticated company. The doctor asks her how she is feeling - in the original libretto she replies that she is in pain, but her soul is at peace, as she had been visited by a priest, and religion is such a comfort.Here she says instead - she is in pain, but she found solace in

 reading - 'art is such a comfort when you are suffering'.

Alfredo returns, and they are re-united, too late..... 

but in the end she is left alone on the stage, while the others are somewhere in the 

auditorium. She does not fall dead, but disappears into the blackness at the back of

the stage - this is what made me think that Konwitschny envisaged it as a series of  

flashbacks in the mind of the dying Violetta.

All in all - a wonderful evening musically - visually and dramatically less so,

 but still worth seeing.

RIGOLETTO, English National Opera, 17 October 2009

English National Opera, 17 October 2009

Giuseppe Verdi, RIGOLETTO. 

Cast  in order of appearance

The 'Duke'                                                       Michael Fabiano

Borsa                                                               Peter van Hulle

Ceprano's wife                                              Fiona Canfield

Rigoletto                                                         Anthony Michaels-Moore

Marullo                                                            Daniel Hoadley

Ceprano                                                          James Gower

Monterone                                                      Freddie Tong

Sparafucile

a professional hit-man                                   Brindley Sherratt

Gilda

Rigoletto's daughter                                      Katherine Whyte

Giovanna                                                        Judith Douglas

A Secretary                                                    Karen Foster

A Henchman                                                   Andrew Tinkler

Maddalena                                                     Madeleine Shaw

Chorus and orchestra of English National Opera.

Conductor                                                     Stephen Lord

Director                                                         Jonathan Miller

Almost incredible to think that this production by Jonathan Miller was first seen in the early 1980s - almost long enough ago to make it a 'traditional' production! It still works as convincingly as when I first saw it - in fact I would go so far as to say that it is MORE convincing than some genuinely 'traditional' productions I have seen....the Mafia-dominated 1950s New York is just as corrupt as the court of the Duke of Mantua (Francois I of France in Hugo's Le Roi s'amuse - Verdi had trouble with the censors again), and it is still about a powerful 'boss' who can - and does - have any woman he chooses and discard her once he gets bored with her, who has henchmen who don't hesitate to dispose of anyone who crosses his will.

Watching this production, I was struck again by the attention to detail displayed by the chorus and the singers of the minor roles, who all actually looked very smart in 1950s costumes. (The photo here is of an performance some years ago, with a different cast, but I have included it to give an idea of how it looks).

The conductor, Stephen Lord, making his ENO debut, is currently Music Director of the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.  If he is intending to work in the UK on a regular basis, he has made a good start, conjuring the right tones of menace from the orchestra in the prelude, and also whipping up extremes of excitement where necessary, and also seems to have a good rapport with the singers.

The role of the 'Duke' was this time taken by Michael Fabiano, also making his ENO debut. Here he is with Anthony Michaels-Moore, the Rigoletto, and with the henchmen in Act II.

 He looks the part, as well as having a pleasant tenor voice with little diffiuculty in reaching the high notes. I always like the way "La donna e mobile" is staged in this production: inside Sparafucile's sleazy downtown bar, the 'Duke' puts it on the juke box, and when the orchestra pauses for a few bars, he kicks the juke-box to get it started again...

Anthony Michaels-Moore has returned to the ENO after too long an absence, and this is one of the best roles I have seen him perform. It's true that he doesn't look particularly 'deformed', or disabled, he just limps a bit and perhaps one shoulder is higher than the other, but I found this sufficiently dramatically convincing. Do you need to be a hunchback when you can sing and act with such passion? This is the scene in which he mocks Monterone,(a small role, but pivotal to the plot, competenly sung by Freddie Tong) little dreaming that his mocking will back-fire on him.

He looks threatening enough in this scene with the henchmen, demanding that Gilda be returned to him. "Cortigiano, vil razza dannata....." Excellently and convincingly translated as "Filthy bastards, you liars, you rabble...."

During this aria, of course, Rigoletto runs the gamut of emotions from anger to despair, by the end he is no longer threatening but pleading.....and Anthony Michaels-Moore really got under the skin of the part, desperately begging for them to just give him back his daughter, please. The Mafia henchmen, of course, show no sympathy.
Gilda was sung by Katherine Whyte - also making her ENO debut. Her voice is sharp and bright, perhaps a little hint of shrillness at the end of "Caro nome", but it didn't really matter....she did convincingly convey the character of an innocent young girl, so sheltered that she is bound to fall in love with the first handsome young man who crosses her path - this is the problem, of course, Rigoletto wants to protect her from the corrupt world of which he is a part, but he protects her too much......

