Thu April 2 2009 - Opera Warhorses
Power Verdi: Stoyanov, Valayre Mesmerizing in Berlin Staatsoper “Macbeth

Californians know Valayre for her Puccini, in the title role of “Madama Butterfly” at San Francisco Opera in 1997 and earlier this year in the title role of “Tosca” for the San Diego Opera (see my review at Grimsley Memorable in San Diego Opera’s Quasi-Traditional “Tosca” – January 27, 2009).

But Butterfly and Tosca are not the right roles to introduce Valayre’s extraordinary skills. It is in two of the early Verdi roles, Lady Macbeth and Abigaille in “Nabucco” (which she is scheduled to sing next year at San Diego Opera), for which she has achieved deserved fame.

I have never heard the difficult passages that Verdi wrote for Lady Macbeth sung so beautifully.  It is ultimately one of the great, highly dramatic bel canto roles, such as Donizetti wrote for the title role of “Lucrezia Borgia” or for Elisabetta in “Roberto Devereux” and that Verdi wrote for Abigaille in “Nabucco” or Giselda in “I Lombardi”, with leaping intervals and the mixture of coloratura passages with highly dramatic passages that they use to define strong-willed women.

Verdi’s off-the-cuff remarks tend to be taken more seriously than I believe they should, and the dictum attributed to him – that the voice of Lady Macbeth should sound ugly – seems to be taken literally by too many singers. Valayre clearly demonstrates that every note that the Lady sings, from the legato of the hauntingLa luce langue to the festive Si colmi il calice,  can be sung expressively and with great beauty. It is a joy to hear her.

William's Reviews

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