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Music Performance Reviews
Carnegie Hall, NY
www.CarnegieHall.org
ANNA BOLENA
Music: Gaetano Donizetti
Libretto: Felice Romani
Conductor: Eve Queler
Cast
Anna Bolena: Krassimira Stoyanova
Giovanna (Jane) Seymour: Jennifer Larmore
Enrico (Henry) VIII: James Morris
Lord Riccardo Percy: Yeghishe Manucharyan
Smeton: Kate Aldrich
Chandak Ghosh
12/15/2003 The full operatic experience usually involves a great score and libretto, orchestra, singers, sets, costumes, and staging. Hearing operas sung in concert form allows the listener to concentrate on the intricacies of the music and the direct relationship of the singers to the orchestra and conductor. Freed from the burden of staging, sets, and costumes, the performers are allowed to channel all their energies into musical expression, and the results are often revelatory.
The Opera Orchestra of New York (OONY) is celebrating its 33rd year at Carnegie Hall presenting neglected operas in concert form. Always assembling world-class casts, OONY continues to make strong cases for the return of works to the standard repertoire. This season's first presentation, Donizetti's Anna Bolena, stands as no exception. Part of what has become known as Donizetti's Tudor Queen Trilogy (also includes Maria Stuarda and Roberto Devereux), Anna Bolena recounts a fictionalized account of Henry VIII's wife's condemnation to death for a false charge of adultery.
Donizetti's music requires thrust, energy, and wholly committed performances from the leads, especially the soprano, to be an effective piece of theater. Without these elements the opera can quickly slip into sounding mundane. Because of difficulty in creating this perfect fusion, Anna Bolena remained almost ignored until the famous La Scala revival in 1957 with Maria Callas and Conductor Gianandrea Gavazzeni. Subsequent memorable Annas have included some of world's greatest singers: Gencer, Sutherland, Caballe, and Sills, and each has proved that the role can be one of the most dynamic in the bel canto repertoire.
As OONY's concert Anna Bolena commenced under the baton of Eve Queler, however, it seemed as if the performance would not be able to compete with the ghosts of great performances past. The tempos were plodding and sluggish. The performers were taking a while to warm up. The orchestra frequently overwhelmed the singers. The two big Act I duets lacked tension and musical consistency.
As the second Act started, however, the audience perceived a metamorphosis on stage. Queler's conducting suddenly achieved purpose and vigor. The singers seemed to blossom simultaneously. The duet between Anna and her rival for Henry's affections, Jane Seymour, crackled with electricity. The rest of the Act raced by with great intensity.
Krassimira Stoyanova's soprano emerged as a glorious instrument, able to express a wide range of emotion with full-throated declamations, variegated vocal coloring, floated high notes, sensitive pianissimos, and blazing fortes. Her Anna had passion and poignancy. In her hands, the final scene's "Al dolci guidami" was sung more as a prayer than a moment of desperation. Stoyanova's Anna approached death with nobility not madness.
Mezzo Jennifer Larmore expressed wonderful command of bel canto line as her Giovanna (Jane) Seymour was confident yet sensitive. James Morris' Henry VIII was phrased more like it was composed by Verdi rather than Donizetti, but his booming bass-baritone rang throughout the Hall with striking force. Yeghishe Manucharyan has a tenor with large, bright high notes, each getting stronger as the opera progressed. Mezzo Kate Aldrich sang the thankless role of Smeton rather tentatively with somewhat smudged coloratura but, as with the rest of the cast, as her voice warmed, her portrayal attained more depth and complexity.
Once again Eve Queler and OONY has proved the viability of an overlooked work for full staging by a major opera company. After experiencing Stoyanova's Anna, one can only hope that New York will be able witness the talents of this great artist more frequently.
The 2003-2004 OONY Season continues with Verdi's Il Corsaro on March 21, 2004, and then, what is probably the most awaited event of this operatic season, Ponchielli's La Gioconda with Aprile Millo on April 20, 2004. Call (212) 799-1982 or go to www.oony.org for further details.
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