Translated material
Let's sing the song of ascension
The Moscow Philharmonic opened the season with Bellini's opera
In recent years, the Moscow Philharmonic has made a powerful leap towards capitalism, prestige and artistic persuasiveness. An integral part of her repertoire has become concert performances of operas and the development of the cantata-oratorio genre with the involvement of top-class foreign soloists. It is no coincidence that it was precisely this kind of event that became the celebration of the opening of the 2008/09 season.Moscow remembered the opera “Capulets and the Montagues” by the gentle and gloomy Vincenzo Bellini from the La Scala tour in 1989 - then the legendary lovers lived in the mystically tense, ghostly Verona of Pier Luigi Pizzi, and their voices fused enthusiastically under the confident hand of Riccardo Muti. It was a famous performance that traveled to many stages around the world, and its decoration in Moscow was the sweet-sounding beauty Lella Kuberli - the fragile and captivating Juliet.
In Bellini's opera, both lovers are sung by women, whose voices exist in a gloomy atmosphere of male confrontation: besides them, there are three other men in the opera - Capulet, Father Lorenzo and Tybalt, and the chorus for the most part is represented only by a male group. This makes the union of Juliet and Romeo appear not only as a love symbol of the highest standard, but also as that “ray of light in the dark kingdom” that Russian literature has always been so concerned about. In opera there is a special magic of “meta-plot”, in which, I will not do without a quote from the Russian classics, “everywhere the great is seen in the small.” From this magic, which only Bellini knows among Belcantists, the stable formulas of Italian early romantic opera turn into bizarre combinations of mysterious signs. From their perception, unbeknownst to yourself, you fall into a trance.
If we now move on to the fresh Moscow performance, then we must forget about trance, about mysterious signs, about magic and everything else. We must forget that this opera can be turned into a multi-valued mystery. We must take everything directly, like “the story of Romeo and Juliet,” turning a blind eye to the fact that it is “the saddest thing in the world.” Italian opera with beautiful music, the performance of which requires impeccable knowledge of special laws. This is what they presented to us at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall.
Do you think I'm indignant? Nothing happened. Given the glaring poverty of the repertoire of the five Moscow opera houses and the complete absence of Bel Canto operas on their stages (the exceptions are “Norma” at the New Opera and “Elisir of Love” on two stages), the Philharmonic’s action is more than timely and professional. Because all participants showed their unconditional right to participate in such an ambitious project.
Conductor Luciano Acocella may not have the fiery Italian temperament due to his nationality, but he “combed” the “New Russia” orchestra into a completely tolerable form and caught singers deviating from a clear path with extreme efficiency. The “Masters of Choral Singing” choir under the direction of Lev Kontorovich demonstrated the ability to create a clear sound image.
Pauls Putnins from Latvia, although he did not charm us with the timbre of his formidable voice, made us feel the deep virtue of his Lorenzo, the faithful assistant of lovers. The Italian Mirko Palazzi showed all the advantages of soft and natural Italian sound production, and we could only regret that the score prescribed him mainly to participate in ensembles. The short monologue that fell to him finally convinced us that we want to listen to him further in other - and more winning - games.
Patricia Ciofi (known in Moscow for her concert performance of La Traviata) sang Juliet at the end of last season at the Paris Opera in line with Anna Netrebko. This singer has the rare ability to give her all in the struggle for passion and expressiveness. Not a single note is left unattended, not a single syllable in a single word. But I confess that in the baroque repertoire Chiofi convinces me much more strongly. For bel canto she lacks a prima donna timbre, her voice does not have the gesture of a real heroine. And the image quietly descends to earthly planes, where the place of high lyricism is taken by a barely noticeable constriction.
The Italian Anna Bonitatibus, who shone in Moscow as Gluck's Orpheus and successfully sang Rossini's Cinderella, was recognized by some of our critics as number one in the firmament of world vocals, placing her next to Cecilia Bartoli. I recognize the local achievements of Bonitatibus, which will continue to decorate Moscow seasons, but the comparison seems very inappropriate to me. Singers such as Cecilia Bartoli, Nathalie Dessay, Magdalena Kozena, Ian Bostridge, Christina Schaeffer and Thomas Quasthoff are not just well-promoted superstars, but artists who define the directions and vectors of performing searches today. The “salt of the earth” is concentrated in them, they open the doors to something new, and other interpreters measure themselves with them, willingly or unwillingly. Anna Bonitatibus is simply a good singer, and with a limited repertoire. The role of Romeo was not yet up to her level. She undertrained her, she lacked the beauty of the upper register and, in some cases, mobility. Perhaps this is an acquired taste, but on the evening described, a certain uncertainty of Bonitatibus did not allow freedom of figurative breakthroughs in the duets with Chiofi - there were no lyrics at all, and the beautiful passages smacked of some emotional emasculation.
What about the fifth character - Tybalt? Young Luciano Pavarotti once shone in this game, whom Claudio Abbado took to his team. In Moscow, the young Sergei Romanovsky, who had not yet graduated from the conservatory, came to the fore. A concentrated, deep, slender young man stepped onto the stage, like a figure skater before the start of a compulsory program. From the very first notes we felt that he had every right to play the most difficult part. The singing combined the negative charm of Shakespeare's Tybalt and the seductive charm of Bellini's tenor. In the upper register, the voice soared upward with the delight of a bird reaching the clear sky. From beginning to end, Romanovsky did not leave his role, which proved that he belonged to selfless artists, and not to dull masters. The concert performance of “Cinderella” at one time turned into a triumph for Maxim Mironov, who made an international career as a brilliant Rossini premier tenor. “Capulets and Montagues” revealed to us a freshly minted Moscow lyric tenor at the very beginning of his creative career. He already has a flock of lovely fans sending him passionate kisses from the audience - everything as befits a tenor. Romanovsky’s ascension to the star pedestal became the main event on the opening day of the season at the Moscow Philharmonic.