Simon Boccanegra

Up to the quality we expect from The Met, this little performed Verdi opera is exquisite in sound, staging, musical score and costumes. Although the music is pleasant enough, the opera lacks a show-stopping aria to make it memorable. Still, if you want to see a rare Verdi, this is the one to view.

Simon Boccanegra was a Verdi opera that I wasn't familiar with until recently in comparison to other operas of his. It is not my favourite of his operas, but it is still absolutely great. Some of the story is somewhat convoluted, but the music especially Orfanella In Un Tetto Umile, the lovely father-daughter duet that follows and Plebe, Patrizi... is wonderful as is typical of Verdi, the characters while bruisers to sing are interesting with a very complex title character and the final scene is very moving.

This is a great production, and I also recommend highly the 1984 Met production with Milnes, Plishka and Tomowa-Sintow. I personally like the fact the audience is enthusiastic, perhaps there are ends of scenes that didn't need applause, but at least this isn't an audience that applauds or boos during arias(like at the 1983 production of La Traviata) or when a singer does a really impressive top note.

Production values-wise, as is consistently the case with the Met, the production can't be faulted. The sets may not be exactly grand or lavish, but they are impressive as are the costumes, Boccanegra's yellow robe in particular makes him the imposing and important figure that he should be. The orchestra perform with real finesse, and are under the baton of the ever-solid James Levine.

The performances are outstanding. Kiri TeKanawa is an excellent Amelia with an elegant presence and she sings like a nightingale, and Placido Domingo is in fine voice and does more than just singing considering that in some productions I can find Gabriele rather bland. Top honours though go to Robert Lloyd as a superb Fiesco shining especially in the final scene, and particularly Vladmir Chernov who is a contender for the best(and most sympathetic) Simon Boccanegra.

Overall, great production. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Sherrill Milnes sings the title role. Paul Plishka is a fine Fiesco.

Amelia is sung by a less well-known but excellent soprano. The staging is good and visually it is dark and brooding as it should be for such a deeply felt story. You will enjoy the majesty of the singing.

Try Simon Boccanegra for a pleasant change from the more popular operas.

This is an excellent production of a fine if little-performed opera. I saw this for several reasons. I am a big opera fan, dating from as long as I can remember. I love Verdi, he along with Puccini introduced me into the opera world with La Traviata and Puccini with Tosca. And I love both Paul Plishka, who made for a genuinely scary King in 1980's Met production of Don Carlo and especially Sherrill Milnes, who while he had the vocal crisis and all that was a very distinguished Verdi baritone and further benefited from a powerful stage presence, especially as Iago, Scarpia and Rigoletto.

This 1984 Met production is excellent and for anyone else who is a fan of the above is awaiting a treat. Where the production falls down slightly, then again it may have been the video, was that the lip synching wasn't always together. A prime example is in Orfanella in Tetto Umile, where on screen Milnes looks as though he is holding one of those wonderful ringing high notes he has but in reality he is still singing a different note and time value and he sings the note about two or so notes after.

That aside, Simon Boccanegra succeeds in everything that makes a typical Met production so good. The videography is very good, while the sets are wonderfully lavish and the costumes exquisite. The story is rather confusing at hindsight but once it gets going and resolved very nicely it becomes clearer. And I mustn't forget Verdi's score, which while lacking a tad in instant classic status is magnificent, apart from the lip synching in every other way Orfanella in Tetto Umile(and the lovely father-daughter duet that follows) is a triumph, I just loved Tomowa-Sintow's long high note and Milnes ending on a pianissimo, as is the musically and dramatically spell-binding first act finale.

The music is beautifully performed and lovingly conducted. And I found it very difficult to find fault with any of the performances. Everybody is in fine voice, and everybody shows some believable at worst outstanding at best acting chops. Sherrill Milnes-even if his tone here is edgier than has been heard before- is absolutely wonderful in the titular role, and I have to admit in Orfanella...part of me wished I was the soprano who he embraced as it was an embrace that was so amazingly done, so benevolent and fatherly, while his face at the end of the first act was both intense and moving. Also impressive are Paul Plishka as a superb Fiesco-particularly in the big duet of the opera between him and Milnes- and Anna Tomowa-Sintow as a truly excellent and moving Amelia. Vasile Moldoveanu has a brilliant tenor voice, and while he is dashing and acts convincingly, acting-wise he is the weakest of the principles for me, not because he is bad but because he doesn't quite command the stage as well as Milnes and Plishka do here.

All in all, a real treat and a must for any opera fan in my opinion. 9/10 Bethany Cox