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Seen and Heard International, 01/06/2024
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by Colin Clarke
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Giordano: Andrea Chenier, London, Royal Opera House, ab 30. Mai 2024
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Pappano’s soloists, chorus and orchestra unite in a terrific performance of Andrea Chénier |
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Sir Antonio Pappano bids his farewell as Covent Garden’s music director with
his terrific performance of Umberto Giordano’s verismo classic Andrea
Chénier (though of course he will be back for Die Walküre next season.) The
orchestra, already a world-class ensemble, truly outdid themselves on this
particular evening. Detail was magnificent (which itself counterbalances any
tendency towards indulgence). Brass were imposing; woodwind sprightly;
string silken, even in the upper registers of the violins.
This is an
opera that deserves more outings than it actually gets. A concert
performance by Chelsea Opera Group in May 2022 was my last experience of
Giordano’s magnificent score. It benefits from a traditional staging, such
as this one from David McVicar (Mario Martone’s Scala production, captured
on DVD/Blu-ray from La Scala, satisfies for the same reason). McVicar’s
production of Giordano’s ‘Dramma di ambiente storico’ – was first seen (and
premiered in London) in 2015, again with Jonas Kaufmann in the title role.
My colleague Jim Pritchard reviewed the 2019 revival (for his review click
here). The production’s attention to detail (superb costumes from Jenny
Tiramani) and its perfectly placed set (Robert Jones), seen across the acts,
conspire to provide the perfect setting.
Giordano’s opera is set in
the French Revolution where the terrors under Maximilian Robespierre sent
shockwaves across Europe. Andrea Chénier is loosely based on fact. It does
share tropes with Puccini’s Tosca (imprisonment, a bullying Scarpia-like
Carlo Gérard and his confrontation with the leading lady, here Maddelena di
Coigny. Girodano’s score evokes both worlds of the Ancien régime and the
Revolution with incredible skill, something emphasised by Pappano’s handling
of the orchestra.
This might be verismo, but Giordano is capable of
subtlety and tenderness (arguably, more so than Puccini). It was the
variegated nature of the score, from huge choral scenes (the Royal Opera
Chorus, as so often in perfect, lusty form) to soul-breaking tenderness and,
indeed, heartbreak that was the impression left at the end.
Placing
the opera so squarely in its time enabled complete immersion in Giordano and
Luigi Illica’s drama. Spectacle is an important part here, and it needs
voices to mach. The clear star of the evening – in a cast of stars – was
Amartuvshin Enkhbat’s Carlo Gérard, who actually is the first voice we hear.
His voice is a kind of golden velvet, commanding but never strained, and he
has the stage presence to match. He replaces the originally intended Carlo
of Carlos Álvarez, but it is impossible to imagine a finer assumption. The
third act ‘Nemico della patria’ was the clear highlight of the evening
(greeted with an enormous and prolonged ovation, richly deserved), a
powerhouse of emotion completely supported by Pappano and his musicians.
Another stand-out was the Bersi of Katia Ledoux, all revolutionary fervour:
Ledoux previously impressed as Paola in Offenbach’s La princesse de
Trébizonde in a concert performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and this was
her Royal Opera debut and I very much hope to see and hear her again.
But what of the two leads? Jonas Kaufmann was Chénier, not completely in
full voice in the first act, perhaps saving himself for the vocal glories he
delivered later in the opera. In the second act there was almost a
juxtaposition of Kaufmann in full voice against a repeated ascent that each
time felt weak. He does inhabit the role dramatically, though, and for all
of Chénier’s interactions with his Maddalena, it was his scenes with the
character Roucher that stood out. That role was taken by Ashley Riches, not
a singer I associate with verismo but how powerful this was. The times
Riches has proved himself previously are too numerous to mention, but this
seemed to add another dimension to his activities. Both Riches and Kaufmann
were completely absorbed in the dialogues.
And the Maddalena, Sondra
Radvanovsky? This was, I believe, the finest I have heard her. Her third act
‘La mamma morta’ (supported by some superb string playing from the pit) was
intensely memorable, shot through with believable emotion (the resulting
ovation was, again, just). Radvanovsky and Kaufmann made for a powerful
couple in the final act, rapturously preparing to be together in death
(‘Vicino a te s’acqueta’); worth noting, perhaps, the orchestra was
absolutely aglow at this point.
I note that in his review of the 2019
performance, Jim Pritchard references Rosalind Plowright’s Maddalena in
1984. In 2019, as here, she sang the Countess di Coigny. She owned the
stage, a full confidence assumption, treasurable and impressive. Of the
remaining smaller roles, one has to mention Aled Hall’s immensely
characterful Abbé and Alexander Karavets’s strong Incroyable (Incredible).
William Dazeley impressed as Pietro Fléville, and who could ever forget
veteran Elena Zilo’s phenomenally gripping old lady Madelon? – a whole world
of experience compacted into a short, but golden, transfixing nugget of
time.
Even the programme booklet gets a thumbs up: a superb
elucidation of the action, historical notes explaining the various terms
(‘sans-culottes’, ‘Incroyables’, ‘Merveilleuses’, and so on) and, among
other articles, a riveting overview of The French Revolution by William
Doyle.
As an exit strategy after 22 years at the helm of The Royal
Opera, Pappano’s choice of opera cannot be faulted. This was at once the
orchestra and chorus paying tribute by giving their all, and Pappano’s own
tribute to a great score. Unforgettable.
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