Verdi’s opera Simon Boccanegra may lack the spectacle of his Aida or the gloriously tuneful arias of Rigoletto, but the power of the music is as strong as in those more popular works, especially when performed with such potency as the Royal Orchestra House orchestra under Hungarian conductor Henrik Nanasi. This classical staging by Elijah Moshinsky is as starkly effective as when it was first seen in 1991 and provides the perfect setting for this tale of villainry, violence and intrigue in 14th century Italy.
The hugely convoluted plot is set up with a prologue detailing the election of military hero Simon Boccanegra as Doge of Genoa. He is persuaded to stand by his supposed ally, the scheming Paolo whose motives, we suspect, may be less about friendship that self-serving ambition.
He convinces Boccanegra to stand by pointing out that election to high office may gain Boccanegra the esteem of the aristocratic Jacopo Fiesco whose daughter Maria is Boccanegra’s beloved and the mother of his illegitimate child.
Just as he is elected, however, Boccanegra discovers that Maria, who has been imprisoned by her dad to stop her seeing Boccanegra, has died suddenly.
Cut to 25 years later, when Boccanegra is still doge, has banished or imprisoned his enemies, including Fiesco, for trying to overthrow him, but has managed to lose the daughter Amelia he had with Maria and she is now in a convent, unaware of her identity and in love with a nice tenor called Adorno.
Unfortunately, the old schemer Paolo wants to marry Amelia and expects Boccanegra to assist him in that aim. When Boccanegra refuses to do so, Paolo plans to have him killed.
Well I told you it was hugely convoluted, and that is only the start. So let us get on with praising some of the performers. When I last saw this production a few years ago, the great Placido Domingo was in the title role.
This time, it was Spanish baritone Carlos Alvarez and he acted the role with superb authority and dignity and sang with great power and clarity, beautifully conveying the emotions of the final scene when he realises he has been poisoned.
American baritone Mark Rucker was delightfully sinister as the evil Paolo and Italian tenor Francesco Meli was the exact opposite as Adorno, bringing a voice of impressive power, finesse and compassion to the role. With Armenian soprano Hrachuri Bassenz completing the main roles in the cast as a delightfully innocent Amelia, the opening night audience was treated to a splendid evening’s entertainment, all brought together by Nanasi’s fine understanding of Verdi’s music.
It is perhaps fair to say that there was no outstanding performance, but overall it was as perfect an ensemble production as one could wish for.
