Nadine Sierra, a beautiful, sensitive and passionate ‘Traviata’ who captivates the Liceu | Culture

As an operatic, Giuseppe Verdi was always as precise musically as he was dramatically. His letters include abundant comments that put theatrical expression before bel canto decorum. He famously criticized the sculptor Vincenzo Luccardi in 1854 about the Roman production of The wayward onewhich the censorship had distorted: “They have made their protagonist pure and innocent. Thank you so much! This is how they have ruined all the locations and all the characters. A whore should always be a whore. If the sun shone at night, there would be no night. In short, they don’t understand anything.” And about his ideal singer, he informed the businessman Cesare Vigna a few months after its unsuccessful premiere in Venice, in March 1853: “A first woman of great feeling, passionate singing and beautiful presence. Without these qualities, it is impossible for you to be successful.”

That has been the formula for his immense triumph last Friday, January 17 at the Liceu in Barcelona. The exquisite 2008 production by David McVicar returned to its stage for the third time, evoking the Parisian salons of the courtesan Marie Duplessis, who inspired the melodrama of Alexandre Dumas Jr., from which the opera emerged. And the protagonist was the American soprano Nadine Sierra, who perfectly embodied those three qualities demanded by the composer. His Violetta started from the vocal homogeneity, the beautiful tone and the great musicality of bel canto virtuosity, but enriched on a dramatic level with multiple flashes of personality.

From her first intervention at the opening party in her living room, Sierra made a difference compared to the rest of the cast. The same thing happened in the famous toast, but especially in its final scene of the first act, where it garnered the biggest ovations of the night. Here he chose to maintain the painful tradition of deleting the second stanza of the aria Ah, maybe it’s himalthough he ended it with his own stop, reaching a high D flat. But it was in Always free where he showed off his impressive virtuosity with elongated treble and a somewhat mischievous elegance in the passages at will. This time he did repeat the cabaletta and he crowned it with the famous E flat that Verdi never wrote.

He continued with a good management of the dramatic tension in the second act, where he raised the climatic Love me Alfredo. And he crowned his performance with a magnificent third act. He whispered the reading of the letter in the most melodramatic moment of the opera, which culminated in a heartbreaking It’s late! according to the indication in a sepulchral voice. And turned the aria Goodbye to the past (now, with its two verses) the best of the entire evening where he combined his admirable vocal palette with a heartfelt drama.

Tenor Javier Camarena recovered from a throat condition in time to be able to perform at the premiere. The Mexican singer incorporated this character into his repertoire a little less than two years ago and gives it his bel canto mastery, despite starting Friday with some instability. He surpassed himself in the second act, which he opened by phrasing with pleasure in the aria Of my hot spiritsand continued bravely facing the cabaletta Oh my remorse!of which he omitted the repetition, although he culminated it with the famous high C that Verdi did not write either.

Polish baritone Artur Ruciński was a seductive and solid Germont in his duet with Violetta. However, he was especially applauded at the end of his aria From Provence the seawith elegant phrasing dotted with exquisite half voices. Good performance by all the supporting cast, especially the soprano Patricia Calvache as Annina and the mezzo-soprano Gemma Coma-Alabert as Flora, but also the bass Gerard Farreras as Doctor Grenvil, a character inspired by David Ferdinand Koreff for this production, which ended its run. life in Paris treating venereal diseases and performing abortions on courtesans like Violetta.

The Choir of the Gran Teatre del Liceu offered a brilliant performance at Flora’s house party and at the colorista entertainment of gypsies and bullfighters. For his part, the Italian Giacomo Sagripanti conducted the Barcelona theater orchestra in an orderly and effervescent version of Verdi’s score, although lacking in dramatic depth. The evening began with a fairly flat reading of the prelude, although his conducting became livelier on the way to the third act. In the second, he excessively compartmentalized the duet between Violetta and Germont, with a rather slow use of tempo, although he provided a masterful accompaniment to each cabaletta. And we hear its best moments in the third act, after a prelude that did not end up elevating either.

The production is another success by David McVicar, although the revival was directed by Leo Castaldi. The Scottish stage director visited the Parisian stages of Dumas’s time to show those halls full of courtesans, actresses, dancers and maids where men of upper social class relaxed, entertained and excited. In this way, the innovative denunciation that this Verdi opera raises against the hypocrisy and cowardice of 19th century bourgeois society is highlighted. The oppressive set design and magnificent period costumes by Tanya McCallin, with the gloomy tinge of Jennifer Tipton’s candle lighting, were also magnificent. Nothing is excessive and everything is achieved with an ideal fluidity between the most public and most private scenes, with details and licenses of the utmost elegance. An example is the beginning of the second act, with Violetta naked on the bed, after making love with Alfredo. Another example is the flashback which structures the entire action, after the initial prelude set in the autumn following the death of the protagonist, while we see some workers dismantling her house.