Dietmar Pflegerl’s production of Giacomo Puccinis will last for over ten years Bohemian in the meantime resumed at the Graz Opera with nice regularity. The classical stage design reliably fulfills its task and charmingly carries away the numerous young opera newbies to Paris in the 19th century; thanks to the scenic rehearsals by Christian Thausing, the directing of the person appears as fresh as ever. The singing ensemble brought the characters to life with a lot of enthusiasm, but vocally – especially with the central couple of the evening – wishes remained unfulfilled.
Bohemian
© Werner Kmetitsch
–
–
From a technical point of view, there wasn’t much to complain about with Joanna Zawartko’s Mimì, if you disregard some of the forced tones that were probably due to the house debut nerves. However, that evening her soprano sounded significantly older than the singer herself; the timbre appeared dry and at times brittle, lacking youthful freshness and fullness and therefore did not really suit the romantic heroine. Only in gentle heights in the piano did the voice unfold as delicately as the flowers Mimì sings about. Another sticking point was the lack of chemistry with her stage partner Andrei Danilov, who slipped into the role of Rodolfo. Getting to know each other in the first act didn’t seem like the beginning of a magical romance, but more like an uncomfortable Tinder date, which is guaranteed to be followed by radio silence. Vocally, however, Danilov offered a lot of beautiful things: a colorful timbre, a safe and powerful treble and a differentiated design of the part consoled the fact that his tenor lacked enamel and Italianità.
Andrei Danilov (Rodolfo) und Joanna Zawartko (Mimì)
© Werner Kmetitsch
–
–
The second couple of the evening offered significantly more fire, both vocally and in terms of performance: Tetiana Miyus impressed as the capricious Musetta, especially in the second act with stage presence and glamor factor. With the crystal clear height of her soprano and clever phrasing, she skilfully wrapped both the audience and Marcello around her finger and in the fourth act she designed a touching, heartfelt prayer before Mimì’s death. Neven Crnić made his debut as Marcello in this performance and to hear how playfully his voice moved through the evening was pure pleasure. In addition to the vocal virtuosity, the multi-layered design of the character with vocal means also impressed, because every emotion – from melancholy to jealousy – found its equivalent in a suitable timbre.
Neven Crnić, Markus Butter, Dariusz Perczak, Andrei Danilov and Daeho Kim
© Werner Kmetitsch
–
–
As expected, Dariusz Perczak, who thrilled as Marcello in the last revival in 2017, turned out to be a luxury cast for the role of Shaunard. His baritone streamed elegantly through the game, and in the story of the poisoned parrot he was also able to demonstrate his comedic talent. Daeho Kim furnished the Colline with restrained nobility, with his warm timbred bass he drew the figure as a solid rock and put a wide range of emotions and timbres into his short aria. With Markus Butter, Ivan Oreščanin and Martin Fournier, three reliable ensemble members were called in for the roles of Benoît, Alcindoro and Parpignol; The ladies and gentlemen of the choir as well as the children’s choir clearly had fun spending another evening in Café Momus and combined joy of playing with beautiful sound.
Andrei Danilov (Rodolfo) und Joanna Zawartko (Mimì)
© Werner Kmetitsch
–
–
The Graz Philharmonic did not start the evening in a particularly discreet way, because what came out of the ditch was first and foremost gaudy and loud. Until the appearance of Mimì, chief conductor Roland Kluttig had captured his musicians again, reduced the dynamics a little and set finer accents, but even after that the orchestra lacked smoothness and feeling. Kluttig’s interpretation was undoubtedly precise and differentiated – for example, the falling snow in the third act sounded wonderfully glittering and gentle, and the withdrawal of the strings made the harp really come into its own in the romantic scenes between Mimì and Rodolfo – but Puccini’s had an effect Music too smooth due to the meticulous accuracy of the implementation. The numerous languishing heartache moments seemed more technically calculated than felt passionately, so that their effect could never fully unfold and even around Mimi’s death not a single tear filled my eyes.
***11
–
