La traviata, Royal Opera House

4.00

 

Three years ago the Albanian soprano Ermonela
Jaho was virtually unknown in Britain.

Word began to filter out when she was flown in at twenty-four hours’ notice to stand in as Violetta for a sick Anna Netrebko in Covent Garden’s ‘La traviata’, and she did the part proud. Last autumn she was drafted in – again very late – to substitute for an ‘indisposed’ Anja Harteros in the title role of the ROH’s ‘Suor Angelica’, and her incarnation of the nun driven to suicide by news of her stolen child’s death was almost unbearably moving.

Now she’s back as Violetta in the third cast of the eighteenth revival of Richard Eyre’s sturdy production of Verdi’s tragedy. The first cast – led by Marina Poplavskaya as an armour-clad Violetta and James Valenti as an underpowered Alfredo - lacked stage chemistry. But from the moment Ermonela Jaho meets her Alfredo in the form of Stephen Costello in her glittering salon, you sense the electricity between them.

Jaho is both commanding and vulnerable as the convalescent heroine, and her dark, veiled sound creates a sense of time-warp: we’re not revisiting the era of Amelita Galli-Curci, but we’re definitely going in that direction. Jaho’s gestures and attitudes have an expressive grace for which Costello’s airy, boyish lyricism makes the ideal foil. And Jaho uses her first big aria to engage us powerfully in her predicament: this woman, you feel, really does know the toughness of life on the wrong side of the tracks.

But in Act Two she encounters Paolo Gavanelli as Alfredo’s father Germont: alas. The great scene in which she is persuaded to renounce her love should reflect a subtle emotional journey, but while Jaho breaks the heart – it’s like watching the life being crushed out of a bird - Gavanelli just booms on without even looking at her: how could any director permit such antique stand-and-deliver stuff? But with Germont gone, Jaho takes over with awe-inspiring authority. I have never seen the physical and psychological reality of untimely death portrayed as terrifyingly – and with singing of such harrowing beauty - as here. When Anna Netrebko returns to this role on January 17, she’ll have a hard act to follow. But in Maurizio Benini she’ll have the same excellent conductor.

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
News in pictures
World news in pictures
Arts & Ents blogs

Owen Howells: From the UK to Australia and back again (and again!)

Owen Howells is a DJ/producer who grew up in Australia but was born in the UK. He came back to the U...

Brighton Fringe 2013 – Is everyone sitting uncomfortably?

Fancy seeing a play about serial killers? How about inviting a funeral director into your home for a...

The Fall ‘Darkness Visible’ – Series 1, episode 2

There are a good many moments in the second episode of this psychological thriller that deserve refl...

       
Independent
Travel Shop
India and Shimla
14 nights from only £1899pp Find out more
Prague city break
Three nights from £199pp Find out more
4* Soreda hotel break, Malta
Seven nights all-inclusive from £399pp Find out more

ES Rentals

    James Pembroke: The man who's eaten everywhere

    The man who's eaten everywhere

    Few people know more about restaurants than James Pembroke, who only spent five mealtimes at home during his entire childhood.
    A Berliner in 1963 – but did John F Kennedy once admire Adolf Hitler?

    A Berliner in 1963 – but did John F Kennedy once admire Adolf Hitler?

    The young JFK praised 'superior' Nordic races during visits to Germany
    Banned Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof to attend Cannes Film Festival 2013, his first public appearance since prison

    Banned Iranian director to attend Cannes Film Festival

    Mohammad Rasoulof to make his first public appearance since being imprisoned three years ago
    Seeing the larger picture: Inspiring images of space

    Seeing the larger picture: Inspiring images of space

    An exhibition explores images how photography has shaped astronomy
    Eat Spam and carry on: Wartime pamphlets could teach us a thing or two about healthy, thrifty eating

    Eat Spam and carry on

    Wartime pamphlets could teach us a thing or two about healthy, thrifty eating
    Facial hair: Cat beards and the purrrsuit of excellence

    Facial hair

    Cat beards and the purrrsuit of excellence
    The 10 Best salt and pepper sets

    The 10 Best salt and pepper sets

    Whether they're for everyday use or to make your dining table look just right, it's worth getting a stylish shaker...
    Ferran Soriano: Predicting success if Manchester City 'vision' is followed

    Ferran Soriano: Predicting success if Manchester City 'vision' is followed

    Chief executive says trophies will come if a 'core' of suitable players is in place
    Thomas Müller: We couldn't handle losing a Champions League Final again

    Thomas Müller: We couldn't handle losing a Champions League Final again

    The Bayern Munich forward tells Tim Rich his side have to shed chokers' tag after two recent final defeats
    Giro d'Italia: The Stelvio Pass - cycling's killer climb

    The Stelvio Pass - cycling's killer climb

    As the Giro d'Italia tackles the brutal climb, Simon Usborne takes on the snow and switchbacks – and soon realises what the fuss is about
    National archives: Edward VIII’s phone calls - and how MI5 bugged them

    Edward VIII’s phone calls - and how MI5 bugged them

    Newly unearthed papers reveal a shocking extra dimension to the constitutional crisis over monarch’s abdication
    Sent down at the Old Bailey: A tour of the world's most famous court

    Sent down at the Old Bailey

    A tour of the world's most famous court
    Hollywood's random acts of red-carpet kindness

    Hollywood's random acts of red-carpet kindness

    The Hangover actor Zach Galifianakis’s date for his movie premieres isn’t arm candy  – it’s his 87-year-old friend who he saved from homelessness
    British football scores an own goal

    British football scores an own goal

    Many managers barely survive a year in post. Martin Baker talks to experts who make a case for clubs using forensic business skills to find the best staff
    James Lawton: Sergio Garcia cracks as major fault line opens up again

    James Lawton

    Sergio Garcia cracks as major fault line opens up again