Elegant and tender Verdi classic falters
SIMON Boccanegra may well be Verdi’s most purely beautiful opera. It doesn’t have the dramatic punch of Traviata or Rigoletto, and there are some plot twists and turns — a 25-year flashback at the start, aliases and mistaken identities, a miraculous father and daughter reunion — that even John le Carré might baulk at.
Still, hidden in the narrative maze is an intelligible story, focusing on the nexus of power and betrayal, public duty and private love (sex, if you will) that is at the heart of most of Verdi’s operas.
Elijah Moshinsky’s Royal Opera staging dates back to 1991 which, even by the standards of opera, makes it quite old. Michael Yeargan’s towering sets and Peter J. Hall’s costumes still look handsome, and they may even be an accurate representation of the 14thcentury Genoa that Verdi had in mind.
Unfortunately the quest for grandeur and historical verisimilitude provides little more than a sequence of evocatively lit, painterly but essentially static tableaux that miniaturise the singers. Alongside acting that relies on conventional operatic gestures, and a chorus that wanders more or less en masse, as if following a tour guide through a strange city, they let much of the dramatic energy seep away.
Yet while the production often falters for lack of direction, conductor Henrik Nánási provides a judicious, echtVerdian balance between elegance and blatancy, in the pit as well as on the stage. As Amelia (eventually revealed to be both the daughter of Boccanegra and the granddaughter of his rival Fiesco), Hrachuhi Bassenz phrases eloquently, even if her tone is occasionally on the harsh side. Francesco Meli has all the heft and volume required for the role of her lover, Gabriele, but there is also tenderness alongside the muscle.
What gives the opera its distinctive colour is the prominence of low voices, embodied in the enmity between the baritone of Boccanegra and the bass of Fiesco. Here, Carlos Alvarez (Boccanegra) and Ferruccio Furlanetti (Fiesco) sound a bit threadbare at first, but, after gathering their considerable resources, their eventual reconciliation is properly moving.
⬤ Until Dec 10 (020 7304 4000, roh.org.uk)