LA TRAVIATA
Royal Opera House Covent Garden, January, 2008
The Violetta for our time
By Andrew Clark, Financial Times, January 15, 2008
Once in a generation a prima donna takes ownership of a role in a way none of her peers can do. Anna Netrebko has achieved this as Violetta, and the proof is there for all to see and hear in Covent Garden's revival of La traviata. Netrebko, who has already triumphed in the part in Vienna and Salzburg, does not redefine or reinvent it. She simply is the Violetta for our age, able to cast her spell over a performance by virtue of "period-perfect" looks, a voice that glides over the many technical and musical hurdles Verdi throws in her path, and a big-night temperament.
Netrebko is such a package for the role that the entire theatre submits to her spell. This is relevant not just to her great solo scenas at the end of the first act and the start of the third, but also to her ability to raise the whole temperature and quality of performance going on around her, and the way her pre-eminence puts the stagey opulence of Richard Eyre's production into proper perspective. This is the interpretation Eyre's ultra-traditional Traviata has been waiting for, and I doubt whether, since its opening night with Solti and Gheorghiu 13 seasons ago, it has been received with such rapture as it was on Monday. Netrebko's is an old-fashioned triumph, signalling the power of a singer to enthral by virtue of polish, charisma and professional confidence.
La Traviata: 5 stars
By Tim Ashley, The Guardian, January 16, 2008
Truly great performances of Verdi's La Traviata come along once in a generation, and this astonishing revival of Richard Eyre's 1994 Royal Opera production may well go down in history as one of the defining operatic experiences of our times. Conducted by Maurizio Benini, it stars Anna Netrebko as Violetta, Jonas Kaufmann as Alfredo and Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Germont. Giving three of the finest performances you will ever see, they challenge many of our most deeply held assumptions about this most familiar of operas.
Netrebko's Violetta is, first and foremost, a woman who is already mortally ill and avid for some deep emotional experience that will give the rest of her life meaning. Swigging champagne in an attempt to fend off coughing fits, prone to terrifying attacks of breathlessness and emitting a tubercular hack that makes your throat constrict with empathy, she realises the symptoms of encroaching consumption with a veracity of which only the greatest actors are capable. The sexual chemistry between Netrebko and Kaufmann, meanwhile, is tangible in the physicality with which they initially approach each other, and which tellingly persists, even at Flora's party, when they are facing catastrophe.
Netrebko also reminds us - more vividly than any other recent interpreter - that Violetta's tragedy is not only that she agrees to Germont's moral demands, but that she accepts the value system of a society that deems her a whore. When Kaufmann flings his gambling winnings at her and tells her he is paying her off, she rubs the money over her body in a terrifying act of self-denigration. The much-cut section of Addio del Passato, meanwhile, in which Violetta imagines herself buried in unconsecrated ground, is restored and tellingly becomes one of the focal points of Netrebko's interpretation.
All three, meanwhile, take colossal vocal and dramatic risks. Netrebko's voice often blazes with warmth and opulence, though she also deploys throttled pianissimos to convey both the ravages of disease and the agonies of uncertainty
Sell the Ferrari for Tickets to 'Traviata'
By Warwick Thompson, Bloomberg, January 16, 2008
The Royal Opera audience had the expectant look of chicks with their beaks open. Outside, ticket touts were demanding extortionate amounts. Elderly patrons on crutches rushed past as the final bell rang.
Such was the pulling power of glamorous soprano Anna Netrebko, who made her debut as Violetta in Verdi's "La Traviata'' (1853) at Covent Garden in London. Fortunately, it was worth all the brouhaha.
Looking porcelain-fragile in a tight bodice and creamy crinoline folds, Netrebko sat still and pensive as the overture played. As Act 1 unfolded, it became clear that stillness and quiet intensity were to mark her performance.
When she wanted to signal her despair at the repeat of "Sempre libera" (Always free), she reined in her dark rich voice to a pianissimo and drew us in to the character's inner turmoil. Acquiescing later to demands to sacrifice her lover, she sang in a whisper blanched of all emotion.
