Above: baritone Juan Jesús Rodríguez
Saturday February 13th, 2016 matinee - I hadn't originally planned on attending a second TROVATORE at The Met this season; the performance I saw in September 2015 was quite exciting and marked a heroic appearance by Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who flew over from London where he was under treatment for a brain tumor to honor, at least in part, his Met contract. And what a performance he gave!
Hvorostovsky would have been the Count di Luna again this afternoon had all gone according to plan, but a need to extend medical treatment has caused him to forego some recent engagements. He is due at Carnegie Hall on February 17th for a recital, for which we have long held tickets.
My soprano-friend Lisette Oropesa has recently been in Madrid singing the role of Gilda at the Teatro Real; for one of these performances, her Rigoletto was Juan Jesús Rodríguez. When it was announced that Mr. Rodríguez would be replacing Mr. Hvorostovsky in this run of TROVATORE, I asked Lisette if he was someone I should hear. She was enthusiastic in her affirmative reply, so I bought a score desk and settled in to see how things would go.
Marco Amiliato was on his best Verdi behavior this afternoon; he did a great job supporting the singers, which is what opera conducting is all about. In the opening scene, Kwangchul Youn's vibrato seemed very pronounced at first but it steadied out considerably after a few phrases. The voice is extremely powerful and gives the illusion that he is standing right next to you as he sings.
Angela Meade started nicely as Leonora, but all too soon the flutter begins to intrude. Notes around F and G are especially flutterful, clouding up the line of the music. She did a bizarre high-pianissimo interpolation in the cadenza of "Tacea la notte" and made it by the skin of her teeth. She is now pushing her lower voice for dramatic effect, and the top - in addition to fluttering - is starting to sound squally. The concluding D-flat of the Act I trio was a bit desperate. Her phrases bidding farewell to Inez at the convent were nicely shaped, but she was rather sketchy in the scene's concluding ensemble, where the soprano should dominate.
Dolora Zajick, at age 63, remains the Azucena of our time. She provided the thrills and chills that make for a great operatic experience, her singing having everything this music needs: powerful, thrusting top notes, deep-maroon low tones, and passages of wondrous subtlety and control. Curiously, her compelling singing and vocal acting in the great monologue "Condotta ell' era in ceppi" drew only polite applause. Hopefully at the end of the opera she got then ovation she so richly deserved.
Marcello Giordani seemed at his current best today. Despite husky lower notes, he steered clear of the casual sloppiness that sometimes mars his singing. Up to the (single) intermission, he was better than good, recalling some of his performances from a few years back when he seemed so much more confident vocally.
Carolyn Sproule's rather earthy vibrato didn't strike me as right for Inez, but baritone Edward Albert actually made something out of his one-line role as A Gypsy; his voice carries very well in the House.
As to Señor Rodriguez, I found myself in full agreement with Ms. Oropesa's as to his vocal gifts. It's a sizable sound, with darkish undertones and a pleasingly lyrical approach to the trademark Verdi line. He sings with fine feeling, modulating the dynamics impressively, and is always verbally alert. A stentorian interpolated top note on "Leonora è mia!" preceded his genuinely lovely and expressive singing of "Il balen", one of the most appealing renditions of that familiar aria I have heard in recent years.
I gave serious consideration to staying on thru the end of the opera, but the prospect of a long intermission and of Meade's Act IV scena sent me out into the frigid afternoon only seventy minutes after the opera had started.