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Don Carlo

Published Monday 9 June 2008 at 12:10 by George Hall

The Royal Opera might have earned more brownie points for performing Verdi’s grandest opera in its original French. But here, using the edition he made for Modena in 1886, when it was sung in Italian, they score on everything else.

Designed by Bob Crowley, Nicholas Hytner’s production is cogent and detailed, a succession of close-ups of the central characters within the grander panorama of religious conflict and political intransigence centred on the court of Philip II of Spain. The Catholic Church, responsible for the brutality of the Inquisition, comes off particularly badly, as Verdi meant it to, but the people, whooping on the burning of the heretics, don’t escape either.

All the main performers distinguish themselves, though Rolando Villazon’s Carlos sometimes sounds stressed and even out of tune. It’s a role too big for his lyric tenor. Simon Keenlyside is almost beyond praise in the excellence of his singing and concentrated acting, even revealing that Posa’s idealism leads him to exploit the vulnerable prince. Ferruccio Furlanetto’s Philip is a complex, secretly lonely tyrant. Sonia Ganassi is a flamboyantly intelligent Eboli. Eric Halfvarson’s Grand Inquisitor is a combination of decrepitude and malevolence. Artfully sung though Marina Poplavskaya’s Elisabeth is, the top of her voice lacks bloom and her portrayal remains cold.

Still, it’s a mightily impressive evening for chorus and orchestra, and Antonio Pappano once again demonstrates his mastery of Verdian musical drama.

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