Monday December 9th, 2013 - This will be brief.
The Met's new production of FALSTAFF is set in the 1950s, which makes perfect sense. Not feeling a desire to see it, I took a score desk for tonight.
I realized in the course of the performance that I don't really like FALSTAFF all that much. Yes, it is undoubtedly a masterpiece but we all have masterpieces - operas, ballets, symphonies, films, novels, paintings - that we simply don't like. And I've never truly enjoyed Levine's treatment of this score; I feel it's too heavy-handed and bombastic.
That said, Ambrogio Maestri's big-voiced Falstaff with some remarkable high notes was a perfect match for Levine's musical concept. Stephanie Blythe's Quickly was also loud, and blessedly the role does not often take her above her comfort zone: it lays low. Jennifer Johnson Cano's Meg Page was a very positive factor, but Angela Meade's overly-vibrant sound didn't work well in the music of Alice Ford; the other singers were more than adequate, with some characterful singing.
The vocal highlight of the evening was - as expected - Lisette Oropesa's spun-moonlight rendering of Nannetta's enchanting aria "Sul fin d'un soffio etesio" where the soprano was lovingly supported by the conductor.
The production thankfully gives the opera with just one intermission, though the evening still seemed overly long. Barring the presence of a conductor who might work some magic with this score (Gatti or Petrenko come to mind) or some irresistible bit of casting, I'll probably never attend a performance of FALSTAFF again.
Metropolitan Opera House
December 9, 2013
FALSTAFF
Giuseppe Verdi--Arrigo Boito
Sir John Falstaff.......Ambrogio Maestri
Alice Ford..............Angela Meade
Ford....................Serban Vitale (debut)
Dame Quickly............Stephanie Blythe
Nannetta................Lisette Oropesa
Fenton..................Paolo Fanale
Meg Page................Jennifer Johnson Cano
Dr. Cajus...............Carlo Bosi
Bardolfo................Keith Jameson
Pistola.................Christian Van Horn
Conductor...............James Levine