Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Plácido Domingo and a glorious cast make a strong case for Verdi’s LUISA MILLER at the Met

• By drediman
• April 3, 2018
• No Comments

Plácido Domingo and Sonya Yoncheva in Verdi’s “Luisa Miller” at the Metropolitan Opera.

Yesterday evening, I caught the Metropolitan Opera’s triumphant revival of Elijah Moshinsky’s handsome, very traditional 2001 production of Verdi’s Luisa Miller (although the staging reads older than its 17 years). It’s fitting that such a production would bring back to the stage the legendary Plácido Domingo in his 149th (!) operatic role as Miller, the overprotective father of a young woman in love with a man with a potentially sketchy past. The good news is that Domingo, who is fast approaching 80 years of age, is in astonishingly good shape. His singing is not the same virile tenor it once was; it has morphed into an attractive and sturdy – if slightly wobbly – baritone that has allowed him to expand his repertoire of roles in this later stage of his career. Indeed, in recent years, I’ve seen him take on roles such as the title role in Simon Boccanegra, Giorgio Germont in La Traviata, Neptune in The Enchanted Island. He’s been highly effective in all of these, in no small part due to his openhearted, totally present acting.

The more surprising news is how utterly glorious the rest of the current revival is. As Miller’s daughter, the titular Luisa Miller, Russian soprano Sonya Yoncheva was extremely good. When I first encountered her as Violetta in La Traviata, I thought she possessed a rich, glowing soprano, but lacked the dramatic gravitas to win me over in the iconic tragic role. But each successive time I’ve seen her, she’s grown in stature. More than ever – even more so than her excellent portrayal of Tosca in the Met’s new, much-maligned staging earlier this season – she’s able to totally inhabit the huge emotions these roles demand of her. She’s a now bona fide superstar. Polish tenor Piotr Beczala, as Luisa’s love interest Rodolfo, was equally fine. Mr. Beczala just may be the ideal romantic tenor; he’s ardent without being melodramatic. And last night, his tenor sounded just magnificent – effortless, ringing, and masculine.

Rounding out the cast were Russian bass Alexander Vinogradov and Ukrainian bass Dmitry Belosselskiy as the villainous Walter and Wurm, respectively; both gave pungent, beautifully-sung performances. The Met Orchestra – under the baton of Bertrand de Billy – and Chorus once again demonstrated why they are the gold standard of the art form. All together, Domingo and team have made a strong case for Luisa Miller, one of the lesser performed Verdi operas (it hasn’t been performed at the Met in more than a decade). Perhaps this run, with this sensational cast, will change all that.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

LUISA MILLER
Opera
The Metropolitan Opera
3 hours, 30 minutes (with two intermissions)
Through April 21