Patrick Furrer, Conductor; Sonya Yoncheva, Élisabeth De Valois; Jamie Barton, Eboli; Matthew Polenzani, Don Carlos; Eric Owens, Philippe II; Etienne Dupuis, Rodrigue Marquis de Posa; John Relyea, Grand Inquisitor; Director, David Mcvicar; Set Design, Charles Edwards
So – this was my first trip after two weeks of isolation from anything social at all! Don Carlos is a work I have never seen live and, indeed, have never even heard extracts in recordings (though I did, somehow, recognise the brotherhood theme which Carlos and Posa sing, and also the opening Act 4 soliloquy by the King seemed vaguely familiar).
At coming up to 5 hours with two intervals, it felt a bit of a slog. Based on Schiller, the libretto is, in operatic terms, sensible, and, really, in its treatment of political themes of liberation and oppression, there are very interesting things one could do in staging the work (and I am sure there have been such interesting stagings and thrilling contemporary settings over the years). However, this wasn’t one of them. It was an entirely realistic, historically-bound staging, with the usual massive Met sets – huge grey walls, pillars, tombs, and costumes were strictly 16th century. The cast varied in their acting ability – Posa was, particularly in close-up for camera, very good indeed, Eboli was always very watchable, while some of the rest were either fairly stolid or – in the case of the Inquisitor – hamming it up. Nor was the singing always as good as I could imagine it might be in a different setting – Jamie Barton was tremendous, with a very varied and nuanced delivery, and Matthew Polenzani and Etienne Dupuis were both sensitive singers, able to deal easily with the considerable requirements of their roles. I found Yoncheva less than overwhelming – she seems to have one of those impressive voices that sound just a little out of control (though there was at times some lovely soft singing) and with noisy intakes of breath; her voice in summary sounded a bit effortful. Eric Owens sounded in not very good voice and seemed not to have much of a stage presence – he also didn’t seem to be pointing his words much. He felt to me to be chilled rather than a figure of menace. Yannick Nézet-Séguin was indisposed and Patrick Furrer, one of the Met music staff, stepped in to conduct, with great success.
Probably a first and last time for me – and now I have heard the French version I think I’ll give the Italian one a miss……… I’m left wondering why this work had so little impact on me, when by contrast the Requiem and Otello I’ve loved for over 50 years (and indeed some of the thematic material of Don Carlos did seem to my ears to have links with the Requiem). Was it the number of big roles the work required, which leads in the last two acts to some, perhaps Buggins-turn, arias which don’t take the story forward. Was the basic plot not energising and inspirational enough for Verdi, or maybe too complex? Is the basic melodic material not memorable enough because Verdi was deliberately limiting his lyrical gifts in order to be ‘serious:’? But Aida also deals with similar issues yet is a much more direct and melodically memorable experience…… As I say, I’m not sure…..Maybe it’s my problem rather than the work’s.
John's musical journey 