THE gangplank via which Otello disembarks at the start of Verdi’s late masterpiece is also the proverbial plank which all tenors in the title role have to walk.
There are few more taxing and exposed entries in the repertoire than Otello’s opening cries of “Esultate!”, and when the tenor in question is the great Canadian Ben Heppner that pressure is even more acute. It is only a couple of years since he returned to form after the enforced rest of a vocal crisis, and recently he has upped the stakes by singing that other tenor killer, Wagner’s Tristan, in Paris. That doesn’t necessarily mix well with Otello, and unhappy reports from Covent Garden’s dress rehearsal suggested that this would be an anxious opening night.
In the event, this proved to be a stirring revival of Elijah Moshinsky’s classic production. Heppner sang cautiously in Act I, but his beefy if not very Verdian tenor gained focus thereafter. He is an artist who knows, both musically and dramatically, how to project inner torture, and the eating away of Otello’s soul is unstintingly charted right up to the crushed man’s final moments.
Covent Garden had already suffered the temporary loss of its other star, Renée Fleming, who will be returning to sing Desdemona from July 4 onwards. But the audience could hardly claim to have “suffered”, for in her place we got a deeply affecting performance from Amanda Roocroft. If her soprano is not ideally pure for this innocent character, she uses the colour of her voice to glowing effect in the Act III ensemble and shapes a beautiful line in the finale’s set pieces.
Yet perhaps the most complete performance comes from Lucio Gallo’s Iago (pictured above right, with Heppner), who projects his muscular baritone incisively, but never snarls. This is the attractive face of evil, all the more pernicious for the way in which he so quietly internalises the Credo.
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He is helped by Antonio Pappano, who draws wonderfully detailed playing from every section of the orchestra, finding those undercurrents in the Credo yet also bringing Italianate sweep to the whole score.
This certainly feels like a strong company revival, with the excellent chorus filling Timothy O’Brien’s elegant sets; the Veronese columns and Tintoretto backdrop may be traditional, but Moshinsky’s now nearly 20-year-old production is timeless. And with such strong and distinctive singers as Paul Charles Clarke (Cassio) and Robert Lloyd (Lodovico) also in the line-up, while not forgetting the newcomer Matthew Rose (Montano), this Otello is cast from depth.