In San Francisco's current "Opera Rara" rah-rah, tonight's opening
performance of the original French-language, 1840 "La Favorite" was
a pleasant surprise.

There are two kinds of people:  those who love Donizetti and those
who try to put everything into categories.  Which is to say that
nobody doesn't like Gaetano.  What is there not to like -- gorgeous
melodies, exciting rhythms all over the place, even in his lesser-known,
infrequently-performed pieces.  "La Favorite" is firmly in that category,
with its dumb story (the king's mistress has a mister of her own, so there
is trouble), an extended ballet, a cute little bouncy theme running through
the score, etc.  -- but, by gum, it is Donizetti, and it's good.

So the question is about the performance.

Paced with commitment and passion by Marco Armiliato, it was a good, fun,
very *Italian* evening, with almost everybody in the cast singing in top
form.

Marcello Giordani, who had some unmemorable San Francisco visits, started
tonight in the role of Fernand as if were the bad old times again.  For a
while, the voice had no center, no security, but then the tenor took off
and never looked back.  Going up against the previous local standard of the
young Pavarotti in the role, Giordani had an impossible challenge, but he
created a new, different standard of his own in a remarkable performance.

The mistress of the title, Leonor, was sung by Sonia Ganassi, in her San
Francisco debut.  The Italian mezzo, much in demand everywhere these days,
has a beautiful voice and she sings well -- hers too was a good-to-great
performance, but I was troubled by the muscle-bound nature of the sound,
something wrong with the projection.  Her acting and focus are excellent:
she was *on* throughout the 18-minute ballet!

Vladimir Chernov is a strange man and stranger baritone yet, but his King
Alphonse was impressive tonight.  What he may be lacking in volume, he
makes up for in effort and projection.  His acting is vintage Kirov, and
apparently director Colin Graham couldn't do much about that.

Every time I hear Tammy Jenkins, I like her more, and that's not easy to do
because I was completely captivated when I heard her just arriving to the
Merola Program, a few years -- but several giant steps -- ago.  Given that
disclosure, it's not surprising that I liked her Ines enormously.  Jenkins
has a voice that's always *alive*, excited and exciting, perfectly
modulated, gorgeously projected.

That's how Kevin Langan used to sound to me, but lately, there has a been
a noticable decline in the voice.  His Balthazar tonight was fine, but not
as broad and resonant as one expects.

Beyond the individual performances, there was a fine ensemble sound that
made the evening especially enjoyable.

John Coyne's set is interesting and, by and large, it works:  a single
central platform is surrounded by projected images and mirrors on the side.
The set's simplicity and functionality is marred, however, by the statues
of saints suspended on poles all around, and remaining in place all evening
long.  However much deep symbolism may be at work here, to us, the
unsophisticated, it just looks too damn silly.

Back to the good news again:  French version and all, this is a great
little Italian opera we are having in the War Memorial (through Oct.
16), with fine Italian conductor heading a very satisfying performance.

Janos Gereben/SF
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