Il trovatore is a notoriously difficult opera to cast these days: Singers with true Verdi voices are scarce and those who might have the equipment seem to lack the style. There are a few really good recordings of this opera on CD– Milanov and Björling, and Price and Domingo are a couple of nice pairings–but there’s only one in English: this one. Pity it’s so mediocre, especially for those who demand their Verdi in English. Heaven help them, wherever they are. Chandos has done its usual fine job in making as much of the text understandable as possible (although this has always struck me as one of the operas in which the fewer specifics we know the better), and the cast sings clearly as well. In the case of our eponymous troubadour, Dennis O’Neill proves himself yet again to be that rare thing: a tenor sensitive to the text, and capable of singing softly. It’s too bad he sings with such strain whenever he must sing either loud or high; the effort ruins this troubadour’s heroism.
As his Leonora he has the American soprano Sharon Sweet, who, with a voice of estimable size, flexibility, and color, still manages to make a negative impression in whatever role she undertakes. Here we get almost no sense of Verdian line, none of the yearning written into Leonora’s music, none of the true beauty that’s in almost every bar of this role. Sweet has what might be called “negative charisma”; she pushes the listener away with her every vocal gesture. Anne Mason’s Azucena is a handsome portrayal of this, the most interesting character in the opera, even though I prefer a bigger, rounder tone for the role. Alan Opie’s di Luna is a real winner; the baritone sings with urgency, a nice legato, and evenness throughout the range. Clive Bayley’s Ferrando is good too, executing all the “little” notes in his opening tale with precision and telling the ghastly story with involvement. Orchestra and chorus are very good indeed under David Parry’s no-nonsense direction, but what difference does it all make with a gaping hole where Leonora should be?