Yet she also could stoke her dramatic fire when she wanted, and her fiery cry of "morir si giovine"' ("to die so young") in her death scene was heartbreaking.
She also took a great risk in singing several passages to the back of the stage. The effect was remarkable, as if Violetta were searching for some private clue to her destiny.
Her acting was full of such detailed touches. After her lover Alfredo had callously thrown his gambling chips at her in another scene, she scrabbled around on the floor to pick them up and then cried as she held them against her face. It was a powerful way of suggesting that she accepted, in despair, his valuation of her as a prostitute.
La Traviata: 5 stars
By Richard Morrison, The Times, January 15, 2008
Until last night sheer bad luck had shielded me from the full-on Anna Netrebko experience. But now that I've seen, heard, and inwardly drooled over the sensational 36-year-old Russian soprano at first hand, there's no going back.
Shaken, stirred, and still quivering at the knees, I'm an altered man.
The odd thing is that Richard Eyre's 13-year-old Royal Opera staging - hot on period detail, and flaunting surely the largest lampshade in London, but a little tepid in the debauchery department - doesn't even give Netrebko the chance to display her famed visual divertissements.
When she played Violetta in a modern-dress Salzburg production of Verdi's opera recently, her little red frock was widely considered the most exciting thing to happen in Austria since the war.
In Covent Garden's crinolines, by contrast, she has to do it all with charisma and voice. But boy, does she do it! This is a Violetta whose every passing feeling - of hope and hopelessness, regret and resignation, passion and pain - is writ large not just in her face and gesture but in her singing as well.
I expected effortlessly commanding top notes and peachy tone, but not the wonderfully subtle variations in colour and phrasing. And the way she turns her final aria from deathbed murmur to fierce, fatalistic cry of pride and defiance is mesmerising.
If you like your fallen women wan and limpid, look elsewhere. Netrebko's Violetta - glowing with inner fervour, even at the end - doesn't have an ounce of self-pity. But she is utterly convincing and utterly natural. She seems to be concocting her thoughts, her words, even the very notes she sings, as she goes.
www.musicomh.com, January 15, 2008:
Anna Netrebko and Jonas Kaufmann are a physically beautiful and musically sensational pairing as Violetta and Alfredo. Their increasingly intense and passionate relationship provided the focus to the first night of this gripping revival.
Netrebko was exceptional. Here is a true singing actress, blessed with a gloriously rich, luxurious soprano, and also with completely convincing dramatic powers. Her Violetta approached death in the most convincing and captivating manner, spluttering, flailing and collapsing, every move truthful and fully integrated into the committed characterisation. And her voice bloomed in the lyrical piano lines of Act Two and harrowed in Act Three. It was Netrebko's and Kaufmann's night, and a complete standing ovation from the Stalls at the opera's conclusion said a lot about how affecting an evening's entertainment this had wonderfully turned out to be.
Be seduced by a superstar
By Fiona Maddocks, Evening Standard, January 15, 2008
As a shower of golden glitter tumbled down on the chorus of partying champagne drinkers in the opening scene of La Traviata, it was clear there was one place to be last night. The start of Covent Garden's 2008 season, a revival of Richard Eyre's much-loved staging of Verdi's masterpiece, was a triumph of operatic spectacle with three outstanding singers leading a top cast.
Anna Netrebko, now acclaimed as the global - or, why be cautious, intergalactic - operatic superstar of the 21st century, gave an electrifying performance as the consumptive heroine Violetta. This is the first time this audacious diva has performed the role in London, having already captivated audiences in Salzburg, Vienna and San Francisco.
Last seen here at the Proms, when she seduced some 6,000 people in the Albert Hall and a few million more watching at home, Netrebko radiates wild passion. She's funny and outrageous, with cover-girl glamour and a keen taste for the high-life. But none of this should detract from her seriously stupendous voice, or her hard-won professionalism.
