Met Opera (HD broadcast), 15/03/2025

Beethoven : Fidelio

Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York

Susanna Mälkki

It's been a long time since I've seen a performance of Fidelio live, and tonight made me wonder if I've been listening to too many recordings.  Despite truly vivid playing from the Met orchestra, the kind of playing that reminds you that this band is, or can be, much, much more than your average opera house orchestra, there were moments (quite frequent ones, at that) of drift between pit and stage.  They were small, and relatively unobtrusive, and it's entirely possible that it's commonplace when this opera is played live.  Beethoven is rarely easy, at the best of times, and magnificent as Fidelio is, no one has ever really denied that it has its technically awkward corners.  So a little slippage could be perfectly normal - except I'm not used to hearing it, not with performers at this level.  Yet despite that, this was an excellent performance, from the orchestra in particular, hence my thought that I've let myself become a bit too accustomed to the artificial perfections of studio recordings.  

L to R: Lise Davidsen, David Butt Philip, René Pape
Fidelio, Act 2, Metropolitan Opera, New York
(© Karen Almond, 2025)

Mälkki set the stamp on the evening from the first downbeat of the baton; the Overture was as exciting as I can ever recall hearing, whether in concert or in the opera house.  The curtain then went up on the bright and fresh duo of Ying Fang's bubbly Marzelline, and Magnus Dietrich, making the most of the relatively ungrateful role of Jaquino.  They were both excellent throughout, but I really hope to hear more of Dietrich in the near future.  Rocco was René Pape, returning to this production in the same role he premiered 25 years ago.  The voice isn't perhaps quite as smooth as it used to be, but the timbre still has its lustre, and he makes his presence felt.  I was less happy with Tomasz Konieczny's Pizarro; in the intermission interview, he acknowledged that Pizarro is a villain through-and-through, but there wasn't enough of it in his voice or his general expression.  When you've heard the kind of readings singers like Fischer-Dieskau or Otto Edelmann produced, pure venom sheathed in silk, Konieczny failed to impress, and his voice seemed to just drop out at moments.

The central pair of the opera, however, were radiant.  David Butt Philip deployed his ample voice expansively as Florestan.  If one was going to complain, it might be that he sounds maybe a shade too healthy for a prisoner stuck in an oubliette for two years, but it's a thrilling sound nonetheless.  So too was Lise Davidsen's opulent soprano in the title role.  Her coloratura is not quite as precise as I would like, but the expression, and the quality of timbre, were faultless.  

I understand Jürgen Flimm's production may have been somewhat sanitised since its first appearance, but what's left now is functional, if unremarkable.  Costume is mid-20th Century in general; Davidsen's costume was designed to minimise her pregnancy, which it did relatively successfully, but had the peculiar effect of making her head look slightly too small for her body, which was disconcerting.  However, the final image on the stage, of the thankful, freed prisoners and their families, but with Pizarro getting lynched in the background, was an apt reminder that there's a very thin line between liberators and tyrants that is all too easy to cross.  

[Next: 6th April]