Andrea Chénier, Opera Ireland: Giordano's Andrea Chénier holds its place in the repertoire as a star vehicle, a showcase for the tenor who sings the title role. Opera Ireland's new production is a Chénier without a star, an empty vehicle that warms up slowly, and then only slightly, writes Michael Dervan
Italian tenor Maurizio Graziani plays the poet Chénier as a sort of lost soul who doesn't quite know how he's come to be caught up in love and revolution. On Saturday's opening night, his voice was pleasant, his delivery careful, his high notes sometimes fragile. But the physical bearing and the musical presence of an operatic lead mostly eluded him.
Russian soprano Nina Rautio showed what was, by comparison, a larger-than-life presence as the love interest, Maddalena. Her voice was ample, and her use of it imposing when she poured it out with generous tone. Although she did rather overpower the object of her affections, her strength when they performed in duet seemed almost enough to carry both along.
Marcel Vanaud got off to a strained and grainy start as the conflicted Gérard, the servant become revolutionary who airs misgivings about the charges he has trumped up against Chénier in spite of the fact that he, too, is in love with Maddalena. The Belgian baritone settled down, though, and the ardency of his strongly-projected singing brought him the loudest accolades from the audience.
The smaller roles were strongly taken, with Galia Ibragimova a haughty if un-Italianate-sounding Countess, Jacqueline Miura a staunch Bersi, Aleksander Teliga a forceful Matthieu, Volker Vogel doubling in style (and shocking wigs) as L'Abate and Un Incredible, and Martin Higgins trumping him with three assumptions (Il Romanziero, Roucher, and Fouquier-Tinville). Most touching, however, was the short scene with Deirdre Cooling Nolan as the blind woman, Madelon.
The production, directed by Ansgar Haag and designed by Carlo Tomassi in colourful period style, has an old-fashioned staginess that's heightened by the cramped conditions imposed by the angled wall that cuts across the stage.
Marc Tardue's conducting of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra is low-voltage, slack and sometimes messy, leaving Giordano's greatest verismo success without the musical momentum it so badly needs.
