United States Met: Live in HD – Cherubini’s Medea: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York / Carlo Rizzi (conductor). Broadcast reside (directed by Gary Halvorson) to the Barbican Cinema, London, 22.10.2022. (CC)
Production:
Director and Set designs – David McVicar
Costumes – Doey Lüthi
Lighting – Paule Constable
Movement director – Jo Meredith
Projection designer – S. Katy Tucker
Cast:
Medea – Sondra Radvanovsky
Glauce – Janai Brugger
Neris – Ekaterina Gubanova
Giasone – Matthew Polenzani
Creonte – Michele Pertusi
Sondra Radvanovsky has impressed audiences worldwide beforehand, however I ponder if this Medea on the Met – the opera’s first efficiency there – is her defining second regardless of her already being a worldwide star. One has to attend some time – fairly a protracted whereas – for Medea herself to make her mark however Cherubini permits his titular heroine a lot of the ultimate act to herself. Radvanovsky has huge footwear to fill, in fact – one Maria Callas gave her personal defining performances within the Fifties. Radvanovsky is the Medea of the 2020s, although, supported by David McVicar’s visceral manufacturing. No scarcity of flames right here, or darkish environment – and a moderately attention-grabbing trompe l’oeil utilizing mirrors to present extra-dimensional area to what we see – mightily spectacular within the cinema, for positive. A lady, mouth open, dominates the imagery, taking us again to Ancient Greece, however Radvanovsky persuades us that these feelings are everlasting, and as a lot of the now as of archaic instances.
This was the Metropolitan Opera’s first opera of its 2022/23 season, and what a solution to begin. Cherubini takes Euripides’s play by way of François-Benoir Hoffman’s libretto and forges a spectacular night of drama. The musical language sits between Classical and Romantic, Carlo Rizzi pitches the orchestral contribution completely, the Met Orchestra clearly loving each second.
In truth, with Rizzi within the pit, this was a decidedly energised night, the Sinfonia to Act I stuffed with verve, exceptionally reproduced by way of the Barbican Cinema’s loudspeakers, to not point out the stormier moments.
There is little question the plot of Medea is dramatic with Medea, the witch who within the closing act murders her personal youngsters. It was in that closing act the Radvanovsky completely shone. She is a soprano however with a developed decrease vary that works completely on this half. Her closing scenes have been extremely gripping, the vocal and the dramatic as one. She appeared to personal the function, completely dwelling each second whereas exhibiting whole vocal management.
It is uncommon to have a forged of this calibre in Medea, and the way it confirmed. Janai Brugger, who I’ve not heard ‘live’ earlier than, was a positive, agile Glauce; luxurious casting maybe for Michele Pertusi as Creonte (a fabulously agency bass), with Matthew Polenzani providing a robust Giasone (not a pleasant man within the story), whereas Ekaterina Gubanova’s Neris offered a ‘Solo un pianto’ (with its beautifully performed bassoon obbligato) that was markedly memorable.
It could be unconscionable to not point out the splendour of the Met’s refrain, a glory in and of itself and a significant a part of the motion.
McVicar’s darkish manufacturing, beautifully lit by the seemingly omnipresent Paule Constable, fits Cherubini’s masterwork beautifully, whereas Rizzi’s impeccable conducting all through ensured the work cohered completely. Let us hope his manufacturing makes it to Covent Garden, and allow us to hope that if that’s the case, it’s Radvanovsky who takes the titular function. A corker of a night, and whereas the Barbican’s sound system behaved completely, one does marvel simply how unimaginable this may have been skilled reside.
The Met: Live in HD expertise was all in place with the acquainted interviews and backstage manoeuvrings, all there to create environment. A wonderful reminder of the stature of Cherubini’s masterpiece – and a testomony to the artistry of Sondra Radvanovsky.
Colin Clarke