Metropolitan Opera- Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Rossini is not particularly emotionally deep or heart wrenching. It therefore takes especially gifted singers who seem to be playing with the music in order to have a visceral effect on the audience. It is also very easy to sing it poorly, as was evident on October 10. Barry Banks gave us a bright toned and headache causing rendition of Count Almaviva. His thin and motor vibrato voice was an easy recipe for falling asleep. Rossini is considered bel canto singing, meaning beautiful voice. When sung well it can be light, delicate, well controlled, pleasurably dramatic, and a chance for singers to show off their vocal technique. It certainly should not include superficial acting or forced vibrato. When the listener can't tell the difference between melodic embellishments and a heavy vibrato, we have a problem. Joyce di Donato was the only thing resembling enjoyable bel canto singing. Thank God she was solid in the role of Rosina. Practically everyone else either tired me out from searching too hard for their melody or bored me with their predictability in doing so. Bel canto singing is like a trapeze artist- The performer either makes it through the routine ending on his or her two feet, or they fall flat on their face and get injured. There is no faking here. That is not to say there is no room for a little improvisation. That certainly would have kept me awake.

A conductor should not rush tempos in Rossini. There is no need. All the drama is there, waiting to be exploited if the proper time is taken between phrases. Bel canto music used to be my favorite to play on clarinet because it was the only time I could be a true diva when playing. All was mine for the ravaging. There are so many interpretive choices in the music that it never has to be played the same twice. Maurizio Benini led the orchestra brilliantly, making great use of the ‘Rossini crescendo’ and the richness of the strings. His tempos were at times too fast though, the singers sometimes stumbling to keep up.

Bartlett Sher’s production kept the opera fresh and entertaining, at times doing a better job at pulling out the sarcastic humor than the performers were doing. I left after the first act, having had enough of the screaming tenor.