Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Soprano Lise Davidsen and conductor Susanna Mälkki gorgeously lead Bethoven’s FIDELIO

• By drediman
• March 13, 2025
• No Comments

Certainly one of the highlights of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2024/2025 season thus far is the current revival of Beethoven’s Fidelio (for the record, my other highlights of the Met season include Sondra Radvanovsky in Tosca and Elza van den Heever in Die Frau ohne Schatten), which is largely due to Lise Davidsen’s vocally transcendent performance in the role of Leonore, the opera’s heroine who risks her life to release her husband from imprisonment by a villainous tyrant (note that you only have one more performance left on March 15th to catch the production, after which Davidsen will be taking time off to focus on her pregnancy).

Despite being Beethoven’s only opera, it’s surprising how rarely Fidelio is performed, especially given how glorious the score is and tastefully inspiring its themes of freedom and uplifted dignity are conveyed. To be sure, Davidsen is ideally suited for the role of Leonore — her voice as gleaming and brilliant as ever — but she’s not the only noteworthy aspect of Jürgen Flimm’s thoughtfully updated production, which is set against Robert Israel’s grimly realistic modern-day prison set. As Leonore’s imprisoned husband Florestan, tenor David Butt Philip sang with heartrending anguish and feeling. As his captor Don Pizarro, bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny similarly sang with uncommon urgency and ravishing power. It was also a pleasure to see veteran bass René Pape back as the jailer Rocco — performing the role with touching humanity — as well as young, sparklingly-voiced soprano Ying Fang as his daughter Marzelline.

In the pit, the great Susanna Mälkki proved why she is one of the most sought-after working maestros currently working today. Her lucid, incisive, and insightful conducting gave shape to the opera and was the secret glue that held Monday night’s performance together. Under her baton, the mighty Met Orchestra responded with finesse and wonderful clarity. Indeed, together with Davidsen, the Finnish conductor led one of the most completely satisfying and transcendant performances of the season. And as always, the equally great Met Chorus sang with great feeling and sense of musicality as both the sorrowful prisoners in the first act and the general public at large during the opera’s joyful conclusion.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

FIDELIO
Opera
The Metropolitan Opera
2 hours, 40 minutes (with one intermission)
Through March 15