"Tosca" General at Covent Garden, 30.vi.07

And just so we're clear from the outset, ALL the singers sang out to the
max, and thesped for all they're worth. Which is, alas, not much....

Jonathan Kent's staging, new last year with Morticia, Marcelo and Meatloaf,
is now being revived, under the director's supervision, with Urmana, Licitra
and Delavan, conducted by house debutant Mikko Frank for a July run,
together with "Cosi" and "Rigoletto".

Short version : with one middling persuasive exception, utter, unmusical
rubbish.

Long version : read on...

Mikko Frank, who has given some sterling concerts here with the
Philharmonia, is one of those conductors who approaches an old operatic
war-horse like "Tosca" in the spirit of a forensic pathologist, prodding,
poking, and beadily examining for odd signs of life, a bit like Sinopoli,
but entirely without residual Italianità. There's INTENTION aplenty, which
is what still puts it ahead of the Hobbit's chaotic semaphorings, but the
whole thing just sits there, dead on the slab, utterly inert, and without
the merest vestige of dramatic fire or forward drive. And though in general
the orchestra play pretty well for him, the sour-toned, amateurish quartet
of cellos at the start of "E lucevan le stelle" that so disfigured last
year's performances, are all evidently still on "active" service, may God
bless the Musicians' Union, fearlessly fighting to keep the incompetent and
useless fully employed. What with Ivor Bolton pouring cold, thin starch all
over "Don Giovanni", and Colin Davis doubtless preparing to enter the
Guinness Book of Records for the slowest "Cosi" ever, the ROH is not having
a happy time, conductor-wise.

None of which would matter too much provided the three principals produced
the goods. Alas, then, for Salvatore Licitra, whose bumpy, provincially
bawled, approximate, sloppy, uneven pig of a tenor threw out the only
"Recondita armonia" I have ever heard to be met with complete and total,
glacial silence, which even took the conductor aback, who'd decided to stop
for applause. Can this endlessly untalented wretch actually sing at all ? He
was the disgrace of the ROH's generally disgraceful "La forza del destino"
some three years back, and in this, his first reappearance since, he's even
worse, incapable of legato, portamento, the moulding of a phrase, the
modulation of a dynamic, the firm drawing of a line or even simply singing
in tempo. All he can do is bellow, like an elephant with piles. The aria and
subsequent "O dolci mani" in Act IIII were utterly disgusting as pieces of
singing, and if he repeats himself on Monday, he's in for some serious
booing, believe me. I'm told he's popular at the Met. Says it all, really,
and he should stay there for the rest of his miserable career, braying for
the vocal size-queens.

Absolutely no better, the dismal Mark Delavan as Scarpia, who cannot
actually emit an evenly-supported, regular-vibratoed, simple, steady note,
and whose musicality is so lacking that the whole opening of Act II was so
far from score pitch that for about two minutes, in the "manca la diva"
exchanges with Sciarrone, I thought he was performing "Pierrot Lunaire". On
the softly crooned, tenuto "Ebben ?" with which he torments Tosca, the voice
actually closed off with a glottal clunk mid-note. He cannot sing "Gia mi
dicon venal" to save his, or anybody else's, life, being strained and
colourless up top, and inaudible down below. He has absolutely no sense of
rhythm. And his supposed ravishing of the diva - so very alarming with
Meatloaf manhandling Morticia magnificently last year - was pitiful to have
to witness. I believe the low groaning, just about audible over the lighting
crew bickering non-stop, was La Kent, head in hands. Nobody I know here
thought Delavan's Jack Rance two years ago was any good [ then pitted
against another tenor who can't sing, Cura ] and now this Scarpia confirms
the woeful impression made then. Another one the Met can keep. Please.

Sole, not very bright, ray of sunshine in all this feeble fraudulence,
Violeta Urmana, who unlike other mezzos who've gone up and I've heard sing
the role - Verrett, say, or Bumbry, or Ewing - doesn't actually sound like
an overparted and overambitious Amneris : she simply sounds like a soprano,
and has pretty much all the notes. The trouble is, she lacks natural stage
temperament [ big-time, though she conscientiously works at "displaying"
it ] and has nothing of Italian(ate) juice, warmth of timbre, or suppleness
of line in her very Germanic-sounding - to me - voice, which rather reminded
me of Nilsson in the role. But at least she tries hard, and is a
properly-trained singer, which is more than I'd say for either of the men.

Five performances, all sold out, at about £170 tops. Someone should call the
Trading Standards Agency and complain..

SJT

On Jul 1, 1:39 am, "Stephen Jay-Taylor" <sjaytay....DeleteThis@btinternet.com>
wrote:

>Alas, then, for Salvatore Licitra........ Can this endlessly untalented wretch actually sing at all ?

No

JKH