Monday December 29th, 2014 - A chance to hear two new-to-The-Met sopranos in the title-role of Verdi's AIDA within the space of five days. Tamara Wilson (above) made an auspicious House debut last week; I caught up with her tonight. On Saturday, another soprano, Marjorie Owens, is scheduled for a single performance as the Ethopian princess. Score desks were the solution for this thrice-familiar production, the $12 price tag meaning I needn't feel I'm throwing money away if I decide not to stay for the whole thing. Despite numerous distractions and some sub-par singing from other cast members, I was determined to hear Tamara's "O patria mia", so I stuck with it...and it was worth the wait.
Tamara Wilson made an excellent impression earlier this year in a performance of Max Bruch's oratorio MOSES at Carnegie Hall. Her Met debut came about when she was called upon to replace Latonia Moore in this series of AIDAs, Ms. Moore being pregnant. I was very glad to hear Ms. Wilson again so soon, and her performance overall was truly impressive.
The house seemed fuller than on many recent evenings, and the performance begain auspiciously with an evocative playing of the prelude. Marco Armiliato, both here and in last week's TRAVIATA, seemed to be taking a more thoughtful approach to these two operas he's conducted so often; in the past his Verdi has often felt perfunctory and over-emphatic. This season he seems more tuned-in to the niceties of the scores.
Marcello Giordani's voice sounded wobbly and unsuppported as the opera began. He has absolutely no resonance in the lower range now, tending to 'speak' the words rather than sing them. In the past, his powerful upper-middle and high registers have managed to compensate for this fault, but tonight the top notes had a steady beat and a glare that was unpleasant. "Celeste Aida", a tenor test-piece that can defeat even singers on top form, was touch-and-go tonight as Giordani tried to a get a line going with little success. The climactic B-flat veered sharp. Two shouts of 'bravo' and tepid applause.
Violeta Urmana, after several seasons of singing soprano repertoire with variable success, has reverted to singing Amneris. Her tone was unsteady, with an unpleasantly wide vibrato. The voice is unrecognizable as belonging to the same woman who was a thrilling, contralto-rich Kundry in her Met debut in 2001. The wear and tear of such demanding roles as Isolde, Aida, Gioconda, and Odabella have worn the velvet off the tone and it was sad to hear her unpleasant singing tonight. She has power, and all the right instincts, but the voice just won't cooperate.
At last some balm for the ear as Ms. Wilson arrived onstage; it's a pleasing sound, a full-lyric-to-spinto voice with Met-filling amplitude and clarity. Her phrasing and dramatic nuances served the music very well, and I very much anticipated her "Ritorna vincitor" which she began excitingly by seizing the opening phrase the moment the preceding ensemble had ended. With this impetus, she was making a fine expressive effect with the music when suddenly the sound of loud talking from the lighting bay in the auditorium ceiling broke the spell. This problem has cropped up many times at the Met over the years, but this was by far the most blatant and disruptive incident. People around me began to mutter and whisper; one man went in search of an usher to complain. Meanwhile the soprano's "Numi pieta..." went for nought.
The talking continued throughout the quiet opening of the Temple scene - maring Jennifer Check's attractive voicing of the chant of the Priestess - and throughout the ballet interlude. At last the strong-voiced Ramfis of Dmitry Belosselskiy re-captured our attention: the light in the bay was extinguished and the music again became our focus. Mr. Giordani was in such pallid voice in this scene that I truly expected him to withdraw at the interval.
After a coma-inducing forty-minute intermission, the house lights dimmed very slowly and I was sure an announcement of a new tenor was forthcoming. But no, the show went on with Giordani.
Ms. Urmana managed by hook or by crook to sing Amneris's tricky "Ah, vieni...vien amor mio" entrances, but it was Ms. Wilson who carried the scene between the rivals. Ms. Urmana's voice, which has shrunk in size, was sometimes covered by the orchestra; a few of her dramatic interjections showed the desired spark, but mostly she seemed to be just getting by in parlous voice. Ms. Wilson's "Pieta ti prenda del mio dolor.." was beautifully voiced, but Urmana's spreading tops really deterred from their duet. Once Urmana made her exit we could finally savour Ms. Wilson's heartfelt, dynamically poised reprise of "Numi pieta..."
