Seemingly long ago, but actually only 2-3 years back, when San Francisco
still had a football team, there was the fabled "West Coast Offense," Bill
Walsh's brilliant and successful invention.
But now, with the Forty-Niners just a dim memory, there is Donald
Runnicles' "West Coast Mozart," heard in its full glory tonight at the
SF Opera's third performance of "Idomeneo."
With a dream cast and the Opera's music director in the Zone, this was
an evening right out of the Adler playbook some two decades ago.
This was Mozart with cojones: Runnicles propelled the music exactly right,
balanced it perfectly, allowed it to breathe (even if his own breathing is
getting dangerously close to the dreaded Ozawa Snort) -- offering a
powerful, purposeful, and yet lyrically beautiful Mozart.
Please disregard my previous gushing about Barbara Bonney's Ilia and
Vesselina Kasarova's Idamante. I was wrong. They are really far superior
to what I said.
Tonight, Bonney brought Schwarzkopf to mind with her softly beautiful,
elegant stage presence, clean voice, pure phrasing -- less power than
Schwarzkopf, but nothing idiosyncratic... "just" the music. There is none
better today for the female approximation of brilliant castrato singing
than Kasarova. The voice and technique only serve the performance: her
"Padre!" spanned time and emotions, it tore at the heart. Their duets were
convincingly passionate, their interaction turned this allegedly "static"
opera into a gripping drama.
While I am still missing the sheen, the velvet that used to characterize
Goesta Winbergh's voice, his work in the title role here is quite
wonderful: a noble, grand performance. Carol Vaness' Elettra is the last
hurrah in a great career of ups and downs, one which began with this role
-- a revelation back then, something striking and memorable now, more than
two decades later.
If you're in the area (or even if you're not), forget preconceived notions
about this allegedly "minor Mozart," and hear a spectacular production.
The present cast will remain intact on Nov. 23, Anna Netrebko replaces
Bonney on Dec. 1, 5 and 11.
Janos Gereben/SF
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