Rossini’s La donna del lago, based on Sir Walter Scott’s poem, is a relatively late work in his brief and unbelievably industrious period of operatic composition. It has its passionate admirers — it is the only opera that Maurizio Pollini has conducted and recorded. The Royal Opera was seething with excitement on the first night of the production by John Fulljames, and the roar of acclamation at the end, which had been preceded by many during the performance, showed that the fashionable and expensive audience was well pleased with what it had seen and heard.
Some of the most spectacular vocal feats that the house has ever witnessed merited that reception: the two chief stars, Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez, were on simply staggering form, both of them, if possible, even surpassing the standards that they have set over the past few years. DiDonato is nothing short of miraculous in her capacity to spin endless lines of scarcely audible melody, rounded off with a seemingly endless trill that fades into nothingness, and making it all mean as much as possible, which is very little; while Flórez not only belts out the stratospheric notes that have made his name with all the effortlessness we are used to, but has also acquired a fuller, richer tone, so that he no longer almost yelps, but produces sumptuous sounds that, for lovers of that kind of thing, must provide the experience of a lifetime.
It would be most unfair to confine praise to them, though: the rest of the cast is impressive, and I felt particular admiration for Daniela Barcellona, in the kilt role of Malcom, Elena’s (that’s the Lady) true love, who has not only to appear dressed...
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