Review: Lise Davidsen lights up old Covent Garden Don

By Hugh Kerr of Edinburgh Music Review:

After two underwhelming nights with ‘Werther’ and ‘Trovatore’ (see Slipped Disc earlier), it’s good to report that Covent Garden was in top form in the first night of ‘Don Carlos’. This isn’t a new production, it is Nicholas Hytner’s old production revived by Daniel Dooner and it still works well. This is a theatrical production where the drama on the stage amplifies Verdi’s music. It’s also good to report that the Covent Garden’s orchestra was in great form under the baton of Bertrand de Billy. Its superb chorus in really powerful and dramatic form under the direction of William Spaulding.

Don Carlos takes a long time to progress, beginning at 5.30 pm and ending at 10.30. Brian Jagde as Don Carlos made a shaky start with his first aria but got better as the night went on. Yulia Matochkina seemed underpowered as Ebola but by the time of her great aria ‘Don Fatale’, she was in good form and got a great response from the first night audience. John Relyea, always a reliable bass at Covent Garden, again started slowly as King Phillip but his ‘Ella giammai mo’ brought back memories of Boris Christoff in his prime. The Grand Inquisitor Taras Shtonda was suitably shambling and menacing although he gave us a little skip at curtain call to show us he was only acting. All the other minor parts were well covered. Lise Davidsen was the jewel of the evening.

I first came across Lise Davidsen in a terrible production of ‘Medea’ at Wexford some years ago by Fiona Shaw. Since then I have followed Davidson’s career all over the world both on stage, on film and on record. I saw her superb Leonora, upstaging Jonas Kaufmann on the last night of ‘Fidelio’ before Covent Garden closed for the pandemic. I saw her blow Kaufmann off the stage in Vienna as Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes (arguably too big a voice), I saw her as Elisabeth, the only redeeming feature of a disastrous first night of ‘Tannhauser’ at the Garden last January. She is signed up for years ahead by the Met and Bayreuth for heavy Wagner operas where she has already made her mark. I was with a friend last night, a former soprano who has sung at Bayreuth, who cautioned that sometimes a voice can be too big for a part. So it was interesting to note that in her earlier arias tonight Davidsen was very deliberately controlling her great instrument and not overpowering her fellow singers, but by the last act the mighty instrument was unleashed and stunned us all, including my operatic friend, in her ‘Tu che le vanita’. This is not only a big voice, it’s a great voice in its colour, its range, its musicality. For me Lise Davidsen is the greatest dramatic soprano since Callas, indeed I’m listening to Callas sing the same aria as I write this. I know that ‘Slipped Disc’ critics will get their knives out, but before committing yourself to words, I urge you to go and see it. There are still tickets available for the rest of the run. You won’t regret it, this is one of the performances that will stay with you for a lifetime.

Hugh Kerr is editor of Edinburgh Music Review, where a fuller review will appear.