Turandot - Wed 24th June 2015 - Sydney Opera House.
Fasten your seat belts as this is one exciting escapade to open the
Sydney opera season. This Turandot is a must-see and must-hear for anyone
interested in great singing. Seats are $44 (restricted view) to
$300. Finally the management seems to have worked out that opera is an
international ‘sport’ and the principal roles need to be taken by
serious international competitors.
American dramatic soprano Lise Lindstrom sings the cold princess with a
palpable presence. She has an enormous, accurate and steely voice while
also looking beautiful and acting well on stage.
Mr Yonghoon Lee has a very large and well schooled voice with a pleasant
and more-ish quality. From Calaf’s first utterances he commands attention, even
above the entire orchestra and chorus. Mr Lee’s recent Don Carlos at the Met sounded very
fine but to hear the same voice in a smaller theatre was extraordinary.
He is tall and cuts a decent figure on stage. He received one of the few
spontaneous standing ovations I have seen from a Sydney audience. It was
reminiscent of the Sutherland days of the 1980s. And this was repeated
for the soprano, and deservedly so.
Hyeseoung Kwon sang Liu with the delicate legato needed for this
important role.
Civil servants Ping, Pang and Pong were sung brilliantly by Luke
Gabbedy, Graeme Macfarlane and John Longmuir. Jud Arthur was excellent as
Timur, Calaf’s
father. The Mandarin or town crier should have a booming declamatory
voice to open the opera and tell its story line. Gennadi Dubinsky was
disappointing and I wonder that the company uses him year after year for
inappropriate roles. The Emperor is a comprimario part and while
tradition has him old and frail Mr Rasheed was either not up to singing the low
notes or he was over-acting. Yet these small deficiencies stand in stark
contrast to the magnificent flow of glorious vocalising the likes of which we
have not heard for some time in Sydney.
The orchestra and chorus deserve full credit for recreating Graham
Murphy’s vibrant production of
Puccini’s last masterpiece
(completed by his student Alfano). The original choreography uses many
modern tricks with ribbons, blackened mannequins, giant flags, fans and
more. Christian Badea conducted with accurate deference to the
composer.
A high point for me is the riddle scene in act II when, after moments of
uncertainty, Calaf gives correct one-word responses to three riddles posed by
the princess. Like clouds parting after a storm the whole of Peking,
except the princess, seems to lurch into major-key happiness. Then the
prince allows one additional riddle which, if answered correctly, would release
the reluctant princess from her vow. This in turn leads to the start of
Act III and ‘Nessun
dorma’ when ‘none shall sleep’ until the name of the mystery suitor is
discovered. After witnessing Liu’s descent into love-torn suicide, Turandot publicly
claims to know the name, announcing it to be … “Amore” (love), averting a
potential tragedy and allowing a happy ending with a full choral reprise of the
‘Nessun dorma’ or ‘World Cup’ theme.
Just get a ticket!
Written by Andrew Byrne ..
Opera blog: http://andrewsopera.blogspot.com/
Andrew's blog http://ajbtravels.blogspot.com/