At 36, she is in her prime. The Callas comparison, wearisome and inevitable, hardly does justice to Netrebko's colour, richness and effortless virtuosity. She made brilliant sense of Verdi's hedonistic fallen woman. Every word, every phrase, was imbued with meaning. This role is so demanding it can ruin voices. Netrebko held nothing back. But loud is easy. As for pianissimos, she has a whole palette of hushed tones, all achieved with perfect control, the audience reduced to mesmerised silence to hear her.
ROMÉO ET JULIETTE
Metropolitan Opera, September/October 2007
Netrebko Is Lustrous
By Clive Barnes, New York Post, September 27, 2007
Sopranos come and go, but great divas linger as grace notes in music history. So we'll remember Anna Netrebko fondly for her part Tuesday in the Metropolitan Opera's otherwise miserable production of Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette."
Interestingly enough, the last time the Gounod was seen at the Met, the Juliette happened to be Natalie Dessay, who opened the season Monday in "Lucia di Lammermoor."
Tuesday it was Netrebko's turn, though it would be crass to call them rivals - even Shakespeare deplored comparisons. [...]
As for Netrebko - here was stardom personified, almost justifying the idiotic astrology!
She starts off with her giddying coloratura waltz adding a touch of jet-propulsion to Gounod's flighty minx. But love deepens this sexy charmer into a sensual passion, and her lustrous voice commands the music, giving it a dramatic depth it rarely attains and scarcely deserves.
The Night of Netrebko
By Jay Nordlinger, The New York Sun, September 27, 2007
Tuesday night was Anna Netrebko Night at the Metropolitan Opera, as the starry Russian soprano sang the title role of Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette" - one of the title roles, anyway. [...]
Ms. Netrebko sang fabulously well, oozing charm, oozing charisma, and oozing vocal excellence. In Acts IV and V, she was close to faultless, singing with almost no encumbrance whatsoever. She was as good in her quiet moments as in her soaring ones. And her French could be quite beautiful: as in "Adieu mille fois."
And how did she look, this worldwide pin-up? Not too shabby. Anytime Anna Netrebko is on a balcony, a boy will look up.
The Lovers of Verona, Swaggering and Soaring
By Anne Midgette, New York Times, September 27, 2007
You are not going to hear much better singing than this today. [...] Ms. Netrebko produced a luscious sound that you wanted to bathe in forever, especially in her first-act duet with Mr. Alagna. The ultimate measure for a singer should be, Is this a sound you want to listen to? The answer here was yes.
John W. Freeman, Opera News, December 2007:
Netrebko's tone remained rich and clear, while her soaring phrases did Gounod's music proud, as did her quasi-balletic stage mobility.
With his intriguing touch of vocal huskiness, Alagna introduced the balcony scene with an "Ah! lève toi, soleil!" of resonant fiber and poise, sustaining the legato with steady flow, arching his phrases with aplomb. The four duets of the opera, with their gradually deepening seriousness of fone, showed the pair well matched in timbre and dramatic intent. Alagna expressively voiced Roméo's struggle between despair and the ironic turn of events and sheer joy at finding Juliette still alive. At the very end, after crying out "Ah! Fortuné poignard, ton secours me reste!" as she spied Roméo's dagger and struck herself, Netrebko turned ethereally soft for her next line, "Ce moment est doux," giving the opera one last twist of effective contrast.
Starry Night
Fred Kirshnit, The New York Sun, January 3, 2008
For this gala event, with many generous patrons in attendance, the company was savvy enough to retain its new superstar, soprano Anna Netrebko, for this last night of the current run of Charles Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette." Ms. Netrebko enjoys international renown and possesses both a rich and full voice and a well-crafted ability to create a character with thespian skill and marvelous physicality. Not everyone is aboard the praise train as of yet, but the very fact that there is a heated debate in this town about Anna Netrebko's qualifications as prima donna assoluta increases her star power. Everyone is talking about her.
This performance was typical Netrebko. She was in superb voice, and little touches helped to make her coltish teenaged character come to life. Her Juliette clearly didn't listen to her elders, even going so far as to mock her own wedding ceremony. Her "Je veux vivre" was as effervescent as a flute of celebratory champagne. And this role was made for Ms. Netrebko, as she gets to die not once, but twice.
