Emendation

Last night I attended Otello at the Met, and I need to emend my earlier post, which was based on listening to the Sirius-cast two weeks ago. It was completely ridiculous of me to say that Botha's voice "coarsened" when he pushed it. Last night, in the house, it was clear that he could bring it with the best of them, his voice ringing out with real ping and resonance when he pushed it--as was clear from his confident, flawless "Esultate"; in the more tender moments he found a beautiful, expressive, effective mezza voce. As has been noted elsewhere, he really attended to Verdi's dynamic markings as best as any tenor can.

What I want to know: how soon can he sing Siegfried?

Met "Otello" Netcast

I just was listening to the Met's season premiere of Otello on Sirius and quite enjoyed it. Johan Botha did not have the forza of del Monaco, or the dramatic intensity of Vickers, or the heroic plangency of Domingo. But he sang beautifully and, what's more, sensitively--not a quality one usually associates with this role. He excelled in the lyric passages, particularly the love duet; when he tried to push his voice the tone coarsened, although that effect did add to his characterization of the role.

Renee Fleming was in great voice. Ravishing, creamy tone from top to bottom, evocative use of chest voice, never a shriek or a croon.

Best of all was Semyon Bychkov's conducting. The orchestra had proper Verdian crispness, but it also sounded "voiced" somewhat differently--deeper, somehow, with the center of gravity a little lower than we're used to, giving the score a kind of ballast. Bychkov's tempi seemed completely spot-on to me: brisk and unfussy, but flexible enough to follow the voices. He kept the tension from first note to last in the fourth act, not an easy trick. And the Met Orchestra played beautifully for him. Good for the Met for engaging him!