But his performance was lean, without the fleshy fullness or high-lying ping of a true Latin voice. In many ways he is: On opening night, his firm, darkly defined tone and sophisticated eloquence were wonderful. Kaufmann is a tenor who encompasses Italian and Wagnerian repertoire commends him as the right man for the job. That the tenor at the 1896 premiere, Giuseppe Borgatti, went on to become the leading Italian Wagner singer of his day explains much.Īnd that Mr. “Chénier” is very much a vehicle for a star tenor with some weight to the voice beside the mandatory top notes: a vocal type known as lirico-spinto, combining lyricism with the ability to push. Self-awareness brings remorse, and the great monologue that steers his change of heart was probably the most compelling aspect of the opening performance, sung by the Serbian baritone Zeljko Lucic with dry but impactive substance.īy comparison, there isn’t much dimension or complexity in Maddalena, and Eva-Maria Westbroek - a Covent Garden favorite, destined always to be remembered as the opportunistic heroine of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s “Anna Nicole” - brought warmth and sympathy to the part, though not much vocal allure.īut ultimately, it’s the title role that has to carry the piece. The villain Gérard is the most interesting in that he turns out not to be as villainous as you might expect: He is merely, as he says, a son of the Revolution who has become its slave. All of this is portrayed in the piece, supported by copious quantities of quasi-historical detail, however leaden, unhelpful and wrong.Īs for singers, “Chénier” has a large number of small solo roles (which Covent Garden casts indifferently) but is otherwise a three-hander for the members of that love triangle. But they don’t have an easy time of it with the material on hand.Ĭomposed in 1896 by Umberto Giordano - a lesser light of the so-called verismo school of Italian opera, which supposedly jettisoned fanciful subject matter in favor of gritty, truthful narratives - “Andrea Chénier” is veracious to the extent that its hero was a real poet who went to the guillotine during the French Revolution. 6) brings together serious, intelligent but heavy-hitting talents and they all deliver handsomely.
Directed by David McVicar, conducted by Antonio Pappano, and with the tenor of the moment, Jonas Kaufmann, in the title role, this show (through Feb. If the piece didn’t impress, the Royal Opera’s packaging was good. And as the last Covent Garden staging was in fact 30 years ago - a generation past - it was a curious, inquisitive audience that came to Tuesday’s opening of a big new international production that is scheduled for Beijing and San Francisco after London. LONDON - “Andrea Chénier” is one of those operas that most major companies do every 20 years or so: often enough for it to count as “repertory” but not for anyone to remember if it was worth the effort the last time around.