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Brisbane Times, August 11, 2019 |
Reviewed by Peter McCallum |
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Giordano: Andrea Chenier, Sydney, 8. August 2019 |
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Andrea Chenier: Moments of artistry and sheer vocal beauty
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A tenor of peerless refinement, a soprano of soaring richness and a fierce-edged baritone of complex darkness. Vive la revolution! |
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Like Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities, Umberto Giordano’s vocally rich opera
Andrea Chenier uses the best and the worst of French Revolutionary times to
frame a troubled love triangle.
As the martyred poet Chenier, Jonas
Kaufmann transforms the traditionally stertorous "spinto" tenor sound into a
thing of wondrous handsomeness, modulating tone, vowel and colour with
immaculate poise and musical intelligence. Chenier’s arias are more familiar
as excerpts than the complete opera and Kaufmann imbued these fine-sounding
words with a tone of humane and lofty heroism.
Netherlands soprano
Eva-Maria Westbroek’s voice is one of multi-hued wholeness and her rich
density of tone, combined with a sense of vivid drama, made the act three
aria La mamma morta (also a popular excerpt) a central dramatic fulcrum.
These solo moments were deeply memorable for their artistry and sheer vocal
beauty but both still had colours in reserve for their valedictory prison
duet before joyfully skipping off united to the guillotine.
French
baritone Ludovic Tezier’s sound has complex grain and defined edge, and was
the ideal tonal embodiment of Gerard, the angry servant turned
revolutionary. In his act three aria Nemico della patria? he opened out the
character’s complexity with subtle darkness.
In the supporting roles,
Anna Dowsley created a beautifully phrased tragic cameo as the old woman
volunteering her last surviving grandchild to the cause. As the faithful
governess La Bersi, Sian Sharp’s voice was coloured and true and Christopher
Hillier sang the novelist Fleville with clear tone and walnut richness.
Dominica Matthews brought bright confidence before the fall to the
doomed aristocrat La Comtesse di Coigny, and Benjamin Rasheed created the
mean malevolence of the spy known as The Incredible with well-focused tone.
Moving from ballroom, to street, to revolutionary hall and prison, the
drama is painted on a crowded and turbulent canvas, with much of the
theatricality in the score itself. This staged concert performance was
discerningly paced and balanced under conductor Pinchas Steinberg.
With the full power and textural variety of the Opera Australia Orchestra on
open stage and the Opera Australia Chorus giving nuanced support and energy
behind, a fully staged production would have done little more than evoke the
sense of operatic decadence, which, come the revolution, will be the first
to go. It is a work that lives or dies on its golden voices and, on this
occasion, soared triumphantly.
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