Ooh, a bit of classic, popular, populist Verdi. Can't beat it!
I was so looking forward to going to this on Saturday. Indeed, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the whole day, actually, including a delightful meal in China Town, sitting outside in the Plaza sipping latte. And the very great quantity of good wine I drunk in the restaurant, the Royal Opera House and the Marquis of Anglesey.
It was a good thing I know this opera so well, otherwise I might have been quite perplexed by the story - which, actually, isn't particularly convoluted. The sets were gorgeous, andi was perfectly satisfied with the orchestral playing, under Maurizio Benini.
It was basically a revival of the classic 1994 version available on DVD (and often on the Performance Channel)
This is what I wrote on rmo
It has to be said that we took the words of the great Act 1 chorus rather too literally, before, during and after so my memory is rather hazy. And not just of the opera - I have no recollection of getting from my seat to the cloakroom at the end, but can only assume it was more elegantly than the way I descended from seat to the floor of the amphitheatre at the start of Interval 2...
In consequence any review I attempt to write will fail to reach even my usual devastatingly low level of insight. However, I do very vividly remember the entrance of Germont père, when I sat up alert and exclaimed (in my head, I think...) 'that's a voice to die for' the voice being that of Gerald Finley. Fortunately, I already have a ticket for him in Britten's War Requiem in at the RFH in May.
My partner was very taken with the soprano, Norah Amsellem, despite my insistence that she was no Angela Gheorghiu.
Charles Castronovo was Alfredo. I saw him in Cosi a few months ago. He has a pleasant, sweet voice, and I would be entirely content to hear him again, although I wouldn't rate him as the next big thing or whatever.
And someone else replied
I was very taken with her tonight, too! WOW! No Angela Gheorghiu? Maybe not but she doesn't need to be anybody but herself!
The Guardian broadly agrees with me, despite its scathing opening
The box office doesn't lie, but it's hard to fathom why La Traviata is still so popular. It has become the classic operatic weepy, despite there being more abundant good tunes and more moving drama elsewhere in Verdi's output.
It includes a picture.
The FT is fulsome
In all other set-pieces she had the theatre spellbound. "Dite alla giovine" and "Addio, del passato" were especially effective: Amsellem sang them in a beautifully controlled half-voice, stretching the tempo to its very limit...This is a superb revival. After 11 years Bob Crowley's spectacular settings still draw applause, but what counts is the care that has gone into casting and ensemble. Each of the smaller roles is made to tell, especially Gillian Knight's Annina. Charles Castronovo is the shyly appealing Alfredo, Gerald Finley an unusually sympathetic Germont. Renato Balsadonna's chorus just gets better and better. The linchpin is the conductor, Maurizio Benini. The orchestra sounds fired-up, Verdi's instrumentation is revealed in all its glory and the performance speaks with a common tongue. La traviata deserves no less.
The Times carries a mixed review, grudging in its praise.
Update The DVD referred to in the comments box below is
