'Bow down to me. Your king no more, but God!’
The deranged words of Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar to you and me) in Act 2 are as true of the singer as the character.
How else would you describe Placido Domingo?
Now 73, this is his debut in the 140th role of his 50-year career.
My great hero Jussi Bjorling did only a dozen roles throughout his mature years, and Caruso not many more.
But Domingo, in the title role, is still out there. And we will never see his like again.
Not only is he taking on new roles, but he’s singing really well.
Even in today’s baritone parts, he maintains a honeyed tenor-like tone, with exemplary vocal production and amplitude.
Why not see and hear him for yourselves? This production is in 242 cinemas nationwide on April 29.
It’s well worth going because Nabucco, Verdi’s third opera, is full of good things and doesn’t outstay its welcome. The Chorus Of The Hebrew Slaves is the hit number everyone knows, but there’s much else to enjoy, and Domingo isn’t the only one here who can deliver.
Equally impressive is the Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska as Nabucco’s adopted daughter, Abigaille, who tries to depose him. Monastyrska is a big girl who would certainly fail Covent Garden’s little black dress test; but who cares when she sings thrillingly all night, making the rafters ring as few Verdi sopranos can nowadays?
Verdi also keeps his chorus busy, and they sing magnificently under a first-class Italian conductor, Nicola Luisotti.
More from David Mellor Event... Carry on nurse: Strauss's magical Ariadne Auf Naxos is revenge for the war 23/05/13 Outstanding Wozzeck sees soldier's tragedy cut to the heart 17/05/13 A triumph for the Royal Opera: This magnificent Don Carlo is excellent in all departments 08/05/13 Where Jonas Kaufmann really wins is in his beauty of tone 26/04/13 VIEW FULL ARCHIVESo far so good. But Andrea Care in the tenor role of Ismaele, which Domingo recorded years ago, is pallid, and, with a carelessness that characterises director Daniele Abbado’s entire approach, the important Old Testament figure of Zaccaria, the Hebrew high priest, is presented too young, and too much like a bank clerk, to make an impact.
Abbado’s modern-dressed production is dull and boring: he just doesn’t know how to move his characters around, and maybe if his dad wasn’t Claudio, he’d struggle to get a gig like this.
However, his Hebrew slaves are the best-dressed you will ever see, looking as if they have been kitted out by Armani.
This Nabucco is best regarded as a sort of concert performance, where all your focus can be on the music.
And, of course, on Placido Domingo, the God.
CONCERT OF THE WEEKThe Turn Of The ScrewBarbican Hall, London 4/5The Turn Of The Screw, based on a Henry James ghost story, was premiered in Venice in 1954 and established Benjamin Britten as the world’s most successful 20th Century opera composer.
It employs a small instrumental ensemble of 17 players, and the London Symphony Orchestra section leaders really excelled.
The casting was impeccable, led by a radiant Sally Matthews.
Sir Colin Davis, who died last Sunday, chose this piece for the concert and it’s a great sadness that he didn’t live to conduct it. But Opera North’s Richard Farnes was a fine replacement.
MELLOR'S PICKSCD: Janine Jansen Schubert and Schoenberg DeccaDutch fiddler Janine Jansen’s new disc is a winner. With four friends she offers a commanding and mellifluous account of Schubert’s death-bed String Quintet, but it’s the coupling that settles it for me. Before he went atonal, Schoenberg was a hugely accomplished late-Romantic composer, and Transfigured Night, played perfectly here, is an often overlooked masterpiece.
Live: Nigel Kennedy On tour from Wednesday until May 10Nigel Kennedy’s jazz-based tribute to Bach and Fats Waller starts at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall and ends up at London’s Barbican via Newcastle, Leeds, Liverpool, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Bristol, Ipswich and Malvern. A treat for anyone willing to let their hair down a bit.
For tickets, click here