The relationship between words and music is perhaps one of the most complex and oft-discussed questions in the world of art.
Puccini's famous opera, which takes place in frozen and poor Paris, returned to the Tel Aviv Opera House. But the good singers and the impressive representation of local participants did not help to dispel the feeling of unevenness of the tired playing
''Florian gave a stunning performance''
“Leonardo caimi as Radames has a handsome and soft male presence, he has a warm voice of a true Italian tenor, he’s singing was very touching and moving (emotionally) especially at the last duet with Aida in the grave.” Shay Bar Yaakov
From the set design to the costumes to the incandescent vocals, The Royal Opera House raises the bar yet again with this performance of Don Giovanni.
You couldn’t ask for a more cultured pair of voices than our master and servant pairing of Erwin Schrott and Gerald Finley: both have burnished, smooth bass-baritone voices and effortless Mozartian phrasing which meant that, in purely musical terms, listening to them was a delight. However, Schrott’s comic timing seemed off in recitative – the little delays while he tries to remember the name of the woman he’s talking to held for slightly too long, an occasional hesitancy rather than confident gusto. In terms of comedy, Finley’s Leporello is something of a work in progress: in his role debut, the alternation of cringing and deviousness didn’t come across as natural. But these are two great singers and the chemistry between them improved through the course of this performance. Let’s hope that it keeps doing so during the run.In contrast, Adela Zaharia’s Donna Anna and Frédéric Antoun’s Don Ottavio looked completely comfortable in their roles from the moment they arrived on stage. Zaharia was the pick of the singers, with ardent delivery, clear intelligibility and a voice that made you sit up and listen. Antoun’s tenor has a slightly covered timbre but he injected plenty of emotion and played a full part in moving the action along. Nicole Chevalier (like Zaharia, a frequent star at Komische Oper Berlin) sang Donna Elvira with masses of character and total confidence throughout her range. I could have hoped for sharper comedy and some more chemistry between characters. But this is an intelligent staging, vocal performances were excellent throughout and the orchestral playing that kept us completely engaged from start to finish. Even with a half-full Covent Garden, it was good to be back.
In the title role, baritone Jonathan Michie’s resounding voice emerged as a veritable comic actor.