FT on the Met’s Carmen: They sang and grappled, but there was no desire

Following on from Zach Woolfe’s demolition in the New York Times, George Grella had a bad night for the Financial Times:

… The charismatic tenor Piotr Beczala is Don José for this production, but illness kept him out of opening night. His replacement was Rafael Davila, a romantic tenor with substantial experience in both the role and at the Met. His singing was strong and sophisticated, but with likely insufficient rehearsal there wasn’t much chemistry between him and Akhmetshina. They sang and grappled with each other, but there was no desire…

…. The performance had a slow start. Act one was flat overall. Conductor Daniele Rustioni led a full-bodied Prelude, but the playing that followed felt too polite. Akhmetshina’s “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle” was smooth and full of polished detail, pleasant when it should be enticing, and Carmen must be enticing.

There is a slightly more upbeat review in the Washington Post: On every other front, this was a “Carmen” marked (and, at times, marred) by its many tweaks. The resetting of the story in a contemporary context could as easily be seen as an obscene indulgence of American violence or an equally obscene reflection of an ongoing (and largely unseen) crisis of abusive conditions for migrant laborers. Cracknell appears to favor the latter.

Don’t all rush at once.