You really had to be there. The most publicized of opera’s leading ladies, Anna Netrebko, scored a triumph with audiences and critics who saw her on stage. But if you listened on radio — or if you closed your eyes during last week’s high-definition telecast — the magic was elusive.

The Russian soprano gained attention as a slender dark-haired temptress in the 1990s when she was in her twenties. In recent years she gained weight, her face became rounder and her vocal accomplishments erratic. As her appearance changed, many observers complained about flatness on her top notes and imprecision in her coloratura technique. 
           
For this role she has altered her vocal timbre to a darker, smoky tone, stressing what’s dramatic rather than merely pretty. The vocal result with her Lady Macbeth was that her low range had a richer sound than in previous years. On the other hand she lacked the fierce, piercing quality that’s essential for this character, and the dying-away aspect requested by Verdi for the end of her sleep-walking scene was not present. Listening to Netrebko on radio (which I did during two performances before I saw her), slight intonation problems were noticeable. 

Her most resonant tones came in the second-act “La luce langue” where she sounded appropriately spooky and in the banquet scene as she urged her guests to ignore Macbeth’s hallucinations and drink up. There she gritted her teeth and spat out her words while trilling impressively. Judged solely by the audio, her Lady Macbeth is a work-in-progress, occasionally exciting.

Yet the critics who attended the first night were nearly unanimous in proclaiming this to be Netrebko’s best work ever. The reason for their enthusiasm became clear when the production was telecast in high definition to 2,000 theaters in 67 countries. When you see her in action, the reservations of recent years are swept away.

Her appearance is atypical for Lady Macbeth; more overt than Maria Guleghina in the same production in 2007-08, and different from Netrebko when she sang the part in Europe. She definitely is convincing as a bold woman who uses sex as her main tool for getting what she wants. She wore a blonde wig and a clinging grey nightgown with a plunging neckline. Her previous weight gain may have detracted from her appeal in adolescent soubrette roles, but here, as a mature woman, her full bosom and revealing costuming added to the characterization.     

Her acting stressed the woman’s strong control over her husband, specifically through sexual aggressiveness as in the third act "Ora di Morte" (time of death) where she dragged Macbeth onto the floor while calling for "vendetta."   

The Serbian baritone Zeljko Lucic is singing even better than in his 2007 Met debut, with haunting legato just before he goes to his death. Bass René Pape and tenor Joseph Calleja added luster to the production in frustratingly small roles. Fabio Luisi led a brisk reading of the score. Donald Palumbo’s chorus was magnificent in the chilling lament of oppressed refugees and in rousing celebration of the death of Macbeth.

Adrian Noble’s production is set in a nondescript modern era. Men wear trench coats and carry semiautomatic weapons and the witches look like bag ladies from the 1950s. Yet we are frustrated if we try to incorporate Netrebko’s characterization into Noble’s concept. Are he and she implying that Hitler and Stalin were spurred to their actions by aggressive women? Was a femme fatale the dagger they saw before them? I don’t think so.

The production’s most effective scene was, and still is, at the banquet after Macbeth’s henchmen have murdered Banquo and that character suddenly appears as a ghost among the guests in a bloody white shirt. HD Director Gary Halvorson focused on close-ups of the stars, especially Netrebko and her cleavage.