OPERA
Two revivals
Hugh Macpherson
nfl The Covent Garden re vival of Tosca is of vival of Tosca is of special interest because of the debut of the Spanish tenor, Placido Domingo, as Cavaradossi. When I last heard him, recording a television gala performance, he struck me as having a voice of great beauty a voice of great beauty but lacking in fire. This, however, was the very quality that excited particularly in the ringing top Cs in the second act. The voice has a rich mellow quality in every other register which reveals the fact that he is a reformed baritone and I can well understand why he has been so acclaimed round the world. His acting is that of the amiable Latin lout temporarily off the beach, with no hint of his aristocratic background, but it has a direct virility which is wholly acceptable, and after a bout of arm-waving in Recondita armonia,' which is reminiscent of Mr Bergonzi's impersona tion of a bookie's tic-tac man, he moves well on stage. Kostas Paskalis, the Greek baritone, is an artist I have admired before. He gave us an arresting Macbeth, and a highly intelligent Rigoletto. His acting was wholly convincing in these testing roles, as indeed it is as Scarpia, apart from a slight touch of the Ziegfeld Follies when Tosca performs her uninvited tracheotomy with the fruit knife. The voice was, however, a sad disappointment on the night I heard him, only becoming dominating near the top, and at times almost unaudible in its lower register. This was a pity for his Scarpia seems sinister enough. Gwyneth Davies sings strongly, acts well but somehow never really projects the powerful personality that Tosca must be — although, in the last act, with Mr Domingo in splendid voice, she suddenly comes alive. The production is intelligent, the sets are splendid and Edward Downes keeps the tension of this splendid melodrama at a high pitch just as he does so well in middle Verdi.
Michael Geliot's highly original production of Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust has been revived at the Coliseum — an attempt to make original contact with the kind of people who are interested in music, who are of a modern turn of mind and not necessarily aficionados of the operatic art. Janet Baker sings with that rare sensitivity we have almost started to take for granted; and the show employs the largest cyclorama in the world on which are projected split images which roughly reflect the course of action. It enraged many critics and, as was the case with Cav and Fag,' delights the customers. Personally I enjoyed it. The role of Mephistopheles is one of the finest things that Raimund Herincx has yet done: his large dark voice dominates the thickest orchestral textures and every word is clearly audible. Alberto Remedios had some bronchial trouble on the first night and the C Sharps were perilously attained and, indeed, precipitately abandoned; but Robert Lloyd, a newcomer to the role of Brander, is yet another bass whom the Wells have uncovered in recent years with a promising future. The orchestra responds vigorously enough to Charles Mackerras who always seems to get more than anyone else out of all the musicians and singers at the Coliseum. There should be more performances of this enterprising venture.
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