Classical Voice Review - Il Trovatore, Los Angeles, June 18, 2004

Leonora		Sondra Radvanovsky
Azucena		Dolora Zajick
Manrico		Franco Farina
Count di Luna		Roberto Frontali
Ferrando		James Creswell
Inez		Margaret Thompson
Ruiz		Robert MacNeil
Old Gypsy		Jinyoung Jang
Messenger		John Kimberling

LAWRENCE FOSTER, conductor
Stephen Lawless, stage director
Benoit Dugardyn, production designer

ll you need for Il Trovatore, according to Enrico Caruso, are the four finest singers in the world. They were probably easier to find in 1908 when Emma Eames, Louise Homer and Riccardo Stracciari joined Caruso for performances of Il Trovatore at the Metropolitan Opera. Today, Caruso’s requirement may be a tall order to fill, given the dearth of Verdi voices (a reality brought home with the recent passing of Franco Corelli). In this final production of Los Angeles Opera’s 2003-2004 season, with the exception of Dolora Zajick’s superb Azucena and Lawrence Foster’s finely-chiseled conducting, the singing cast were nothing to write home about. The production design by Benoit Dugardyn was unrelentingly dark and gloomy, befitting the tinta of the music, and brightened only by Martin Pakledinaz’s handsome period costumes.

Musically, this production is unique by the inclusion of the rarely staged ballet in Act Three which Verdi later added for the Parisian audience. The dynamic Gypsy dancers and drunken soldiers enliven an otherwise static scene, and was rapturously received by the balletomanes in the audience.

The great pleasure of this Trovatore was the Azucena of Dolora Zajick, whom I first heard in the same role at San Francisco nearly ten years ago, and who still sounded every bit as fresh and thrilling today, with little signs of vocal wear. Ms. Zajick’s tormented old Gypsy was a towering portrayal that poured forth dramatic pathos like an erupting volcano.

The rest of the cast were on a distinctly lower plane: Roberto Frontali’s Count di Luna sounded labored and gray of tone in his great Act Two Romanza. Franco Farina gave his best shot at the high C’s in “Di quella pira” but his singing was generally dull and uninspired. Sondra Radvanovsky’s Leonora floated some sweet pianissimi in “D’amor sull’ali rosee” and in the Miserere but lacked rhythmic bite in the faster cabalettas.

L.A. Opera’s Resident Artists provided fine support, as always – James Creswell’s reliable Ferrando, Margaret Thompson’s sympathetic Inez (looking ravishing in sheer blue laces), Jinyoung Jang’s old gypsy, and John Kimberling’s messenger.

The Opera Chorus were up to their usual standards – which were very high indeed.

Maestro Lawrence Foster proved he could be a singers’ conductor, as well as hold up on his own. The tempi might be slow at times, but the tension never sagged. From the L.A. Opera Orchestra, Maestro Foster inspired polished playing, sharp attacks, clean voicing, and taut phrasing. At the climax of Act Four, Foster tightened the musical screw, sweeping the finale to a thrilling conclusion.

IL TROVATORE