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The Telegraph, 09 Oct 2013 |
By Rupert Christiansen |
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Verdi: Don Carlo, Salzburger Festspiele, 13. August 2013 |
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Giuseppe Verdi: a model of integrity |
Excerpt about Don Carlo, Salzburg: |
As the 200th anniversary of Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi is celebrated,
Rupert Christiansen pays tribute to a man whose moral values were rock-solid
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........ One lament of opera-lovers today is that there are so
few singers with the grandeur of voice, style and presence to do Verdi’s
music justice – a sad chorus in which I have myself often joined. But this
bicentenary year has brought some satisfaction on this front: I have been
profoundly moved at Covent Garden and the Salzburg Festival by performances
of Don Carlo, which in some respects I consider Verdi’s supreme masterpiece.
In neither case did the production come close to an adequate visual
realisation of the magnificent drama, but with Antonio Pappano in the pit,
Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros brought to their interpretations of the
leading roles rapturous arcs of phrasing and refulgence of tone that we have
not heard for a generation. Verdi’s music can weather mediocrity and still
provide audiences with enjoyment (in a way that Wagner can’t), but here he
was truly honoured as he would have wished.
Now I am keenly awaiting
two further productions of operas from his middle period which have been
neglected or misprised. Next week, Les Vêpres Siciliennes will receive its
first performance at Covent Garden, conducted by Pappano; and in December,
the golden couple of Kaufmann and Harteros will be reunited for La Forza del
destino in Munich. Viva Verdi!
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