The orchestra was front and center tonight in Davies Hall - physically,
musically, authentically.  The San Francisco Symphony and the Symphony
Chorus, driven powerfully (and yet without over-reaching) by Michael
Tilson Thomas, reached deep within for a blazing finale.

In the performance of the second half of Act 2, MTT's performance danced
with a manic intensity and rhythmic excitement reminiscent of his mentor,
Leonard Bernstein.  There can be many other approaches to "Fidelio," but
it doesn't get any more gripping than this.

 From the beginning, the orchestra - especially the strings and the
woodwinds - played in a spacious, luxurious way, with assurance and
without fault.  In the climactic passages, not once did MTT allow the
performance to become vulgar, overblown.  When the score called for it,
the music was powerful, notes, phrasing, dynamics all exactly right.
It's a pity that the "Leonore Overture No. 3" was not included - it
would have been tremendous.

Oh, yes, there was singing too, some outstanding, all fine.  Robert
Gambill's Florestan was the star attraction, the big man from Indiana,
with a major Wagnerian career in Europe, gave an impressive demonstration
of combining heldentenor power, lyric-tenor beauty, and sustained
intensity.  The other big impression was made by Daniel Borowski in the
tiny role of Don Fernando, a very young and very "noble bass" from Poland
making a grand debut in San Francisco.

The Leonore was Tina Kiberg, a tall, masculine soprano (physically
perfect for the role), from the Royal Opera House of Copenhagen, where
her husband, Stig Andersen, is the company's leading heldentenor.  In
the first act, Kiberg gave a mixed impression - the voice too low,
mezzo-ish, projection somewhat mushy.  She tried hard - too hard - in
"Abscheulicher!" but except for the last few bars, it was not a performance
to meet the (impossible) challenge.  On the other hand, once she sang
with Gambill, it was another ballgame, and Kiberg overcame all obstacles,
fully owned the role in the end.

At 63 and with an amazing four-decade-long career, Paul Plishka more
than holds his own.  His Rocco was musically and dramatically impeccable.
Tom Fox's Don Pizarro had more bark than bite, but Anna Christy and Eric
Cutler (Marzelline and Jaquino) were delightful.

Stephen Pickover's direction of the "semi-staged" production was OK, but
the proceedings were much more "semi" than last year's dramatic, memorable
"Dutchman." Daniel Hubp's scenic design, with chains hanging about and
a pair of half-arches did the job.

L. Peter Callender gave as much spirit and dignity to an inane narrative
framework as humanly possible.  "My name is...  never mind," the narration
begins (huh?), going on to such gems as "a prison...  the stuff of
nightmares...  still has to be staffed," and describing Pizarro as a
middle-management executive, making some mistakes.  "Two hundred years
later," Callender was made to intone, "the piece still says something."
This greasy kidstuff has nothing to do with the majesty of the work, the
excellence of the performances.  It stinks.

Symphony management is likely to disclaim it, but I suspect occasional
use of some kind of amplification or "enhancement" for the voices,
especially in Act 1.  The elementary forces unleashed in Act 2 made
that issue moot.

There is only one more performance, Saturday night.  See www.sfsymphony.org.

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
[log in to unmask]