[...] The central pairing of Angela Gheorghiu as Mimì and Joseph Calleja as Rodolfo was one of two things that raised this above the merely good into the realm of the special. I have never seen a more moving account of those two famous arias from the end of the first act (Rodolfo's Che gelida manina and Mimì's Sì, mi chiamano Mimì), nor of the heart-rending duet that follows (O soave fanciulla). Both singers have that wonderful ability of being able to direct their voices over the orchestra without ever sounding like they are straining. Gheorghiu also brought a speech-like expressivity to the quieter passages and Calleja that ringing ardour that one always longs to hear from a lyric tenor. And if this opera is one of self-indulgence, the empathetic pleasure was helped along immeasurably by the sparks flying between the two. In the third act, where they almost accidentally decide to wait until spring to split up (no one can be truly alone in the spring), it was as if they were two poles of a magnet ineluctably drawn together. And near the end of the opera, when the dying Mimì interrupts the youthful tomfoolery of the quartet of friends, their caresses seemed achingly genuine. [...]
.Read Marc Brooks's entire review on Musical Criticism
.
There are two more reviews in German online newspapers
*Abendzeitung Munchen
*Merkur Online
.
0 comments:
Post a Comment