Sinfonia from La Forza del Destino (Verdi)
'Ecco, respiro appena, lo son l'umile ancella' from Adiana Lecourvreur (Cilea)
'E la solita storia del pastore' from L'arlesiena (Cilea)
'Tacea la notte placida...Di tale amor che dirsi' from Il Trovatore (Verdi)
'Ah! si ben mio...Di quella pira' from Il Trovatore (Verdi)
Prelude from Attila (Verdi)
'Gia nella notte densa' from Otello (Verdi)
'Non ti scordar di me' (Curtis)
'Un bel di, vedremo' from Madama Butterfly (Puccini)
'Toute mon âme est là...Pourquoi me réveiller' from Werther (Massenet)
'O mio babbino caro' from Gianni Schicchi (Puccini)
'E lucevan le stelle' from Tosca (Puccini)
Intermezzo from Manon Lescaut (Puccini)
'O soave fanciulla' from La bohème (Puccini)
Anna Netrebko
Yusif Eyvazov
Jader Bignamini (Conductor)
'Ecco, respiro appena, lo son l'umile ancella' from Adiana Lecourvreur (Cilea)
'E la solita storia del pastore' from L'arlesiena (Cilea)
'Tacea la notte placida...Di tale amor che dirsi' from Il Trovatore (Verdi)
'Ah! si ben mio...Di quella pira' from Il Trovatore (Verdi)
Prelude from Attila (Verdi)
'Gia nella notte densa' from Otello (Verdi)
'Non ti scordar di me' (Curtis)
'Un bel di, vedremo' from Madama Butterfly (Puccini)
'Toute mon âme est là...Pourquoi me réveiller' from Werther (Massenet)
'O mio babbino caro' from Gianni Schicchi (Puccini)
'E lucevan le stelle' from Tosca (Puccini)
Intermezzo from Manon Lescaut (Puccini)
'O soave fanciulla' from La bohème (Puccini)
Encores:
'Heia, heia, in den Bergen ist mein Heimatland' from Die Csárdásfürstin (Kalman)
'Nessun dorma!' from Turandot (Puccini)
'Libiamo ne' lieti calici' from La Traviata (Verdi)
Yusif Eyvazov
Jader Bignamini (Conductor)
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
The expectation was high for this eagerly awaited performance by Anna Netrebko and her recently wedded husband Yusif Eyvazov as part of the tour to Asia. The length of the programme would have worth the ticket value at premium level, but mostly the diva herself made it a memorable evening whereas the rest did not always reach the same mark. Scenes from operas in verismo style filled the music list except one of Ernesto de Curtis's Neapolitan song. Interestingly, the majority were associated with intimate scenes of affections than violent ones, which hinting the honeymoon period of the couple was still in the air. First half of the programme was also a technical demonstration in compared to the second half, which consisted many short well known show-pieces.
Jader Bignamini took the risk to conduct the concert without scores throughout the evening, but his conducting style did not always justify the ability to do so. The overture from Verdi's La Forza del destino was structurally unsettling by rushing through that tutti strings were not always together. One suspected not much rehearsal time had been allowed to polish the music. Only until Netrebko came on stage and blown us away with her rich, powerful and radiant voice, also her dazzling stage presence and showmanship, which we could forget the conductor having the trouble to coordinate the tempo between the diva and the orchestra. The acoustic also helped her voice to fill the hall effortlessly and did not matter whether you sat in front of or behind. My first impression of Eyvazov was not a good one with his timbre lacked of warmth, hard, white hot in vocal colour and not much differentiation. One could credit him being able to sing a wide vocal range but a lot to think on phrasing when the tempo dragged a lot in the except from Cilea's L'arlesiena.
Another problem with Bignamini's conducting was he indicated the pulse on the beat than ahead. Inevitably when the orchestra responded it was already behind the targeted tempo and messy playing as result. The tempo he started the Cavatina 'Tacea la notte placida' from Verdi's Trovatore was too slow. It took some seconds before all parties gradually settled together and the diva took our breath away again with her beautiful singing. Her musical phrasing was unbelievably natural with impeccable breath control. In the Cabaletta 'Di tale amor che dirsi', she proved to have the vocal flexibility for dramatic coloratura despite a few slips in the top notes. I was not sure whether Eyvazov could make a spinto tenor as his timbre was too hard and thin for the lyrical passage in 'Ah! si ben mio' from Trovatore. The heroic moment 'Di quella pira' also sounded karaoke like that he was capable to sing it but barking top notes out did not make a good impression.
The ending scene from first act of Verdi's Otello was the weakest presentation of the evening. Eyvazov's timbre did not convince me he would be ideal to sing the protagonist part by lacking the vocal weight and richness in voice. Dodgy coordination moment again when the Bignamini took the tempo too slow at Netrebko's entry 'Mio superbo guerrier', and had to negotiate several bars before the singing and orchestral playing came together. Netrebko also sounded unsure how to put the phrasing in place and the singing lacked direction. The whole attempt fell short from producing a spellbinding end of the first half, and I reckon they need to go back to the drawing board for a rethink.
