'Turandot' by Giacomo Puccini ★★★✩✩
Performers: Elena Pankratova, Michael Fabiano, Vannina Santoni, Marco Mimica, Manel Esteve, Moisés Marín, Antoni Lliteres, David Lagares, Siegfried Jerusalem. Liceu Orchestra and Choir. Dir. Choir: Pablo Assante. Musical direction: Alondra de la Parra. Stage direction: Núria Espert. Replacement: Bàrbara Lluch. Place and date: Gran Teatre del Liceu (XI/26/2023)
Emotion full of memories in the revival of this production that reopened the Liceu on January 7, 1999. The nostalgia of a festive night was stronger, in the season that will mark the 25th anniversary of the reopening, since the result of the premiere was irregular despite the applause of a generous audience.
The high school debut of the Mexican media director Alondra de la Parra was elusive. The overall performance is disorganized, with various voltage drops, excessive volume at times and mismatches between the pit and the stage. Her timid encounters with Puccini's lyricism came in dribs and drabs despite a photogenic gesture. A first Turandot in her career that she still has filming left to do.
Among the cast, the level fluctuated from the correctness of Elena Pankratova, an expert in the role and with sonorous but lackluster treble and a rather opaque singing, to a Michael Fabiano with unstable projection and austere in expression, with a "Nessun dorma" lacking in heroism.
Italian soprano Vannina Santoni's Liù didn't have her night either. With a first aria of a miserly high register, in her death, a timid phrasing compensated for the lack of mordant and expression. The Croatian bass-baritone Marko Mimica was a Timur with a morbid singing line and attractive color.
The ministers Ping, with the magnificent baritone Manel Esteve, Pang, with the decisive tenor Moisés Marín, and Pong, with the always striking color of the tenor Antoni Lliteres, are vocally harmonized and harmonized. David Lagares was noted as a Mandarin with great stage and vocal presence.
The Liceu choir fulfilled its demanding part, with tight correction and remarkable delivery. Effective contribution of the Orfeò Català Children's Choir under the direction of Glòria Coma.
Bàrbara Lluch's revival follows in the footsteps of her grandmother, Núria Espert, but with an update that worked in the always complicated choral and extras movements. Returning to the love ending worked for a production that has aged with dignity.
The traditional aesthetic, the air of an oriental fantasy opera, with dresses, lighting and monumental scenery, reminded us that the classics always make us dream again.
An infallible Christmas gift.
