Aida was performed today by the Met for the 1166th time. This broadcast was HD telecast number three for Verdi’s Egyptian extravaganza. The hook for this run of the perennial was Anna Netrebko in the title role. There’s nothing new anyone can say about this opera so let’s get right to the show. Netrebko is a great singer and her Aida is first rate. Her voice is rich, powerful, and secure over her entire range. Though sometimes given to stock operatic gestures, she is an intense actress and offered a fully realized presentation of the princess who became a slave.

Vocally, she is not in the same league with Zinka Milanov, but no one is. Netrebko’s voice, while still lush, has a bit of hardness in it and she cannot float a disembodied pianissimo the way Liudmyla Monastyrska (the Aida of the 2012 HD performance) did. Her approach to the role seemed to me more fitting for Abigaille or Lady Macbeth. Still, an engrossing performance worth a special trip.

The other key female role is Amneris. A powerful mezzo can steal the opera if she nails the opera’s penultimate scene. The Georgian singer, Anita Rachvelishvili, was as impressive as anyone who has sung the part over the last quarter century. She can both sing gently and with power. At only 34 a great career is waiting for her.

Aida is a love triangle. The third side of this troika is Radamès, one of Verdi’s great spinto roles. The Latvian tenor, Aleksandrs Antonenko, had a lovely lirico-spinto voice when he first appeared on the international opera scene about a decade ago. He decided to concentrate on the really big roles, like Otello. The result has been that at age 43, when he should be in his prime, his voice is shot. He wobbled his way through ‘Celeste Aida’, often lost touch with the correct pitch, and generally bawled his way through the opera. Yet another tenorial self immolation. I wished that Antonenko had switched roles with Arseny Yakovlev who sang the Messenger in Act 1.

American baritone Quinn Kelsey has a pleasant light baritone that well suited to the less formidable Verdi baritone roles like Amonasro and Germont, which he’ll sing later in the Met season. The remainder of the roles were all done well. Gabriella Reyes as the off stage Priestess was particularly effective.

Nicola Luisotti’s conducting was more than competent. A little more energy would be useful. The Met’s splendid orchestra could play this score while asleep and still sound fully awake. Verdi’s orchestration in Aida is exciting and full of extraordinary moments like the opening of the Nile Scene and the conclusion of the Judgement Scene. Most conductors of staged performances of Aida are too busy trying to keep everything together and fend off disaster to realize every orchestral nuance Verdi put into this masterwork.

Sonja Frisell humongous production has held up remarkably well over the 30 years and almost 250 performances that have transpired since it first appeared at the Met. The Nile Scene looks like it was constructed after the budget was broken, but the rest of the show is grand. The chorus as is now typical for the house was superb. Aida has a lot of dancing built into it. Nobody goes to this opera to see the dancing. The dancers were fine.

Gary Halvorson’s video direction was mostly unobtrusive. The Met now has an overhead camera in place. So a lot of the telecast looked like Busby Berkeley had been reincarnated specially for this show.

Just for fun here is Zinka Milanov’s recording of O patria mia, the gold standard for all sopranos who followed her.

AIDA
Giuseppe Verdi–Antonio Ghislanzoni

Aida………………..Anna Netrebko
Radamès……………..Aleksandrs Antonenko
Amneris……………..Anita Rachvelishvili
Amonasro…………….Quinn Kelsey
Ramfis………………Dmitry Beloselskiy
King………………..Ryan Speedo Green
Messenger……………Arseny Yakovlev
Priestess……………Gabriella Reyes
Dance……………….Jennifer Cadden
Dance……………….Bradley Shelver

Conductor……………Nicola Luisotti

Production…………..Sonja Frisell
Set designer…………Gianni Quaranta
Costume designer……..Dada Saligeri
Lighting designer…….Gil Wechsler
Choreographer………..Alexei Ratmansky
Stage Director……….Stephen Pickover
Video Director………Gary Halvorson