La Traviata. Opera Australia. Joan Sutherland Theatre February 3.
★★★★★
Of the many moments in Verdi's La Traviata that lift it from melodically inspired conventionality to dramatic greatness, a crucial one is the confrontation between Giorgio and Violetta in Act 2.
Ostensibly it is a clash between patriarchy and disruptive sexuality – the pater familias asks the alluring beauty to release his son from her thrall. But Verdi perceived the forbidden attraction between these two. Georgio tells her she is attractive but men – other men – are fickle. She asks for his embrace as a daughter – she has had many of the other type. While we are sorting this out, the music seduces us utterly.
Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho and Australian baritone Jose Carbo brought mastery, nuanced colour and consummate subtlety to this scene, Jaho drawing on exquisitely soft rounded tones each of which seemed to waft round the hall with its own aurora, while Carbo sang with noble finely-grained smoothness. By contrast, in the death scene of the third act Jaho emphasised the music's tragic extremity, drawing on the velvety richness of her mid-range to deliver a performance of rare force and intensity that brought an almost unanimous standing ovation at the close and which seemed to leave her completely drained.
Elijah Moshinsky's opulent 1994 production with Michael Yeargan's grand set and Peter Hall's riotously colourful costumes, brilliantly lit by Nigel Levings, has had many outings in the last 23 years but it is rare for the classic perfection of Verdi's musico-dramatic conception to come together as strongly as here.
Much of the engagement with the work's unfolding drama was due to the care of conductor Renato Palumbo who never pushed the singers but, rather, nursed the tempo to allow space for unfolding detail, from the smallest turn to the most expansive melodic arch. Indeed the tempo in Ho-Yoon Chung's Act 1 toast, as Alfredo underplayed vigour so as to allow space for the subsequent complexities.
Chung's strongest moments were in the angry scenes of Act 2 where his voice was galvanised into arching strength. His naturally attractive sound could learn much from Jaho's attention to colour and shade.
Dominica Matthews sang Flora with cheerful elan, while Adrian Tamburini maintained the sulky aggression of Baron Douphol, Violetta's protector, with haughty vocal firmness. Natalie Aroyan as Annina, the maid, Samuel Dundas as Flora's unfaithful Marquis and Gennadi Dubinsky as the worthy Doctor Grenvil provided discreet dramatic and vocal support as the great moments reached their fateful culmination.
It is, of course, a work in which personal intensity is set against the superficial energy of giddy public whirl, and the precision and power of the chorus and ensemble work created an overwhelming close to Act II, where Violetta is publicly humiliated by the self-obsessed Alfredo.
This was Opera Australia's 200th performance of a work that never seems to tire. It would be hard to find a better way to celebrate its enduring power to move and inspire.
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