The coronation of Poppea ★★★✩✩
Performers: J. De Bique, K. Justin Kim, I. Davies, M. Beaumont, L. Redpath, F. Sacchi, J. Way, F. Gregory, H. Cronin, L. Lodge-Campbell, X. Hetherington. Palau Chamber Choir (dir.: Xavier Puig). The English Concert. Address and password: Harry Bicket. Place and date: Palau de la Música Catalana (III/16/2024)
Style, impeccable instrumental grouping and a well-cohesive cast were the credentials of this concert version of L’incoronazione di Poppea. One cannot deny The English Concert and Harry Bicket the instrumental purity of the sound, the stylish knowledge of the score and the musical rigor, but they lacked drama, theatricality and edges.
Bicket gave a reading where musical austerity reigned, with an impeccable basso continuo and The English Concert in which neatness and excellence reigned, but without the spark of theater that emanates from an insultingly current libretto. The responsibility for the dramaturgy inherent to the opera fell on the singers, a cast of homogeneous quality with occasional flashes that did not seduce in its entirety.
The attractive and emerging soprano Jeanine de Bique was a Poppea who started out shy and dutiful. Her voice and interpretation went further until reaching her two final duets where she glimpsed her personal charm and an instrument of lyrical quality, smooth and malleable, which lacked greater body in the emission, of projection too tight.
On the other hand, the Korean countertenor Kangmin Justin Kim (Nerone) was in character from the beginning. He offered nuances, singing virtues of notable extension and homogeneity and an acting of effusive efficiency and generosity.
Dominant in the extension of her instrument, with a pearly timbre and a specialist in the role, the mezzo Maite Beaumont was a mournful Ottavia who reigned with her iconic Addio, Roma.
The British countertenor Iestyn Davies was an expressive Ottone of impeccable correctness who failed to transcend the score for a character who asks for a more incisive and colorful singing recital.
More stentorian than forceful is Federico Sacchi's Seneca, for a cast that highlighted the iridescent light of soprano Liv Redpath (Drusilla, Fortuna and Amore). Brave tenors James Way (in Lucano) and Xavier Hetherington, impressive Mercurio. Mezzo Frances Gregory was an overly austere Arnalta, in the wake of a reading of dramatic economy for a score that she asks for and can offer more.
