Domingo in Simon Boccanegra
Jul. 10th, 2010 10:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylStruck down by an appalling headache which wrote off most of the day, I rallied in time to watch the RoH's Simon Boccanegra on BBC2. The unique selling point of the performance was a chance to hear Placido Domingo tackling the baritone role of Simon. Fortunately he was rather good — I don't know the opera well enough to quibble over the music, but he really sold the great emotional moments. But it wasn't just Domingo's show. Both Ferruccio Furlanetto and Marina Poplavskaya, both of whom I enjoyed in last year's Don Carlos, were on good form, while Joseph Calleja was absolutely cracking as Adorno.
Even the BBC's production was enjoyable. Rather than cutting straight from scene to scene, they left the cameras running behind the curtains, capturing the frantic activity as the stage hands changes the props. And instead of linking the acts with a presenter front out house outlining the plot, they had short sections where Antonio Pappano introduced the action. Most of these were pre-recorded, but the final post-performance comments from Pappano were clearly done live — the woman behind him was clearly itching to push him on stage to take his call with the rest of the cast...
Even the BBC's production was enjoyable. Rather than cutting straight from scene to scene, they left the cameras running behind the curtains, capturing the frantic activity as the stage hands changes the props. And instead of linking the acts with a presenter front out house outlining the plot, they had short sections where Antonio Pappano introduced the action. Most of these were pre-recorded, but the final post-performance comments from Pappano were clearly done live — the woman behind him was clearly itching to push him on stage to take his call with the rest of the cast...
