OPERA: Matilde Di Shabran
ROSSINI produced so many twinkling gems that it is puzzling as to why the Royal Opera House is staging this obscure opera that has not played in London since 1854.
It is sadly flawed and there is the sense that the composer (who was prone to idleness) stitched it together all too rapidly, using remnants of his other works.
The opera was, admittedly, a hit at the Pesaro Festival in 1996 and rocketed young Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez to international fame.
He repeats the role of the misogynist bruiser Corradino Cuor di Ferro ("Corradino Ironheart") in a clumsy plot that is basically The Taming Of The Shrew reversed.
Corradino harbours such a hatred of the female of the species that he proclaims "Women Should Be Banned", a sentiment occasionally shared by many a nagged husband.
But Matilde, a sturdy soldier's daughter, is having none of that and uses her wiles to dissolve such prejudice so as to lure him into marriage.
Inevitably, he succumbs, his flinty heart melts and love is in the air. It is not the most intriguing of tales and its telling stretches to more than three hours (with a two-hour first act).
But all that said, Rossini averts disaster by providing the singers with some fiery vocal displays, all of which are seized with a certain eagerness.
Florez (who received a round of applause even before opening his mouth) brings a flaming energy to the role, his voice all but trilling in the higher registers. He has a finely controlled tone and a sharp sense of the dramatic - particularly in the scenes before he is emasculated by Matilde.
She is sung, with stinging verve, by the powerful Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak, whose voice has a truly soaring quality. Her ability to handle the highly demanding ornate passages is, at times, quite thrilling.
There is also great colour in her voice, although she could have displayed more helplessness in the death-sentence scene.
Alfonso Antoniozzi provides the comic element as the tuneful poet Isidoro.
Mezzo-soprano Vesselina Kasarova's Edoardo seems vocally rushed despite possessing a meaty edge. Nor is this production helped by Sergio Tramonti's clumsy, spiral staircase set which creaked whenever it moved.
Yet, somehow, the evening is saved - if only by Rossini's tinkling score.
Royal Opera House, London, 020 7304 4000, tonight, November 3, 6 and 11
OUR VERDICT: 3/5
