[Met Performance] CID:330216



La Clemenza di Tito
Metropolitan Opera House, Wed, December 3, 1997




La Clemenza di Tito (29)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Caterino Mazzolà
Tito
Anthony Rolfe Johnson

Vitellia
Carol Vaness

Sesto
Anne Sofie von Otter

Servilia
Heidi Grant Murphy

Annio
Angelika Kirchschlager

Publio
John Cheek

Berenice
Hillary Brook


Conductor
James Levine







Review 1:

Review of Martin Mayer in Opera

Before taking his winter break, Levine returned to form in a revival of the

Ponnelle staging of "La Clemenza di Tito." From the first crashing chords of the overture, it was clear that something important was afoot. The rescue of this opera from the shadows is one of Levine's great accomplishments. The performance on December 3 was just about sold out, thanks no doubt to the quality of the cast, which was headed by Anne Sofie von Otter as Sesto and Carol Vaness as Vitellia. To a degree, the popularity of this opera in New York had been won by Troyanos, and no greater tribute can be given Otter than the truth that she was, in a different way (for while Troyanos was all passion, she was a Roman nobleman), a satisfactory replacement. Vaness was back in her own repertory, where her wind-instrument voice sounds to greatest effect, and she boldly sang full voice all the way down in the "petto." Angelika Kirchschlager made her Met debut as Annio, and was superb; she clearly could do Sesto, too, and much else. Heidi Grant Murphy's Servilia was a bit pinched at the beginning and did not blend well with Otter, but she opened up with beautiful clarity in "S'alto che lagrime." The only weakness was Anthony Rolfe Johnson's Tito, which was strained to the point of provoking worry.



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