"It's not hard to see why bel canto is making such a comeback. The fantasy of the winsome diva, the suggestiveness of those sweet-scented melodies, the outlandishness of those extraordinary vocal runs. As the economic climate turns ever grimmer, the fragrant reveries of Bellini and Donizetti will become ever more attractive. Economic imperatives demand it. And bel canto should profit", so according to Igor Torony-Lalic in The Times. He goes on: "As if the unlikely return of the Royal Opera's aged Capuleti wasn't enough, Welsh National Opera is touring a sunny 1950s-inspired take on Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore. Opera North produced its own version of Capuleti, normally a rarity, last year. And English Touring Opera is shortly to take one of the genre's undisputed masterpieces, Bellini's Norma, on the road, choosing to perform it in concert and dispense with the distraction of a plausible staging altogether".
"Why will the audiences be flocking in? Bel canto is all about candy for the ear and the eye. It is, in many ways, the escapist pursuit par excellence, relying on the oldest fantasy in the book: beauty. As the name implies, bel canto refers to those Italian operas written between 1805 and 1830 mainly by the likes of Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti. They put a premium on a vocal style that favoured smoothness, lightness and agility above everything else. The focus is vocal beauty over dramatic profundity. Or, as the venerable Grove Dictionary of Music puts it, on 'vocalisation devoid of content' ”.
Sucking on a Fisherman's Friend! Rupert Christiansen's review in the Daily Telegraph of this fabulous Royal Opera House production was marred by the incessant coughing of the audience - surely one of the most infuriating and distracting things. Some European opera houses present the audience with boiled sweets as they enter the auditorium.
Rupert (surely one of the most readable opera critics around) goes on to say: "
Only a week after Bryn Terfel and Anja Kampe had brought the house down in a new production of Die Fliegende Hollander, the Royal Opera offers us another sensational pairing of a rather different musical and dramatic kind. Elina Garanca and Anna Netrebko sing Romeo and Juliet in Bellini's version of the story, and they prove to be as wonderful live as they are on their just-released Deutsche Grammophon recording of the work.
Perhaps they wouldn't score straight tens with those who insist on the purest bel canto style: neither of them being native Italian (Garanca is Latvian, Netrebko Russian), their articulation and colouring of the text is imprecise. Netrebko lacks a firm trill, and Garanca's lowest register is relatively weak. But what fabulously healthy voices they both have, and how thrillingly they wield them, through melancholy aria, dramatic declamation and warmly blended duet.
Garanca's Romeo, looking good in principal-boy wig and tights, is a creature of swaggering bravado, vibrant in tone and confident in style. The audience rightly went wild for her. Netrebko presents a Juliet of naivete and ardour, her fearless spirit reflected in red-blooded singing irradiated by some ethereally floated top notes. You don't look to Netrebko for subtleties of interpretation – she's not a sensitive musician – but there's a passion and commitment in her artistry which charges her with electric star quality.
The performance was fortunate in having Mark Elder as its conductor. Having got off to a cracking start with a fiery account of the overture, he never let the pace sag thereafter, moulding the long expressive melodic lines with a firm hand. The orchestra played exceptionally beautifully for him, and even the rum-ti-tum episodes had dignity and purpose.
End of pagination