Jurowski keeps his nerve amidst uneven Fidelio

Beethoven : Fidelio (Semi-staged, with an English narration)
 
Anja Kampe, Leonore
Ben Johnson, Jaquino
Kristinn Sigmundsson, Rocco
Pavlo Hunka, Don Pizarro
Robert Dean Smith, Florestan
Ronan Collett, Don Fernando
Sofia Fomina, Woglinde

Simon Williams, narrator
Helen Ryan, narrator
Daniel Slater, director 

Vladimir Jurowski, conductor
London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Voices

21 January 2017, Royal Festival Hall, London
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As ever with this opera, Beethoven's massive musical strength and belief in his message trumped all limitations.  The final choral frenzy fairly blazed with joy and hope as the London Voices lined up at the front with the soloists.

There was more than a little relief that we'd made it.  At the end of Act 1, the audience had witnessed an opera presented as a rehearsal with faux-relaxed soloists sprawled behind the orchestra and the director on stage giving instructions.  The orchestra was in civvies with Jurowski sitting on the floor as the auditorium filled up. The message seemed to be, these people are just like us. And indeed, the 1st Act is primarily domestic melodrama, with an underlying dramatic tension provided be Leonore's presence in disguise as a boy, searching for her husband. 

Vladimir Jurowski

More disturbingly, two narrators hovered, offering reflective commentary on the action and the character's psychological states.  It might have worked. After all Bach used a similar effect in the St Matthew Passion, and Fidelio has more than a passing resemblance to an oratorio.  Others have gone down this track before, notably I saw a spectacular Fidelio at the Proms with an Edward Said penned commentary.


But not with the half-baked philosophy of the text this time around, and the night's increasingly shambolic delivery by the narrators.  Was that the silliest thing I just heard on the Festival Hall stage, or did the actor just mess up her line? Pizzaro didn't get enough love as a child.  He was a forerunner of Stalin and Eichmann.  Even a random quote from Tertullian. 

Thankfully the splendid musical virtues of the evening could not be obscured, particularly in Act 2 when all on stage returned with more formal dress and presentation in keeping with the opera's turn to the serious.  Jurowski directed a taut and edgy Act 2 overture and turned up the heat even more for the finale.  Kristinn Sigmundsson's towering presence as Rocco was, more than usual, the fulcrum of the drama and Robert Dean Smith, stepping in at late notice, a subtle Florestan even if a bit tight of voice.

And there was Anja Kampe, the most committed of soloists.  Her every London appearance is a pleasure and her Leonore was unmissable, even if she occasionally strained at the top of her register.  She was every inch the hero of the opera.

Anja Kampe

This was the first concert in a Southbank series "Belief and Beyond Belief".  Jurowski wanted to start with a humanist masterpiece rather than an explicitly religious one.  He and director marked out Hope as the focus of the piece. Who could disagree, and we all need a bit of that in today's world. 

Placido Domingo sings Nabucco

Verdi: Nabucco

Liudmyla Monastyrska, Abigaille
Jamie Barton, Fenena
Russell Thomas, Ismaele
Placido Domingo, Nabucco
Dmitry Belosselskiy, Zaccaria

James Levine, conductor
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

7 January 2017,  The Metropolitan Opera New York, live cinema broadcast
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Placido Domingo as Nabucco

Placido Domingo has for some years now been taking on baritone roles after his tenor voice weakened.  Now in his 70s, the voice carries less burnished metal and heft, but Domingo's greatness has always rested on a charismatic and acting talent equal to his technical musical gifts.

He can most certainly still act and carry a stage, is quite wonderfully musical, and the voice too communicates with ease. 


Around him were more powerful, youthful voices, not least the impressive Liudmyla Monastyrska.   Though of quality they seemed a little cumbersome in comparison.  Or was that the Met Live close miking again, making almost everyone sound like a belter.

In the pit was James Levine, it would appear now wheelchair bound.  The commentary at interval stated Domingo and Levine had done over 1000 performances at the Met together.  As Levine had introduced Nabucco back into the Met's reportoire, it was a fitting choice.  The production was Met-lavish as we have come to expect, and critically the chorus was splendid throughout.  Their rendition of the famous slaves chorus more than justified its immediate repeat.