Here she is pleading with Rigoletto to spare the man who has betrayed her.

I was unfortunately unable to find a graphic of Brindley Sherrat as Sparafucile.....he looked such a menacing hoodlum! Sherrat's dark deep bass was exactly right for the part. The role of Maddalena was sung bhy Madeleine Shaw, who infused the role with the ideal amount of sultriness, as a complete contrast to Gilda.

A very satisfying evening of musical theatre.

LA TRAVIATA, Royal Opera House, 3 July 2009

(This performance took place in July, but I have only now been able to transfer this review from the old blog).

LA TRAVIATA, Royal Opera House, 3 July 2009

Cast

Violetta...............................................Renee Fleming
Flora...................................................Monika-Evelin Liiv
Marquis d'Obigny.............................Kostas Smorignas
Baron Douphol................................ .Eddie Wade
Doctor Grenvil...................................Richard Wiegold
Gastone.............................................Haoyin Xue
Alfredo...............................................Jospeh Calleja
Anina..................................................Sarah Pring
Giuseppe..........................................Neil Gillespie
Giorgio Germont..............................Thomas Hampson
Messenger.......................................''Charbel Mattar
Servant...............................................Jonathan Coad



Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, conducted by Antonio Pappano

Such a wonderful performance, with a dream cast and conductor! Right from the first note of the prelude, Pappano conjured incredibly wistful sounds from the orchestra, and the entire performance was of this high standard.


Renee Fleming was the best Violetta I have seen in years, looking beautiful though fragile, as Violetta should. She gave a very nuanced performance in Act I, pensive in fors'e lui and frenetic in Sempre libera, with a sub-text almost of hysteria, as she acknowledges that she knows she is dying, and is determined to enjoy what life remains to her. I was delighted that she and Pappano didn't leave a space for the audience to applaud between the two halves of the aria!! (They did at the rehearsal...my view is that it spoils the continuity by interrupting Violetta's train of thought).


Calleja as Alfredo was perhaps less subtle and sensitive in Act I, but then he is playing a rather unsubtle and insensitive young man, so this was in character! Certainly he sang the high notes of his Act II arias with ringing confidence.

Thomas Hampson brought his usual mellifluousness of tone and elegance of person to a character with whom the audience usually has difficulty in sympathising.

One has to realise that Alfredo's father is, by his lights, doing his best for his family, by trying to ensure that his daughter- and, in the fullness of time, his son - can make an avantageous marriage, and the tragedy is that Violetta realises that, in that social milieu, he is right and she can't win...Fleming conveys this so movingly, and Hampson gives the father a feeling of humanity underneath the self-righteousness. I have included a YouTube clip of this scene.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIGWNBgMzt8

I've never heard anyone sing "Amami, Alfredo" with such passion and desperation, and the orchestra reflected Violetta's feelings with equal intensity....I had already started to cry during the scene between Violetta and the father, but this literally had me sobbing. (I didn't bother to try to control it, as nearly everyone else in the audience, at least near me, was crying too!)



I'll just make a few comments about the production. It's a 'conventional' production, i.e. set in the nineteenth century, but I don't have a problem with that!! In the first act, Violetta is wearing a white dress, which one might have thought was unsuitable for a woman in her profession, but (a) it's a beautiful dress and Fleming looks gorgeous in it (b) in fact the statement she is making is..."I can afford this". When she comes to Flora's party in Act II, she is wearing a equally expensive and bejewelled black dress.

After the shocking scene in which Alfredo throws the money at her, the father gives her his hand and escorts her from the room - this wasn't done in the production before, could it have been Thomas Hampson's idea? It's this sort of detail that makes or breaks a production. The point is that just after Alfredo has thrown the money and she collapses, the father offers to help her and she turns away, but then later she accepts his help....



The Prelude to Act III was unbearably poignant - of course, as I intimated, I had already started crying long before. "Addio del passato", of which she gets both verses, was heartbreaking, I am sure that she and the orchestra deserved the applause but for me, I just sat in stunned silence!

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.