A fantastic Verdi but Domingo is starting to fade: I Due Foscari at the Royal Opera House 

By Tully Potter

Published: | Updated:

Domingo: 'The 73-year-old’s voice lacks the cello-like legato and dramatic thrust (the Ferrari-like vroom and snarl) of an Italianate baritone'

Domingo: 'The 73-year-old’s voice lacks the cello-like legato and dramatic thrust (the Ferrari-like vroom and snarl) of an Italianate baritone'

I Due Foscari (Royal Opera House) 

Rating: 4 Star Rating

If you fancy hearing two terrific young Italian singers really lighting up the stage with all-out, committed singing, this production of Verdi’s sixth opera — based on a play by Byron — is definitely for you.

Maria Agresta, making her Royal Opera debut, is the best new Verdi soprano I’ve heard for years, with a superbly grounded, intense dramatic voice.

And tenor Francesco Meli, already known for his Duke in Rigoletto, seems better than ever as the younger of The Two Foscari of the title.

In the key part of Francesco Foscari, ageing Doge of Venice, Placido Domingo (pictured) is still a magnificent man of the theatre but sounds like what he is: a superannuated tenor.

The 73-year-old’s voice lacks the cello-like legato and dramatic thrust (the Ferrari-like vroom and snarl) of an Italianate baritone.

The opera is more about ideas and confrontations than action, and smaller roles such as Loredano are undeveloped.

Yet it is a marvellous sing, and maestro Antonio Pappano keeps up the tension from the pit.

However, Kevin Knight’s set reduces the magnificence of 15th-century Venice to a semblance of a ruined Great Western Railway shunting shed. Thankfully, Mattie Ullrich’s costumes manage to restore some balance.

Director Thaddeus Strassberger has me guessing with some effects.

Why are various women being ill-treated on the margins of some scenes? But several tableaux work well.

Try to see a live cinema presentation of Monday’s performance (roh.org.uk/cinema). November 3’s performance is on Radio 3.

 

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