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Review: ‘Les Contes d’Hoffmann’ at the Metropolitan Opera

Outpourings of lovelorn anguish: Matthew Polenzani, center, took over the title role in Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” at the Metropolitan Opera Saturday.Credit...Cory Weaver/Metropolitan Opera

“Les Contes d’Hoffmann”

Through March 21

Since returning to conducting almost two years ago after a series of injuries and illnesses, James Levine has been steadily increasing his performance load and meeting all his commitments. His work has been a little variable of late, sometimes lacking focus and energy and sometimes inspired as in the old days.

Saturday night was a very good one for Mr. Levine, who led a supple and insightful account of Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” at the Metropolitan Opera. This 2009 production, a phantasmagoric staging by the director Bartlett Sher, returned to the house in January with Yves Abel conducting and the tenor Vittorio Grigolo in the title role of the tormented poet Hoffmann, obsessed with fantasies of love for several women. For Mr. Levine’s run, there is a mostly new cast headed by Matthew Polenzani, singing his first Hoffmann at the house, a vocally compelling and emotionally rich account of a challenging role.

“Hoffmann,” Offenbach’s masterpiece, has long been a Levine specialty. He conveys the beguiling, lighter elements of the music while drawing intensity, depth and glowing sound from the orchestra when the drama turns fraught.

The title role is a balancing act, requiring both French lyric refinement and heroic fervor. Mr. Polenzani brings plenty of power to Hoffmann, capped by exciting high notes and outpourings of anguish. He especially won your heart, though, during the tender scenes, as when the delusional Hoffmann romances the mechanical doll Olympia, thinking her a captivating young woman.

The brilliant coloratura soprano Audrey Luna is sensational as Olympia, deftly dispatching passagework and tossing off jet-propulsion high notes. The mezzo-soprano Elena Maximova’s warm, textured voice is beautifully suited to Giulietta, a courtesan, another of Hoffmann’s ill-fated loves. The soprano Susanna Phillips doubles as Antonia, the frail, ill young woman who loves to sing, and, in the epilogue, Stella, the diva Hoffmann adores. She sings with melting sound and impassioned expressivity, though she had a tendency toward a slightly flat pitch. The baritone Laurent Naouri brings a robust voice and consummate French style to the four devilish villains.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section C, Page 2 of the New York edition with the headline: Metropolitan Opera. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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