IN REVIEW: May Festival – La Forza del Destino

CAST:
Leonora: Angela Brown
Don Alvaro: Salvatore Licitra
Don Carlo di Vargas: Marcco Caria
Preziosilla: Catherine Keen
Curra: Ellie Dehn
Padre Guardiano: Morris Robinson
Fra Melitone: Earle Patriaco
The Marquis of Calatrava: Darren Stokes
Maestro Trabuco: Rodrick Dixon

CINCINNATI – (May 12, 2008) Each May for a few weeks Cincinnati’s musical scene becomes just as important to the world of classical music as the happenings at Lincoln Center or any of the Opera houses of Europe. The Cincinnati May Festival has consistently provided world class performers by the to singers. Thomas Schippers, Leontyne Price, Birgit Nilsson and so many of the greatest contributors to the art of music have appeared in my home town’s Music Hall since the house’s construction in 1878.

Last year festival music director James Levine promised to present Italian Opera (as they had done in the old days) in a concert version. Sondra Radvanovsky sang Leonora in Il Trovatore and broke everyone’s hear with her “D'amor sull'ali rosee”. This year another great opera who’s herion was called Leonora was presented. This was Verdi’s massive La Forza del Destino.

As the evening began James Conlon took the podium with a microphone and explained the opera and his opinions of it. This is a practice I hate. For a director, conductor or impresario to subject the audience to a restatement of the program notes is ridicules. What was even more ridicules was his choice to point out the fact that people find this story silly. It planted a seed in my mind about how stupid everything was…making the drama of the night only a vehicle for the music. Then again, it’s Verdi so maybe this is the point.

Indeed, the story is far to convoluted for me to recount here. I will focus on individual arias and performances. Angela Brown once more shined in a new spinto role. She used a score for much of the evening, but even over this crutch she was the finest singer on the stage. I would rank her performance among the greatest (Arroyo and Price) in the history of the part. Her opening aria, “Me pellegrina ed orfana” was good, but it was clear that the voice was still warming up and would shine more later. Her reading of “Madre, pietosa Vergine" couldn’t have been better. She sang it with power and grace just as Leonora should be. At the end of Act II her “La Vergine degli angeli” joined by Morris Robinson and the men of the May Festival Chorus was one of best things I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing. Of course, when she sang "Pace, pace mio Dio!" the house broke into applause in bravos. She was truly wonderful.

Bass Morris Robinson who has appeared in Cincinnati several times over the past few years was on par with Brown in every way. I was surprised at how beautiful the bass’ voice was in the higher register. I think of him as a basso profoundo and expected him to had a rumbling wobbly sound. In fact what he did was to sing the higher parts of the role with a lyric intensity worthy of the greatest Bel Canto singers of the past. Of course, Robinson’s stage presence was great.

The biggest disappointment of the evening was Salvatore Licitra. For all of the talk about the tenor, I’ve heard him on two occasions and I’ve been quite disgusted both times. At one point I even though I heard hissing from the lowest balcony after he sang some rather crude high note. What was true this evening was also true of his Ballo at the Metropolitan Opera. A comment from Will on a past blog said it better than I could, “I'm hoping that Licitra isn't one of those singers who will go from very promising to past prime but respectable without ever having the great years he should have. I've found his singing disturbingly uneven and sometimes even downright crude recently.” The tenor should have stayed home and let someone with talent take the stage.

On the other hand, James Conlon cast at least one amazing surprise this evening. Unknown to me was the young Verdi Baritone Marcco Caria performed the role of Don Carlo di Vargas. Caria was very good. The difficult role was tackeld by him well. "Son Pereda son ricco d'onore" was execelent. I think he will grow into one of the finest singers of the future.

Rodrick Dixon was disappointing. He just always seems aloof. I don’t know why else he was bad. He just was. But, Baritone Earle Patriaco was a fine actor and the voice was enjoyable as well. Catherine Keen had a fine voice, but it was too small for so large a role in so large a house.

The real star of the evening was the May Festival Chorus. They were amazing always. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra led by Maestro Conlon and he led them well.