VERDI rated Il Trovatore highly. To its librettist he remarked: ''If
only the whole opera could be, as it were, all one number, I would find
that reasonable and right.'' Most performances, however, continue to
present it as a ragbag of arias, ensembles, and choruses, though about
Scottish Opera's new production last night there was at least a
glimmering of unity.
Most of this stemmed from Tim Hatley's heavy geometrical sets, like
monolithic slabs of concrete that might have been fragments of some
larger, even heavier New York Metropolitan production. They were not in
themselves visually rewarding, even when atmospherically lit, but they
did serve to keep the action moving, without the lengthy pauses that
have reduced the force of many another production of Trovatore. They
also enabled (another plus point) the performance to be given with just
one interval instead of three.
But sadly, Mark Brickman's production seldom seized its opportunities.
Though the cast did not lack good voices, nobody managed to set this
Trovatore aflame. The story was unfolded with a limited command of
gesture, as if that were all it needed. The fact that nothing (or
nothing much) was allowed to get in the way of the music should have
been something to be thankful for; but the work has a stronger plot than
it is usually allowed, and the warring factions require to be
distinguished more subtly than by tableauesque colour coding -- dark
greys, on this occasion, for Count di Luna and his troops, red pants and
headbands for Manrico's gypsies.
Still, Richard Armstrong conducted with the seriousness Verdi
deserved, even if he did not always succeed in galvanising the
accompaniments the way one hoped.
Vladimir Redkin as Count di Luna and Ludmila Nam as Azucena brought
Russian expressiveness to a cast-list that was originally also to have
had a Russian Manrico (in the person of the tenor who flopped so
famously in the Edinburgh Festival performance of The Oprichnik); but
Kenneth Collins, his replacement, showed that he had the voice, if not
yet the dramatic resourcefulness, for the role.
As for Lisa Gasteen's Leonora, Cardiff's 1991 Singer of the Year
proved that she could sing soft passages with beauty and finesse, though
at the top of her register she was unreliable.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article