[Met Performance] CID:350396



Lucia di Lammermoor
Metropolitan Opera House, Mon, November 11, 2002




Lucia di Lammermoor (535)
Gaetano Donizetti | Salvadore Cammarano
Lucia
Ruth Ann Swenson

Edgardo
Marcelo Álvarez

Enrico
Anthony Michaels-Moore

Raimondo
John Relyea

Normanno
Ronald Naldi

Alisa
Jennifer Check

Arturo
Garrett Sorenson


Conductor
Patrick Summers


Production
Nicolas Joël

Set Designer
Ezio Frigerio

Costume Designer
Franca Squarciapino

Lighting Designer
Wayne Chouinard

Stage Director
Paul Mills





Lucia di Lammermoor received twelve performances this season.

Review 1:

Jay Nordlinger in the Sun
Lovely “Lucia”

The Metropolitan Opera is in a bel canto- friendly mood. Not only have they been doing Bellini's "Pirata" — staged for Renee Fleming — but they've also just revived Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." "Lucia" may be the very summit of bel canto opera, if it's not "Norma" (Bellini) or "The Barber of Seville" (Rossini). But why am I ranking when I could be reviewing?

"Lucia di Lammermoor" depends, very heavily, on the soprano in the title role, and the Met has one of the finest singers in bel canto today: Ruth Ann Swenson. Her virtues are many. She makes a beautiful sound, spinning out lines with grace and ease. Her passagework is clean. Her range is ample, with an especially impressive bottom. She has musical instincts. Her bel canto tends to be Romantic bel canto -- sometimes coming off as Pucciniesque, or Straussian —but she is rarely vulgar.

What she has, above all, is poise: a vocal poise and a musical poise, which is key in bel canto. Even in her mad scene (about which, more later); she showed composure. And, earlier l was struck by her singing of the simple and ubiquitous phrase “0 cielo (“O heaven”). Not every singer can sing that with dignity.

It might be stated, too, that Miss Swenson looks like Lucia might — not required in opera, of course, but a nice bonus.

Serving as her handmaiden, Alisa, was the young soprano Jennifer Check, who made a great impression earlier in the season in another minor role – one of the Serving Women (again) in Strauss's "Elektra." She has an alive voice, with a bit of a throb in it, and her singing is remarkably secure.

As one would want in "Lucia," the stage was full of lean, flexible male voices. We will start with the tenor, the Argentinean Marcelo Alvarez, singing Edgardo. Mr. Alvarez is one of a bevy of young Latin American tenors, the generation hoping to take the place of the capital- T Tenors. Like Placido Domingo (speaking of one of those Tenors), Mr. Alvarez sings Italian with a strong Spanish accent, particularly noticeable on the s's. On Monday night, he was at the top of his game. His tenor was gleaming, and it had a nice weight to it: It was sufficiently dramatic yet desirably graceful. At the beginning of Act III, he proved a heroic, dashing, ringing Edgardo. By the time of his big final aria, he had tired, losing some of his pitch, but he always kept working, and was persuasive.

In the part of Enrico was an Englishman, Anthony Michaels-Moore. He, too, is a fine bel canto singer — baritone division — and brims with intensity. He brought a snarl to his voice (Enrico is a villain), and also some power. He was a bit lacking in the lower register, but this mattered little. And his acting was better than opera-average. For example, in Act II, Enrico has to be suave and importunate, as well as conniving. Mr. Michaels-Moore conveyed all of this nicely.

About the young Canadian bass-baritone John Relyea, I have written a great deal. He has shone in everything he has ventured. Only a couple of weeks ago, he had a fine outing at Carnegie Hall with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, in a performance of Berlioz's "Damnation de Faust" (he was — as bass-baritones must be — the devil). Relyea seems to me more and more the successor to Samuel Rainey whom he resembles in many ways. He is economical, disciplined, and clearly musical. He makes you sit up a little straighter when he is singing — as he did as Lucia’s Raimondo.

The evening's Arturo was the tenor Garrett Sorenson, who — a little pinched and squealish —might have been suffering some nerves.

Presiding over this long and sometimes complicated opera in the pit was Patrick Summers, who is enjoying a busy career as music director of the Houston Grand Opera and principal guest conductor of the San Francisco Opera. The performance was hampered by some coordination problems, and the orchestra was not nearly its sharpest. In fact, it seemed somewhat out of sorts. But the opera's powerful moments had their power, and there was no shortage of flair and excitement.

As for the production — which bowed in 1998 — it is fitting and memorable, with sets and costumes that simply reek of Sir Walter Scott. We are practically there, to borrow from Edward R. Morrow.

Crowning this affair was Lucia's Mad Scene, a difficult thing to bring off. Miss Swenson's was highly credible: It was beautifully sung — that composure doing its job — and shrewdly acted (not least because it was not overacted). There have been madder Lucias, to be sure; but a certain amount of reserve was spooky in its way. The soprano demonstrated near-total control. You had the feeling that you were witnessing something that doesn't come down the pike every day.

And we were reminded, once again, of the brilliance of Donizetti's magnum opus. "Lucia di Lammermoor"' might be called bel canto for people who dislike (or think they dislike) bel canto. It is noble and inspired in construction. When performed well, it is obvious in its greatness — as was the case at the Met.



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