Second half of the concert began with an arrangement of 'Non ti scordar di me' by Curtis for duet, but a cheesy version being rather lively than the subtle rendition of the original. Then again Bignamini took a tempo too hurried at the start of 'Un bel di, vedremo' from Puccini's Madama Butterfly that only settled down when Netrebko started singing. Up to this point, he generally far from having a grip on what tempo should take each time. I felt most unsatisfactory when the stake of this concert was high and the conductor's quality did not match what the audience had paid for. The intermezzo from Manon Lescaut was the only item that he could lead the orchestra to play well, of course the music also spoke for itself with the sheer impact of emotions and glorious tunes.
Thankfully Netrebko's radiant singing turned our mind back to satisfaction again and again. The beautiful creamy rich voice took the breath away in 'O mio babbino caro' from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. Eyvazov also sang much better in Cavaradossi's Romanza than his French attempt in 'Toute mon âme est là' from Massenet's Werther. His lower vocal range was more pleasant for the ears and some differentiation in tone colour, compare to the forceful upper range. He also seems more familiar with the works and more thoughtful with phrasing than belting out a song. It was an odd choice though to select the very end of La bohème first act for the supposed finale of the evening. I would have prefer to start from Rodolfo's 'Che gelida manina' all the way to the end of act one for conclusion than those in the encores. Overall it was a great evening to hear Anna in live but the rest far from a memorable experience.
The expectation was high for this eagerly awaited performance by Anna Netrebko and her recently wedded husband Yusif Eyvazov as part of the tour to Asia. The length of the programme would have worth the ticket value at premium level, but mostly the diva herself made it a memorable evening whereas the rest did not always reach the same mark. Scenes from operas in verismo style filled the music list except one of Ernesto de Curtis's Neapolitan song. Interestingly, the majority were associated with intimate scenes of affections than violent ones, which hinting the honeymoon period of the couple was still in the air. First half of the programme was also a technical demonstration in compared to the second half, which consisted many short well known show-pieces.
Jader Bignamini took the risk to conduct the concert without scores throughout the evening, but his conducting style did not always justify the ability to do so. The overture from Verdi's La Forza del destino was structurally unsettling by rushing through that tutti strings were not always together. One suspected not much rehearsal time had been allowed to polish the music. Only until Netrebko came on stage and blown us away with her rich, powerful and radiant voice, also her dazzling stage presence and showmanship, which we could forget the conductor having the trouble to coordinate the tempo between the diva and the orchestra. The acoustic also helped her voice to fill the hall effortlessly and did not matter whether you sat in front of or behind. My first impression of Eyvazov was not a good one with his timbre lacked of warmth, hard, white hot in vocal colour and not much differentiation. One could credit him being able to sing a wide vocal range but a lot to think on phrasing when the tempo dragged a lot in the except from Cilea's L'arlesiena.
Another problem with Bignamini's conducting was he indicated the pulse on the beat than ahead. Inevitably when the orchestra responded it was already behind the targeted tempo and messy playing as result. The tempo he started the Cavatina 'Tacea la notte placida' from Verdi's Trovatore was too slow. It took some seconds before all parties gradually settled together and the diva took our breath away again with her beautiful singing. Her musical phrasing was unbelievably natural with impeccable breath control. In the Cabaletta 'Di tale amor che dirsi', she proved to have the vocal flexibility for dramatic coloratura despite a few slips in the top notes. I was not sure whether Eyvazov could make a spinto tenor as his timbre was too hard and thin for the lyrical passage in 'Ah! si ben mio' from Trovatore. The heroic moment 'Di quella pira' also sounded karaoke like that he was capable to sing it but barking top notes out did not make a good impression.
The ending scene from first act of Verdi's Otello was the weakest presentation of the evening. Eyvazov's timbre did not convince me he would be ideal to sing the protagonist part by lacking the vocal weight and richness in voice. Dodgy coordination moment again when the Bignamini took the tempo too slow at Netrebko's entry 'Mio superbo guerrier', and had to negotiate several bars before the singing and orchestral playing came together. Netrebko also sounded unsure how to put the phrasing in place and the singing lacked direction. The whole attempt fell short from producing a spellbinding end of the first half, and I reckon they need to go back to the drawing board for a rethink.
Second half of the concert began with an arrangement of 'Non ti scordar di me' by Curtis for duet, but a cheesy version being rather lively than the subtle rendition of the original. Then again Bignamini took a tempo too hurried at the start of 'Un bel di, vedremo' from Puccini's Madama Butterfly that only settled down when Netrebko started singing. Up to this point, he generally far from having a grip on what tempo should take each time. I felt most unsatisfactory when the stake of this concert was high and the conductor's quality did not match what the audience had paid for. The intermezzo from Manon Lescaut was the only item that he could lead the orchestra to play well, of course the music also spoke for itself with the sheer impact of emotions and glorious tunes.
Thankfully Netrebko's radiant singing turned our mind back to satisfaction again and again. The beautiful creamy rich voice took the breath away in 'O mio babbino caro' from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. Eyvazov also sang much better in Cavaradossi's Romanza than his French attempt in 'Toute mon âme est là' from Massenet's Werther. His lower vocal range was more pleasant for the ears and some differentiation in tone colour, compare to the forceful upper range. He also seems more familiar with the works and more thoughtful with phrasing than belting out a song. It was an odd choice though to select the very end of La bohème first act for the supposed finale of the evening. I would have prefer to start from Rodolfo's 'Che gelida manina' all the way to the end of act one for conclusion than those in the encores. Overall it was a great evening to hear Anna in live but the rest far from a memorable experience.
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