Il Trovatore from The Met

Il Trovatore. DVD. Metropolitan Opera 2011. Cast: Marcelo Àlvarez (Manrico), Sondra Radvanovsky (Leonora), Dolora Zajick (Azucena), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Count Luna). Director: David McVicar. Conductor: Marco Armiliato.

It is by no means a bad Il Trovatore, which opened 2009 at the Metropolitan Opera. A well-known production first seen in Chicago 2006, the conservatively-inclined Metropolitan Opera was not taking too big a risk giving director David McVicar his house debut. Not that David McVicar´s style is too far from what would be deemed acceptable by Met audiences: His trademark is the character development and personal direction of the singers, often done with some updating of the setting, but rarely into present times.

Accordingly, this Trovatore is updated from the 15th Century to the Spanish Liberation War in the beginning of the 19th Century, inspired by a set of etchings "The disaster of War " by the Spanich painter Goya. A dark, rotating set, effectively conveying a dark period. Not at all experimenting or innovative in terms of sets, however David McVicar´s trademark, the personal direction of the singers, is seen to full in this production with the most developed characters I have ever seen in any production of Il trovatore.

Being given four lead-singers, none of which are known to be especially fine stage actors, makes McVicars achievements even more remarkable: 50% of them are outstanding, 25% are fine and 25% less so.

Best are Dolora Zajick and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. This is simply the finest thing I have seen Zajick do on stage: Vocally the rather low-lying part is perfect for her and she has the necessary heft. But what makes her Azucena truly outstanding is her portrayal of her as a shell-shocked woman, who has become insane, probably as a result of post-traumatic stress. Far from a villain, she, too is a victim. And Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who previously has shown that he can in fact act if sufficiently inspired, is a dashing as well as dramatically convincing Luna. Vocally, he may occasionally sound a bit strained, but my guess is that few will care.
Leonora has been the calling card of Sondra Radvanovsky for almost a decade, and she will probably divide the viewers of this DVD as she does in the theater. Her Leonora is rather like a neurotic school-girl than a noble lady, however this is as valid an interpretation as any. My reservations lie with her shaky intonation (admittedly seen worse than on this DVD) and a voice that occasionally seems to be rather out of her control, though definitely large enough for the part.
Points to Marcelo Alvarez for obviously trying to act on stage and not only stand and deliver his area. But no doubt he is hired solely based on his vocal capabilities, which, admittedly he has. Radvanovsky and Alvarez in the superbly directed final scene do fine. With the more dramatically inclined singers we will hopefully see in this production the coming years, this scene will be electrifying.

Marco Armiliato is a follower, rather than a leader here, not succeeding in bringing out the nuances in the score, unfortunately.

The DVD to own? Perhaps, but Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros will be appearing in the same work in Munich next year, which will probably be released on DVD as well.

Final scene:

The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3= average):


Marcelo Àlvarez: 3
Sondra Radvanovsky: 3-4
Dmitri Hvorostovsky: 5
Dolora Zajick: 5


Marco Armiliato: 2
David McVicars production: 4


Overall impression: 4

Paris Forza del Destino

La forza del destino. Paris Bastille Opera, November 28 2011. Production: Jean-Claude Auvray. Conductor: Philippe Jordan. Cast: Violeta Urmana (L), Marcelo Alvarez (Alvaro), Vladimir Stoyanov (Don C), Nadia Krasteva (Preziosilla), Kwangchoul Yun (Padre Guardiano), Nicola Alaimo (Fra Melitone)

In summary, the Bastille Opera has presented  us with and entirely unconvincing staging of Verdis La force du destin, both dramatically and vocally a major disappointment.

To begin with the staging, Auvray transposes the plot to the 19th Century and to a stage with occasional backdrops of paintings being the only decorations in the very dark and naked sets. Not an unreasonable approach, as such, however, with austere sets like, much relies on the singers ability to convince dramatically.

Vocally, Violeta Urmana, a former mezzo-soprano, is simply too heavy, with a strained top without bloom and spirit. Marcelo Alvarez, whose acting skills are never above the mediocre, here falls considerably below mediocre, with stand-and-deliver acting, and dispirited vocal delivery (though he does hit the notes relatively unstrained). While it may have worked (to a certain extent) for Pavarotti, vraiment, ca ne suffit franchement pas monsieur Alvarez.
Vladimir Stoyanov was simply monotonous and uninteresting, Nadia Krasteva was rough-voiced and unsophisticated. The only cast member infusing a bit of life into this production was Nicola Alaimo as Fra Melitone.
The biggest applause, deservedly went to conductor Philippe Jordan, though to lift this dead-weight production would be beyond the means of any conductor.

The production clearly benefited from being transferred to television, but in the auditorium it was dismal evening, that never seemed to end.

L´Opera de Bastille peut et doit mieux faire. Bonne nuit a tous.

The final scene:

The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average):

Violeta Urmana: 2
Marcelo Alvarez: 3
Vladimir Stoyanov: 2

Production (Auvray): 2
Philippe Jordan: 4

Overall impression: 2