![]() ![]() (The American soprano.) “She sings Italian perfectly.” I asked, “Can a foreigner sing Italian properly?” “Yes,” he said. ![]() Years ago, I interviewed Ferruccio Furlanetto, the great Italian bass. Even a simple sì or no sounds different out of an Italian mouth. Otherwise, the cast was a veritable U.N., having names such as “Hera Hyesang Park,” “Marie-Nicole Lemieux,” and “Bogdan Volkov,” to go with “Michael Volle.”ĭoes it make a difference? I’m afraid it does, especially in a talky opera such as Falstaff. It’s not easy to spit out those Italian words: “dalle due alle tre” “Quand’ero paggio del duca di Norfolk.”įalstaff has a cast of ten, and, by my reckoning, there was but one Italian in the cast on Sunday afternoon: the tenor Carlo Bosi, in the small role of Dr. A convincing Falstaff, if maybe a tad foreign? Question: Was he Italianate as Falstaff? Italianate enough, I would say. Volle is a versatile singer, and a musician of a singer. He also has a great love of Bach and other masters of the German Baroque-his father was a clergyman. Volle is admired for his Hans Sachs and his Dutchman, to name two Wagner roles. In his Falstaff fat-suit, he was Gleasonesque. ![]() He is a very smart singer, with a very good voice. In the title role was Michael Volle, the German baritone-a pleasure to hear, a pleasure to watch. The “chamber” quality of the opera was exhibited. The score, with its endless characterful lines, was transparent. The texture was right: on the light side. The orchestra doesn’t accompany, but rather plays.Īnd the Met orchestra on Sunday afternoon was outstanding. Every twist and turn of the story is reflected in the orchestra. The orchestra is a key “cast member,” if you will. He had the suppleness and alertness required for this opera. The Met had one in Daniele Rustioni, a Milanese who will turn forty next month. For this opera, you need a Falstaff, of course-but most of all, you need a conductor. It was practically a chamber opera, with fleetness, intricacy, slyness-a mystifying masterpiece at the end of a long, prolific career.įalstaff was revived at the Metropolitan Opera on Sunday afternoon in the 2013 production of Robert Carsen. To many, it seemed more a Mozart opera than a Verdi opera. As a final act, when he was in his late seventies, Verdi wrote an opera unlike any he had written: Falstaff. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |