Celeste Amneris?

Aida

Music by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni
Performance of Monday night, February 13, 2005, the 1,092nd Metropolitan Opera performance of this work.

Conductor: James Conlon

Aida: Andrea Gruber
Radames: Johan Botha
Amneris: Olga Borodina
Amonasro: Juan Pons
Ramfis: Kwangchoul Youn
The King of Egypt: Hao Jian Tiang
Messenger: Ronald Naldi
Priestess: Jennifer Check

Actually, the title of this post comes from an article or in one of the major opera magazines (probably Opera News, but I'm not so sure) to find a way to make a really long opera really short. The winner went something like: "Rhinemaidens: 'Give us back our gold!' Alberich: 'OK!'" The number two winner was "Radames comes out and sings 'Celeste Amneris'"!

Humor aside, Amneris should be "celeste": an antagonist, yes, but not the outright villain even many of the greatest mezzos (e.g. Fedora Barbieri and Giulietta Simionato) make her; someone who you can feel a twinge of pity for that she can't have Radames and who is as worthy of being loved as much as Aida is. After all, as many opera fans know, Verdi was considering calling this opera Amneris instead of Aida. Thanks to Olga Borodina, a serious candidate for the greatest dramatic mezzo of our age, that was definitely the opera's title in last night's performance. I suspect this would have been true even with a superior singer in the title role. In fact, Olga (1) was the primary reason I made a return visit to this opera this season after seeing it in October.

While Olga cannot compete with the equally marvelous Dolora Zajick for sheer blood and gut vocalism (although her voice is hardly small), she more than makes up for it in terms of nuance, tenderness, and humanity. In fact, vulnerability is one of her strongest suits. This Amneris is clearly a woman on the wrong end of a love triangle, flawed by jealousy but by no means a villain. Listening to her is like wallowing in... I don't know... molten butterscotch? Her timbre is incredibly rich, warm, and ductile, with an almost contraltoish bottom, easy high notes, beautiful phrasing and enormous dynamic and expressive variety. If she is not a "great actress" she still exudes nobility and dignity as much as haughtiness. The Judgement Scene is an utter triumph. My only problem is I would have liked to have seen even half as much expression in her face as I heard in her voice.

[By the way, I hope to have a post up in a few days called "Amneris as 'Pharoah's Daughter'". I mean the one in Shmot (Exodus).]

The first time I heard Johan Botha in Italian opera was about 10 years ago on a CD called The Puccini Experience, where he sang (not very well) many of the major Puccini heroes - in fact, my thought at the time was he was really an overparted comprimario. Far more impressive, I thought, were baritone Anthony Michaels-Moore and a then virtually unknown soprano ... named Angela Gheorghiu. I later heard bits of him in Elektra that was much more impressive, and I figured he was simply better in German opera than in Italian. His Met debut was as Canio in Pagliacci, and I remember by being shocked at how good he was on the broadcast. While I have been very impressed with his Met work in German opera, I hadn't had the chance to hear him in Italian live until now (I missed his Calaf last year, purported to be excellent). Like Ben Heppner, whose German repertory he often shares, his is an essentially lyric, clarion voice, and he took a welcome lyric approach to the role. I was delighted that he actually attempted (although, admittedly, did not quite succeed) to sing the final high B flat in "Celeste Aida" piano, pianissimo, morendo. If anything, his Radames was so sweet and loving that I couldn't imagine him hurting a fly, let alone ransacking Ethiopia! I also admit I prefer a fuller voice in this role. I'll be very happy to hear him sing the title role in Don Carlo next year. However, one of my sources sources sources spoke to Mr. Botha and says that he will be singing Otello at the Met in 2007-2008! That I'm not so sure is a good idea, despite Heppner's triumph.

By the way, Botha's reasonably new disc of Wagner arias on the Arte Nova label, conducted by Simone Young, is wonderful.

I tend to think of Juan Pons as a house baritone - he's at the Met less for the quality of his singing than the fact that he's extremely reliable and dependable and he does what he's told. I also suspect that the fact that he is managed by Herbert Breslin had a lot to do with his long Met career - if you wanted Luciano Pavarotti, you had to take the rest of Breslin's roster (2). I often find him very dull, although because he is often loud, he gets lots of applause. I will, however, give him credit for being a good actor, and his hulking presence is a plus as, say, Rigoletto. Here he gave a good, solid, decently acted but ultimately not very memorable performance - I would have particularly liked more tenderness and/or wheedling in the Nile Scene.