Netrebko and Alagna Triumph in Met Opera
Mike Silverman, Associated Press, September 27, 2008
On Tuesday, one night after French soprano Natalie Dessay created a sensation opening the season in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor," the spotlight fell on her Russian counterpart, Anna Netrebko, in Gounod's "Romeo et Juliette."
Perhaps by coincidence, perhaps not, Netrebko was reprising a role that Dessay had sung at the Met two seasons ago when the production was first introduced. More intriguing still, Netrebko is tentatively slated to take over the role of Lucia next year and also to star in Massenet's "Manon" - the latter a role Dessay has recently added to her repertoire.
When singers are at as high a level as these two, comparisons can only be flattering. Netrebko gave a striking performance as the ill-fated daughter of the Capulets, sparkling on her high notes in the Waltz Song, blending smoothly in her duets with Romeo (tenor Roberto Alagna) and rising to great heights of dramatic expressiveness in the aria "Amour, ranime mon courage," when she takes the sleeping potion that is supposed to allow her to escape with her beloved.
She may not summon up the image of an innocent teenager as effortlessly as Dessay did in the opening act, but she and Alagna make as sexy a pair of young lovers as one could ever hope to see in the bedroom scene. (And yes, the floating bed that most distinguishes this production by Guy Joosten is still on display.)
Moreover, her sturdy lyric sound, tinged with that slight melancholy characteristic of Russian singers, is arguably better suited than Dessay's more fragile tone to fill out Gounod's lush melodic lines.
MANON
Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin, April-May, 2007
"Für Anna Netrebko, die die Rolle gerade erst in Wien gesungen hat, scheint Manon, die junge Frau zwischen Leichtlebigkeit, Vergnügungssucht und großer Liebe mit tragischem Ausgang, wie geschaffen zu sein. Ihre Körpersprache kann mädchenhaft anmutig, übermütig oder nachdenklich sein, die Stimme besitzt Strahlkraft, bis zur puren Lautstärke in einer sicher sitzenden Höhe. Im zweiten Bild des dritten Akts, wo Manon den im Priesterseminar darbenden Des Grieux durch ihre Liebe zurückgewinnt, zeigt Netrebko, dass ihr auch der Sehnsuchtston gelingen kann."
Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Wolfgang Schreiber, May 2, 2007
"Um Anna Netrebko herum ist die ganze Produktion entstanden, und man muss sagen, so wie Netrebko die Manon singt und spielt in den Momenten, in denen sie ihre Träume erfüllt glaubt, wie sie strahlt, lacht und flirtet, das macht ihr wohl derzeit keine Sängerin nach; in solchen Momenten zeigt Netrebko-Manon tatsächlich, nach den bekannten Worten Guy de Maupassants, alles, "was das weibliche Wesen an Liebenswürdigkeit, Verführungskraft und Schamlosigkeit zu bieten vermag". Es sind auch ihre sängerischen Höhepunkte. Netrebkos Sopran verströmt eitel Wohllaut, und die glamouröse Glätte und Geschmeidigkeit der Tonproduktion fügt sich umstandslos zum glanzvollen Auftritt. Und in ihren herrlichen Audrey-Hepburn- und Gina-Lollobrigida-Roben - entworfen von der Film- und Broadway-Kostümbildnerin Susan Hilferty - zieht sie alle Blicke auf sich."
Berliner Zeitung, Wolfgang Fuhrmann, May 2, 2007
"Again and again, we are called to admire Netrebko, as she flirts with childish charm, prances seductively in underwear and pole-dances in sequined gold. And we do, because Netrebko is admirable -- those legs, that face, such confident dramatic allure. As a showcase, this ``Manon'' is a triumph. It is easy to forget, amidst so much glitz, that Netrebko sings as well as acts. But of course she does, and gloriously so. Netrebko is technically extremely accomplished, makes consistently lovely sounds, and lives the role."
