Nabucco... Giuseppe Verdi

From Covent Garden. River Oaks Theater, this morning to a crowd of - 50?
Which is many more than at the 2 productions (Les Vespres Siciliennes, Prince Igor, and Parsifal) seen earlier. And who, I may confidently state, was completely awed. The power of Verdi's Music just cannot be gainsaid! As were my friend and I.
VIVA VERDI!
Awed by the indestructible Placido Doming singing with baritonal power the forte parts of NABUCCO

(albeit his piano was a bit underwhelming), acting with conviction and surprising agilit, physically (he can get up from his knees much better than I could ;-), and of course, vocally-still.
Awed by the humongous range and power of Liudmyla Monastyrka-here in a video clip (Milan in the same production).


The Ukrainian Soprano fluted her pianissimi with a clarity, belted out her fortes with ringing steeliness; growled low and twittered high. An incredible Abigaille... most likely the best as Abigaille. HGO goers will remember her AIDA (post of 10/16/13)

Monastyrska as Abigaille -photocredit Catherine ASHMORE for ROH

Care and Pizzolato, Photo Catherine Ashmore for ROH

Bass BaritonVitalij Kowaljow was a most sonorous Zaccaria, Andrea Care a handsome Ismaele with a clear and strong tenor, Marianna Pizzolato a sweet voiced Fenena with a strong sound, IMO, more soprano than mezzo; and Bass Robert Lloyd as Gran Sacerdote who sang adequately but not as strong as I have heard him in the past; David Butt Phillip, Tenor, was Abdalla, but, IMO, did not impress sufficiently, while the small part of Anna was sung by young soprano Dusica Bijelic.
The orchestra was guided superbly by Maestro Luisotti, who gave the score, so it seemed to me, a fresh and different reading. Daniele Abbado gave the old story of greed, jealousy, dominance and true belief in God, a novel way, setting it in an almost unidentifiable area, and period - although the uniformly blah looking costumes (who were the Hebrew who the Babylonians?) with not much difference there to ID who were who,  hinted at the 30's (specially when the women disrobed prior to execution), yet the design - sparse and geometric in its way, was modernistic and never distracted from the plot and the music (by Alison Chitty), projections and lighting were well done.

Of course, everyone KNOWS Va Pensiero, the Hebrews longing for light and home, sung very well by the chorus of ROH (Royal Opera House), which Riccardo Muti asked the public, when he conducted Nabucco in Rome, to sing along in protest against Berlusconi (as in the video clip above)....and Verdi most certainly meant it to be the unofficial Italian anthem during Italy's occupation by French and Austrian troops.

Another MODERN Parsifal...BUT one that works - really!

all Photocredit to C. Barda

Sitting 5 hrs and 15 minutes (plus 2 15 min intermissions) through this intriguing take on OLD Richard's opus did require a strong gluteus maximus. And munchies from home.

Having seen a 'modern' version ala Robert Wilson at HGO some years ago, which did not impress me nor my fellow Parsifal goer today much, about which best said as little as possible (Kundry knoedelte her way in that one whilst mostly crawling around the floor..NOT), this one DID work very well.
As a matter of fact, I felt it clarified what Wagner tried to say about a wicked world which can be redeemed by a 'reiner Tor' pure fool. And another thing I liked about this presentation: limited backstage stuff during the pauses, which allows adequate time for stretching, moving about,  and visiting the facilities :-).
Sadly at the ROH (Royal Opera House) one could see champagne being sipped in the background, none available at ROT (River Oaks Theater)  ;-), for us water was it!

Although the lighting by Paul Pyant was basically dark except for the grail; and the design by Alison Chitty (seen her work at HGO in past years) a most unusual geometric (based on the cube) as well as drab costume colors, the feel was of cleanliness and clarity, IMO.

Sure, the flower maidens provided some bright color and glitz, as well as the chirping of  sweetly 'normal' female voices....the main attraction was for sure the singing of the principals.
And I found some of them well represented on YouTube, inserted below.

What a slew of strong male voices - singing in German which most did remarkably well, such as

Gerald Finley (of Dr. Atomic fame)-Amfortas; histrionically well done, voice ditto.

Rene Pape - Gurnemanz; IMO, he was THE best of those fabulous, stirring male voices; suave, sincere, easily understood, beautifully enunciated German (natural for him, I know..OK... OK) with the right shading in every instance!

Robert Lloyd - Titurel; as expected a still rich and sonorous sound -sadly just a short appearance-live that is, later he is seen dead :-)
.

Willard White -Klingsor; wow, a true sound, great stage presence..scary to say the least, as the evil Klingsor.

and Simon O'Neill- Parsifal, big stage presence, beautiful clarion type voice, a Heldentenor as one feels a Heldentenor ought to sound.

The strongest performance of all, IMO,came from Angela Denoke as Kundry, what power, expression, acting, artistry and looks...IT WAS the a-one icing on an already fabulous cake.

Directed by Stephen Langridge and conducted by Antonio Pappano who understood the Wagnerian notes, and there were a lot of them, amazingly well. The orchestra and chorus came up to expectations.

For more on ROH, and coming screenings worldwide visit www.rohuk.org/cinemas

I much recommend getting the DVD when available.. you will NOT REGRET it!