Kwangchoul Youn was certainly a great improvement over Paata Burchuladze earlier - with a firm, clear, focused, well-projected voice as well as an air of authority and supercilliousness. Admittedly, he doesn't have the kind of presence that someone like Rene Pape might, but ironically enough, I think Pape has only sung the King and not Ramfis. I certainly don't think Youn could do the kind of justice to King Marke (which he will apparently be singing in 2007-2008) that Pape could, but maybe a harder, colder Marke might work. However, I would love to hear Youn as Colline, because, as a French critic said about Ildebrando D'Arcangelo in the role for the Decca La Boheme recording with Alagna and Gheorghiu, he actually sounds like a student instead of a dean of the faculty (and if you look at his headshot in the Met Season Book, he looks like one too, especially with the glasses). Incidentally, I wouldn't mind hearing Olga's fab (maybe khorosho is a better word) husband Ildar Abdrazakov as Ramfis, although he also sounds like a young man.

Hao Jiang Tian was an excellent King, if not quite as hugely sonorous as Morris Robinson. This is another singer for whom it is long past time for the Met to be offering major roles - the closest so far have been Timur and Colline. Ronald Naldi as the Messenger was his usual pleasant, reliable self.

And then there's Andrea Gruber.

Oy vey.

Unlike some opera bloggers, I really don't enjoy saying nasty things about singers. Per a number of people I talked to, this was by no means her only bad night. I'll be nice and say I just hope she's having a temporary bad stretch or has been adversely affected by the weather. I suspect, though, that singing Minnie - a known "voice killer"- at Covent Garden this past September probably wasn't the wisest thing to do. I will give her credit for intensity and passion, especially in the first act, as well as some interesting acting choices - for example when she said "Mio padre!" after the Egyptians sing "Amonasro!" "Il Re!", she was absolutely thrilled and proud of her father - for most sopranos, it's a moment of terror or at least secrecy. Or her whispered "Sventurata! Che dissi?"And the top of her voice - rather steely - isn't too bad (despite a high C in "O patria mia" that made me wince), and neither is the very bottom. But the middle of her voice is squally, edgy and curdled, and much of her pianissimo singing was very unpleasant. It was a performance where might wish for the High Priestess (in this case the marvelous and still very underrated Jennifer Check - when is the Met going to give her a major role?) to have sung the title role instead! I'm also by no means the only one who was rather desperately wishing for Angela Brown (whose Met debut in this I missed due to financial hardship, but everybody I know raved and I loved her spirituals album), who was unfortunately in Philadelphia wowing audiences as Cilla in Margaret Garner. At least she is supposedly coming back not only for Aida but also for Un Ballo in Maschera in 2007-2008.

It didn't help matters that the wig Gruber was wearing made her look like some comedienne - Chloris Leachman? A taller Rhea Pearlman? Possibly marvelous New Age composer Constance Demby? A pity as her publicity shots show her as a white-haired glamor lady.

I'll just say that if this is not something temporary that Gruber can fix (and I sincerely hope it is), the Met shouldn't rehire her - and if future performances are this bad, the Met should just buy out her contract. After all, if some far superior singers (Swenson, Hong, Radvanovsky) might have that happen (I hope not), why not her? Admittedly, the Turandot scheduled for next year might work - although I'm sure there are better casting choices - but I'm not looking forward to her Tosca.

I actually noticed James Conlon's conducting this time - notably detail and subtlety in the Prelude, and the fact that he took Ramfis' cries of "Radames! Radames! Radames!", and their echoes in the brass, much faster than usual. I also noted excellent support for Olga during the Judgement Scene - which she did not have under Carlo Rizzi in 1999. I still want to hear a lot more of Conlon before I can judge whether he's a fit replacement for James Levine whenever he leaves (2071, at this rate!). However, I have heard rumors that Peter Gelb is talking to Tony...


(1) Yes, she is one of the artists, like Roberto, Angela, Bryn and Tony, who I think of on a first name/nickname basis. Actually, I tend to think of her as "Olllllllllgaaaaaaa".
(2) This is standard with a lot of managements - you want the big star(s), you have to take the lesser names (and occasionally talents). Admittedly, this is how a lot of young unknowns get exposure.