La Bohème
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, June 1976
By Alan Blyth, Opera, August 1976
La Bohème. Royal Opera, Covent Garden, June 17, 1976
Best since Björling was my thought about José Carreras's Rodolfo as I came away from this revival, and I did not forget that the current production has already boasted such considerable interpreters of the grateful role as Domingo, Luchetti and Pavarotti. Carreras's tone is so fresh, forward, attractive and individual, with a smoky timbre all its own, and is used with such easy ardour that any susceptible soul surely capitulates to it and Carreras uses it at present with unstinting generosity.
His unaffected unsophisticated kind of acting is also exactly suited to Puccini's hero, whose pains and pleasures in love are simply yet so naturally conveyed by the Spanish tenor. Opposite him Katia Ricciarelli, although at first not always perfectly focussing her voice, was just as appealing as Mimi, particularly in her third-act encounters with both Bohemians. In the last act, she reached greatness with her finely shaded ideally sustained mezza voce in "Sono andati?"
Nothing else in the revival was quite on that level, but it hardly mattered. Cristina Carlin repeated her coarsely acted and sung Musetta. Vicenzo Sardinero was a less florid Marcello than his predecessors. This painter was the sensible realist among the Bohemians. His singing, reliable and strong was rather anonymous. William Elgin. who has been carefully nurtured by the house, was a warm, full-blooded Schaunard. I hope he will progress to other major roles. Gwynne Howell repeated his gentle, unassuming Colline, the Coat Song done with admirable breadth. Giuseppc Patané was an accommodating conductor, free with rubato when the singers wanted it. He, like them, rose to the tragedy of the last act. The production has loosened a deal in its eventful, two-year history. The principals, fairly legitimately, altered some of the movement in the more intimate scenes to suit themselves and their personalities, but the changes in Act 2 were wholly for the worse. One always feared that such a tightly-knit, busy action would suffer in revival and so they have. I hope Mr Copley will one day return to bring the marvellous detail back into focus.
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