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 Turandot, the first State Opera production for the year is basically the “same old same old”, a crowd-pleasing production of a pot-boiler, with a hit tune and a sprinkling of new talent. Commendable, if not highly so.
Perhaps it was the night? The reviews of opening night were ecstatic, with my colleagues burying their heads in their thesauruses in a search for new superlatives. On the second night, though, their encomia were hard to fathom. In the title role, the much-talked-up Slovakian soprano Lara Biriucov joined the long list of sopranos to evince abject terror when wheeled out on Turandot’s tall, teetering trolley. To be sure, she was rich and true in the upper register, as demonstrated in her party piece, ‘In questa regia’. But lower down, the tone was chalky, and below the staff she was frankly inaudible.
The consistently popular Julian Gavin is a tuneful singer, fabulous in French opera, but underdone for Calaf’s dramatics, moving forward to stand-and-deliver for ‘Nessun dorma’ in the hope of beating the band, and with absolutely no undue holding of top Bs – or As for that matter.
The pick of the crop was undoubtedly Teresa La Rocca as Liù, imbuing the tragic role with passion. The audience knew it, too, and hers was by far the greatest ovation.
The minor roles are more important in Turandot than in many other operas, and again the performances were satisfactory, but hardly competitive, certainly not in national terms. Peter Axford warbled royally as King Timur, exiled presumably on account of his appalling false beard. Brian Gilbertson shouted manfully from the Emperor’s lofty perch at the back of the stage, and locals took on Ping, Pang and Pong, a little less funnily than you’d prefer. Far and away the best was Pelham Andrews’ Mandarin.
On the orchestral side, conductor Aldo Salvagno, who did a very satisfactory Butterfly a couple of years ago, was impressive, if unpredictable, and more power to the ASO for keeping up! As for the production itself, like many teenagers, Graeme Murphy’s much-praised Turandot (with Kristian Fredrikson’s over-the-top design) is growing a few whiskers, and arguably needs to be left to its own devices.
It’s high time that State Opera took a good, long look at what it does. The company is grossly under-funded, sure, but this production is a case in point. It’s OK, but it wouldn’t cut the mustard on the national scene. We’ve mounted the Ring, for goodness’ sake! Twice! Grand opera demands, and deserves, the best.
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