For the Triumphal Scene ballet I stood up to see if I could spot any of my dancer-friends doing the very animated Ratmansky choreography. The wigs and makeup are very disguising, but I did find Emery LeCrone at last, which made me smile.
Once the dust had settled after the ballet and parade, the tensions and inter-play of the ensuing ensemble were quite vivid. Giordani was at sea, talking his lines, but the two bassos (Mr. Belosselskiy and Soloman Howard as the King) were nicely sonorous. The entrance of Amonasro showed off George Gagnidze's power and dramatic word-colouring, whilst Ms. Wilson was able to sail nicely over the orchestra and massed chorus, taking a shining top-C at the climax of the great concertato. After Amneris has been awarded to Radames, the concluding ensemble went forward with a real swing to it and here Mr. Giordani's voice perked up and he hurled forth some stentorian B-flats. Ms. Wilson was not to be out-sung, and Ms. Urmana and Mr. Gagnidze and the bassos all got into it, with an exciting result.
I managed to survive the second intermission by chatting up a nearby Chinese boy who proved both knowledgeable and charming. It's so nice to find a young person with a genuine interest in this dying art form.
At last the gentle introduction to the Nile scene was heard (the orchestra doing a fine job all evening) and we were treated to a poised rendering of "O patria mia" with Ms. Wilson very attentive to the markings in the score (which I was following closely); she took an unusually powerful approach to the low-range phrase "No...no..mai piu, mai piu..." and moments later made a shining ascent to a silvery and sustained high-C; it's been a while since I've heard a soprano carry this off so well. Then a wonderful swelling tone on the high-A reprise of 'O...patria mia..." and then the final float tapering off. Excellent!
George Gagnidze brought crisp dramatic accents to Amonasro's attempts to ensnare his daughter in his plan for revenge; Ms. Wilson, nicely lyrical at first, became more intense as she realized what her father's intentions were. The baritone rose to an excitingly loud and sustained "...dei Faraoni tu sei la schiava!" and then summoned up a persuasive legato for "Pensa che un popolo...vinto...straziato."
Arriving to meet his beloved, Giordani did his best singing of the evening, perhaps inspired by the soprano in their duet. Tamara's spun-silk phrasing of "La tra le foreste vergine..." had a seductive glow and the tenor tried hard to match her for phrasing and nuance, doing the best he could with a fractured instrument. And then Ms. Wilson floated up to a dreamy high B-flat.
After their well-voiced stretta, the drama quickly built with Gagnidze's revelation and his urgent plea that they should flee. Giordani belted out "Sacerdote! Io resto a te!" with as much authority as he could summon, but it wasn't enough.
Much as I wished to hear Tamara Wilson in the Tomb Scene, the thought of Urmana and Giordani slugging it out in the Judgement Scene (my favorite scene in all Verdi) proved too daunting, so I snuck out and headed home. I hope the soprano got the ovation she so truly deserved.
Note: I sent a message of complaint to The Met early the next morning about the disruption from the lighting bay and received almost immediately a reply that there had been a "flood" which caused emergency repairs to be made during the opera and the workmen had been talking. A flood, in the lighting bay, next to the chandeliers in the ceiling of the opera house? OK, if you say so. But the sound of talking from that location has spoiled several Met performances over time and I find it hard to believe that this wasn't just another incident of someone working in the bay, babbling away to a colleague or on his cell-phone.
Monday December 29th, 2014
AIDA
Giuseppe Verdi
Aida....................Tamara Wilson
Radamès.................Marcello Giordani
Amneris.................Violeta Urmana
Amonasro................George Gagnidze
Ramfis..................Dmitry Belosselskiy
King....................Soloman Howard
Messenger...............Eduardo Valdes
Priestess...............Jennifer Check
Dance...................Jennifer Cadden
Dance...................Scott Weber
Conductor...............Marco Armiliato