Verdi : Otello
Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York
Semyon Bychkov
Elijah Moshinsky's production of this summit of Italian opera is pretty much what you would expect of the Met at the time of its premiere in 1994; cumbersome, handsome, static and dramatically undemanding, a cookie-cutter Otello good to look at, but offering neither insight nor, for the main, obstruction to the opera, musically or theatrically. A safe refuge for all those whose hackles are raised by the excesses of more ambitious producers, and potentially a safe setting for singers capable of doing their own thing dramatically, but offering little inspiration to those who might be in need of it, and that was the main problem with tonight's performance, because if Johan Botha certainly has the voice for the title role, in dramatic terms it was a case of 'lights on, no one home'.
He's a brighter, more 'tenor' Otello than I've heard for a while. In many cases, the really great Otellos of the last century have started out as baritones - Vinay, del Monaco, Vickers, Domingo, etc. - and it shows in the vocal colour. Botha has a bright, clear timbre, powerful yet light-sounding. He has a good dynamic range, and he's not afraid to use it. He was, apparently, coming out of a bad cold that had forced him to cancel several appearances during this run of the opera, and there was a hint of gravel at the end of Act 1, but otherwise, his voice sounded healthy and vigorous. It was rather a shame, therefore, that such an instrument should be deployed with so little feeling behind it. He seemed completely uninvolved in the character and his predicament, merely going through the motions. Not until the very end did we actually get something approaching a real emotion from this Otello, and by then it was far too late to salvage his overall presentation.
How different from Falk Struckmann's Iago, the best I've seen on stage since Leiferkus at Covent Garden twenty years ago. What was particularly interesting about this performance was that while Iago can often make you wonder if he's really human - his motives are never all that clear, and he can, in certain singers' hands, verge on the diabolic - Struckmann's was all-too human, but a human that was boiling over with barely contained rage. His motives still weren't any clearer, but what was powering him through this plot certainly was; this was the angriest, fiercest reading I've ever seen, so intense the character seemed to be practically vibrating with it, and his black-toned bass-baritone rang out with heated conviction. In a sense, it was a monochromatic reading, but it was certainly compelling.
I've heard it rumoured that this might be the last season in which Renée Fleming will sing the role of Desdemona. There was no obvious reason why she should give up the part, to me, though I felt she was pushing the lowest notes of her range slightly, perhaps to ensure they carried, but it's hard to be precise about such things in a broadcast. The top still floated beautifully, however, and her timbre was warm and mellifluous. I think she found it a little difficult to work with the void Botha presented as her Otello, because for much of the proceedings, however well sung, she too was a little vacant dramatically. However, she sang the Willow Song superbly, with a heart-rending farewell to Emilia at the end, and the only reason I feel the Ave Maria didn't work quite as well was because of a rather silly piece of production business that had her praying to her bed, and then out at the audience, instead of focusing on some appropriate symbol for the occasion. And since Botha actually woke up during the last act, her final dialogue with him carried some real weight and pathos to it.
Michael Fabiano's Cassio was reasonable without registering too much, but I liked what I heard of Renée Tatum's Emilia, and there was some luxury casting with James Morris as Lodovico, who definitely made his presence felt (in the right way) at the end of Act 3. Bychkov led the Met orchestra and chorus with assurance and competence, although never quite attaining that extra dimension that the finest performances achieve.
[Next: 8th November]
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