Leontyne Price shows us how it is done (O Patria Mia)
And Ritorno vincitor from the same night, (her last night at The Met)
First of all, for those that do not know, Jacqueline Mabardi is no Latonia Moore (or Leontyne Price). This was no surprise to me. However, I was relieved at her not being anywhere near as bad as I was led to believe. Not as big a voice as Moore (obviously) she still sang the role credibly, with that mix of control and abandon that we need to hear. However, my criticism would be that her voice lacks the clean focus that Moore (and for that matter Leontyne Price) has. This is a voice which seems too much core, not enough focus. Which makes me worry about the long term use of it, as well as explains (when I think about it) why the floated high notes near the end were not soft and floating, but hit with too much power.
Against Mabardi, Rosario La Spina and Milijana Nikolic came across as much stronger than previously. At the start, I suspected La Spina was having troubles, as he seemed a bit hesitant in the recit before Celeste Aida, but the aria itself was fine. However, I do think as the evening went on, I could hear him off the peak of the previous performance. Possibly a cold? Or hay fever? Either way, he still sang with power and ease throughout his range. And yes, his voice is not the prettiest tenor, but the power and security of his line of sound, means that quite frankly, I don't care. We need singers who can do the job, and he does it well. Nikolic sang better than I remember, but again, possibly a comparison situation?
Having said that, I can say that Warwick Fyfe and David Parkin were definitely an improvement on Michael Honeyman and Paul Whelan. Both much bigger voices, though I still feel both seem too small in these roles. But, they were more secure and larger voices than before, and were both convincing in their roles.
Now, having said all that, I also have to say, we need some new good Verdi conductors in the pit. Our conductor Andrea Licata seemed unable to get the fire of Verdi in the belly of our orchestra, at times they seemed rather tepid. If you cannot bring the fire and passion to Aida, you do not deserve to be conducting it. Also, there were a couple of times where things started to get a little bit out of synch between the stage and pit. Not train wreck badly, but I spotted it, so it was noticeable.
As for the production, once again, while I love the many clever touches of this production, I again was wishing at times people would just stand still and sing! That the director was a dancer is very obvious. Yes, the dances were witty and fun, but we do not need a chorus to move around on the stage in the temple scene, its meant to be static.
Oh, and some of you know that we took an opera virgin to this production. He loved it, and was moved by it in a good way. In some ways I think that is the best compliment we can give. Someone who did not know the story before, got the story, and felt for the characters. Its not rocket science folks, it should just work!
Previous performance review here
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