BWW Reviews: Hail to the Chief! James Levine Leads COSI FAN TUTTE in Return to the Met

Not many opera performances start with a standing ovation before a single note is sung, but the season's first COSI FAN TUTTE on September 24 was one of those rare occasions. It marked the return of conductor James Levine after a two-year absence, leading the performance from a motorized chair. He had the orchestra--and the audience--in the palm of his hand.

Like he'd never been away

It was like he'd never been away, as Levine propelled a lively performance from the first notes of the perfect Mozart overture, from his seat at a motorized podium. The result was an evening that was long on charm and strongly orchestrally, even when the vocal performances fell somewhat short. And this is an opera that needs a strong team of performers that help us get past the annoying story--men boasting about the fidelity of their fiancées and then putting it to the test--which keeps COSI from being in the same class as the composer's two other works with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. Still, the music is sublime and the production by Leslie Koenig from 1996, set in 18th century Naples, has a charming Mediterranean feel to it. Director Robin Guarino could have helped some of the singers round out their performances dramatically, but otherwise kept the silliness moving along quite well and the sorrows of the ending poignant.

Isabel Leonard: Charming, fickle and wonderful

The most compelling of the singers was mezzo Isabel Leonard, who made such a strong impression last spring as Blanche de la Force in LES DIALOGUES DES CARMELITES and brought her robust, dark instrument to Dorabella. By turns charming and fickle, she made was, in short, wonderful, in arias like "Smanie implacabili," and a great asset for the Met roster. Leonard's duets with soprano Susanna Phillips, as her sister Fiordiligi, were exciting, as their voices blended perfectly. Indeed, Phillips did some wonderful singing, particularly in her ensemble work, and sounded like a model of a Mozart singer--until she needed the bottom of her voice. There, she sounded very weak and underpowered. This sabotaged one of the opera's surefire showstoppers, "Come scoglio," which failed to ignite. Though she did some fine solo singing later in the opera in "Per pietà, ben mio, perdona," the overall impression was less than ideal.

Polenzani, a sweet-voiced tenor of quality

The announcement that tenor Matthew Polenzani would be singing Ferrando through a cold was a red herring from what I heard. His performance was elegant and suave, and his sweet voice floated real pianissimos to "Un'aura amorosa." Polenzani's ability to morph into a variety of characters, in music from Mozart and Donizetti to Offenbach and Verdi (he's the ring-a-ding Duke in RIGOLETTO later in the season). His skill in singing them all so well, makes him useful to the Met, where there's always a shortage of good tenors (as I found out when Polenzani missed two performances I heard last season).

Two other singers seemed works in progress. Bass Rodion Pogossov, as Ferrando's cohort, Guglielmo, was a little tentative until he found his bearings, then let his powerful instrument take over. He became a fine match for Polenzani and in his own aria, "Donne mie." Soprano Danielle de Niese, who was sensational last season when she stepped in for an indisposed Natalie Dessay in GIULIO CESARE, seemed underpowered as Despina, the maid and plotter, in the first act, but grew into the fun as she showed up in disguise, first as a doctor and then as a notary, complete with funny hats and facial hair. Bass Maurizio Muraro seemed to be engaged in a buffo part--think Dr. Bartolo in BARBIERE--when something classier is called for. He didn't do any real damage to the proceedings, but didn't add much to it, either.

"Well, hello Jimmy..."

It's good to have James Levine back where he belongs and gives hope for the FALSTAFFs and WOZZECKs to come later in the season. Now that he's whet our whistles with COSI, let's hope his health holds up--for his sake and ours.

***

Photo caption: Isabel Leonard (left) as Dorabella and Susanna Phillips as Fiordiligi in Mozart's COSI FAN TUTTE.

Photo credit: Marty Sohl/Met Opera

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