Bloomberg.com, Shirley Apthorp, May 1, 2007
Vienna State Opera, March, 2007
"Die Rolle des Mädchens vom Lande, das dank seiner Schönheit zum Mittelpunkt der Halb-Welt aufsteigt, scheint ihr auf den Leib geschneidert zu sein, denn als Titelheldin von Jules Massenets 'Manon' kann Anna Netrebko ihre körperlichen und darstellerischen Vorzüge ebenso wirkungsvoll ausspielen wie ihre stimmlichen Qualitäten. Ihrer Verführungskunst verfielen in der Wiener Staatsoper nicht nur ihre Bühnenpartner, sondern auch die Premierenbesucher, die sie mit Ovationen feierten.
"Zu Recht, denn die Neo-Österreicherin zog bei ihrer ersten Premiere an der Wiener Staatsoper alle Register. Mühelos wechselte sie von jugendlicher Unsicherheit zu fraulichem Selbstbewusstsein, von Leichtfertigkeit zu Durchtriebenheit, von Koketterie zur Verruchtheit, von prickelnder Erotik zu von der Pose zur Leibenschaft. Optimal disponiert, entlockt sie ihrem leuchtkräftigen, klaren und geschmeidigen Sopran diese schillernde Ausdruckspallete, brilliert mit funkelnden Koloaturen und strahlenden Spitzentönen."
Kleine Zeitung. Ernst Naredi-Rainer. 5th März, 2007
"Die Netrebko kostet ihre vokalen Chancen bis zur Neige aus. Ihr weich timbrierter Sopran blüht auf, hat stets noch Reserven zu eruptiven Steigerungen, deren Mobilisierung der Schönheit der stimme keinen Schaden zufügt. Auch im Fortissimo tönt sie mollig und gänzlich ungeschärft. So sichert sie manch hinreißend gestalteter Nummer noch eine applaustreibende Pointe. Sind es mehrere, klatscht das Publikum (wer kennt schon das Mauerblümchen 'Manon'?) auch ausgiebig, ehe eine Arie noch richtig begonnen hat."
Die Presse. Von Wilhelm Sinkovicz. 5th März, 2007
"Doch solches passiert nicht - ist auch nicht nötig. Anna Netrebko dominiert die Inszenierung von Andrei Serban einfach, da die Rolle der Manon eine dominante ist und ihr die Figur der zunächst schüchternen, aber schon da fast kleptomanisch dem Kostbaren zugeneigten jungen Dame, die in Richtung Kloster unterwegs ist, vokal wie angegossen passt. Noch mehr als bei der Salzburger Traviata wird hier jener edle Soumd bühnenwirksam, jene samtige, dunkle Tönung einer Stimme, die jede musikalische Linie zum Musilcollier werden lässt. Zudem meistert Netrebko Spitzentöne makellos und sicher, auch wenn die Regie sie dabei von galanten Bewunderern hochheben lässt. Da sind dagestellte Figur und ihre Töne von wunderbarer Synchronizität.
An Opernmaßstäben gemessen ist sie natürlich darstellerisch von einer Differenziertheit und Beweglichkeit, die so selten ist wie ihr Timbre. Besonders hier. Vom schüchternen Backfisch zum monroehaften Geschöpf, das in diesem Milieu-Mix aus Reichtum und Männerbegehren badet - dieser Wechsel ist elegant durchgearbeitet undmündet im finalen Akt der Zerknirschung samt Tod. Vorhang."
Der Standard. Ljubisa Tosic. 5th März, 2007
I PURITANI
Elvira in I Puritani, Metropolitan Opera, New York, December, 2006 - February, 2007
This time, interest was centered on Anna Netrebko's Elvira, her first Bellini role with the company.
Stand it did, thanks to the Russian soprano's gifts as an onstage "natural." The voice is basically a clear, forthright lyric soprano with dusky overtones and reserves of dramatic thrust. To mold Bellini's long, curving lines and bring expression to his ornaments, she paid close attention to shifts of shading, for example in the taxing "Qui la voce" mad scene of Act II, especially in its gentle, touching midsection, where Elvira fantasizes about the absent Arturo. Netrebko even launched a verse of the cabaletta while lying on her back, with her head hanging over the stage apron into the orchestra pit. The soprano traced out her coloratura with care, then set aside caution to unleash sustained power for the final bars. Fans in the audience rewarded her with a rowdy ovation.
