REVIEW: Mariana Colpos/ Paolo Gavanelli/ RTÉCO/Colman Pearce NCH, Dublin.
Italian-born Verdi baritones are an endangered species, they say. So it was a privilege to hear one of them in his prime at the NCH on Friday. Paolo Gavanelli first sang here 16 years ago and, for those with long memories, it was gratifying to experience the matured art of a singer whose potential was already evident when Barra Ó Tuama first introduced him to Irish audiences. And if his voice is now just a developed version of the incisive instrument that even then boasted remarkable linear awareness and dynamic control, Gavanelli's galvanic presence is a huge advance from his erstwhile stiffness.
The baritone delivered elegant accounts of 'Ah per sempre' from I puritani and Gerard's declamation from Andrea Chenier, but it was in the excerpts from his Verdi roles that we got the full impact of his facility, with long-breathed phrasing and razor-sharp intonation. The best examples were in a dignified 'Di Provenza' and in the father/daughter duets from Rigoletto and La Traviata, in which he was partnered by Mariana Colpos. The soprano was deprived of big chunk of music in the former, but the complete scene for Violetta and Germont provided the most gripping and moving singing of the evening.
The Romanian diva, whose familiar rounded lyric voice did fair justice to arias from La Wally, Il Trovatore, I Vespri Siciliani, La Bohème and Norma, unwisely elected to climax a couple of her numbers with unlovely screeches. Also, and uncharacteristically, she appeared to run out of breath now and then.
Colman Pearce, conducting without the advantage of eye contact with his soloists, accompanied admirably, often at very slow speeds presumably dictated by the singers. He also directed the RTÉCO in three orchestral pieces, including a rhythmically ideal L'Italiana in Algieri overture and a lusciously-toned Manon Lescaut intermezzo.