Where she already excels is in stagecraft - the ability to connect her singing to a convincing impersonation of this passive, dramatically ill-defined role. Just the way she moved her neck was expressive. With the disciplined pliancy normally reserved for ballerinas, she walked, ran, bent and sat gracefully, while keeping an equally shapely grip on the legato line of her music. The result was an intuitively correct stance and tone for a primo ottocento Romantic heroine.
Netrebko's was the only finished, poised characterization in this revival.
John W. Freeman, Opera News, 27 December 2006
A Showcase for Opera's 'It' Girl
The current "it" girl of the opera world returned to the Met on Wednesday night, to star in a Bellini opera. She was Anna Netrebko, and the opera was "I Puritani." This work has long been a showcase for bel canto sopranos. On Wednesday night she succeeded in a big way. The gifts she brings outweigh all flaws (if they are flaws, instead of distinguishing traits). In myriad ways, Ms. Netrebko rivets the listener, as she did throughout "I Puritani." And how about the mad scene, one of the greatest stretches in all bel canto opera? From Ms. Netrebko, it was an unshowy tour de force. What I mean is this: It was a tour de force, all right – but it had complete musical and theatrical poise. Ms. Netrebko displayed phenomenal control. And she was pathetic in the original sense – evoking great pity, sadness, and even wonder. This is simply a smart singer. Since she burst on the scene about five years ago, many of us have remarked, "There's a little Callas in her." She and others may protest at this comparison, but tough: It's true. Ms. Netrebko bears a resemblance. When she performs, she gives you something to remember, and that can be said of few.
Jay Nordlinger, New York Sun, 29 December 2006
Belle of Bellini Pure Pleasure
Looking as graceful as a gazelle and singing as sweetly as a bell struck with a surprising outburst of coloratura, Anna Netrebko Wednesday night sang in Bellini's "I Puritani" for the first time at the Met. The 35-year-old Russian soprano is at the tipping point of serious diva fame – the kind of fame that has people, grudgingly at first, comparing her with Callas, Sutherland, Tebaldi and other opera goddesses past.
It's not entirely to do with vocal quality or even artistry – indispensable as those are – but with command and presence, as well as luck, timing and fan worship. It is the making of a brand, so that future audiences will not just keep her as a memory but use her as a point of reference. They will talk of a "Netrebko kind of singer." She has that bel canto gift of singing like a windswept lark on a bright day, and an acting style combining the natural with the daring. In the opera's mad scene, Netrebko went down to the footlights and dangle her hair over the orchestra pit, and got away with it.
Clive Barnes, New York Post, 29 December 2006
At the Met, a Soprano Makes Her Presence Known
That glamorous Russian soprano appeared as scheduled in the touchstone role of Elvira. Indeed, the prolonged ovation she received after the Act II mad scene threatened to stop the performance midway (and) Ms. Netrebko seemed and sounded in radiant health. A great Elvira must convey emotional turmoil and the story's psychological subtleties through the intense expressivity of her singing. With the smoky colorings and throbbing richness of her sumptuous voice, Ms. Netrebko was an unusually vulnerable Elvira. I admired her way of treating florid passagework as organic extensions of an arching vocal line, not as a series of fast notes to be nailed with cool accuracy. At the climax of soaring melodic phrases Ms. Netrebko easily filled the house with shimmering sound. What mattered was the courageous intensity of her singing.
My guess is that Ms. Netrebko took on Elvira, her fourth new role this year alone, because she simply had to perform the Act II mad scene. When she wandered into the public hall at the Puritan compound in a delusional state, mistaking Riccardo for Arturo, Ms. Netrebko sang Elvira's wafting melodies with an uncanny combination of touching fragility and plush tone. At one point during the mad scene, Ms. Netrebko even sang while lying on her back on the stage floor near the orchestra pit, her head and arms dangling over the edge.
Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, 29 December 2006
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