Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky and tenor Piotr Beczala presented their recital on November 3rd (which is touring worldwide) at the Teatro Real. Before the beginning, there was a one-minute standing of silence in sympathy to the victims in the aftermath of the storm Dana which destroyed several locations in the Valencia area (in the name of all the artistic and technical stuff of the theatre).

The first part of the concert was dedicated to Puccini.

Tenor Piotr Beczala opened with “Donna non vidi mai” from “Manon Lescaut.” It was an excellent aria to showcase his elegant phrasing and his expansive middle register. He attacked a secured B flat at the end of the aria “deh non cessar.” The orchestration for this piece is very light and therefore the voice of the tenor was resonant although it was already noticeable that he lacked power in the upper range.

Radvanovsky opened her intervention with Manon’s tragic final aria “Sola, perduta, abandonata,” presenting her strong middle and lower register. But it is above the passaggio where her voice expands and her projection is astonishing, as this proved during her first high A flat of “susurro…” But the lamenting aria keeps the voice mostly in the middle range of the voice, although it has some ascensions to high B flats. It was an excellent choice to present her wide pallette of different vocal colours to portray all the despair and abandonment of Manon. Her voiced sounded dark, strong and dramatic. She was warmly received by the audience.

After the first intervention of the tenor and soprano, the orchestra, under the baton of Keri-Lynn Wilson played Puccini’s symphonic prelude in A minor, a rarely performed beautiful piece. The orchestra of Teatro Real played with emotion and subtleness, including a climactic outburst before finishing in a soaring pianissimo

The first part of the concert concluded with a selection from Puccini’s “Tosca” which were presented to accommodate their interventions, and therefore they closed with the first act duet “Mario! Mario! Son qui!” after having sang arias belonging to the first, second and third act.

“Recondita armonia” was Beczala’s second intervention, a short lyric aria with light orchestration where the tenor’s voice moved comfortably in the several ascensions to A naturals and a final B flat in “Tosca sei tu.” He sang with exquisite legato avoiding the use of portamenti and appoggiatura which are so typical in the verismo repertoire, with excellent secure attacks of the high notes.

Tosca is one of Radvanonvsky’s signature roles, so her interpretation of the aria “Vissi d’arte” was a lesson of good singing and excellent dramatic portrayal. The soprano sang with emotion, pathos and abandonment, showing her powerful dark sound, her even legato, a thunderous high B flat in “Signor!” and her exquisite crystalline pianissimo in the subsequent A flat and G, concluding in forte after a dramatic crescendo. It is remarkable how such a strong, dark and powerful voice can emit perfect pianissimo (reminiscent of sopranos Monserat Caballe or Edita Gruberova).

“E lucevan le stelle” proved that Beczala’s voice might not be appropriate for this heavy repertoire. The orchestration was again light, so his voice was perfectly audible, but his voice lacks the dramaticism and power required for such a dramatic piece, and therefore, after a beautiful mezza voce in “Oh! Dolci bacci” his intention of sounding dramatic was weak and manufactured. He over darkened the sound and pushed the final A natural in “…non amato tanto la vita.”

The couple closed the first part with Tosca’s long first act duet where we could see their involvement and chemistry on the stage as they portrayed their roles perfectly as if it was an onstage performance, rather than a concert. But Radvanovsky’s strong and powerful sound hid the tenor’s voice completely. When they sing together it sounds as if the tenor is singing very far on the stage and the soprano right by your ear. His projection problems became evident too in the B flat of “Ah! Mia sirena…” where the orchestra plays in forte, and his voice was barely audible. But it is mostly a lyrical love duet with long expansive lines and the couple succeeded with their excellent technique and vocal characterization. It was a good end for the first part before a 25-minute break.

The second part began with a selection of Dvorák’s “Rusalka.” The prince in it is a role in which Beczala has performed a lot, and it shows. The Czech language fits the tenor’s voice perfectly and he sang comfortably the “aria of the prince”, “Vidino divna přesladká,” keeping his voice mostly in the middle range with sporadic ascensions to A naturals.

Although the opera “Rusalka” is rarely performed, the aria of the mermaid, “the aria of the moon,” “Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém,” is quite popular in the concert repertoire of sopranos due to its beauty and simplicity. Radvanovsky sang with extreme lyricism and emotion. The beautiful melody showed her secure middle register, delivering an effortless final B flat.

The couple sang the long duet from the third act of “Rusalka,” “Milacku, znas mne, znas?,” which keeps Dvorák consitent in the middle register of the voice which makes the ascension to high notes harder if the sound is not kept light, but the soprano had no problem at all with the high B natural and C flats of the piece. Beczala, on the other hand, was less successful delivering the high C which sounded small, insecure and at the point of breaking.

The orchestra played “La tregenda” from Puccini’s “Le villi” with ardent emotion and brightness to give a moment’s rest to the singers before the final pieces belonging to the opera “Andrea Chénier” from Umberto Giordano.

Beczala sang the fourth act aria “Come un bel dì di Maggio” which had the same characteristics of the pieces he had chosen for the concert: central writing and light orchestration, and therefore his voice shines with his over darkened sound and was dramatic.

“La mamma morta” is another signature aria of soprano Radvanovsky, which has sung the full opera many times and usually includes this piece in her concerts and recitals. Her interpretation was thrilling and hair raising. She used all her dramatic resources and her powerful strong sound to colour the expansive lines. The final B natural sounded a bit short and she seemed slightly out of breath by the end. When Radvanovsky said before her first bis that she was “feeling under the weather,” I understood the weak end of Magdalena’s aria but I was completely surprised that I hadn’t noticed any other vocal deficiencies throughout the concert. It is astounding how good she can sing even when she is not feeling well.

The concert ended with the duet that concludes the opera, and it was here where the true nature of Beczala’s voice was revealed. When he was singing forte along with the soprano and the orchestra, his voice disappeared completely. Beczala has not the required lyrico-spinto or even dramatic voice that the repertoire he was singing demands, and so he struggled to be heard over the dense orchestration and could not match at all the soprano’s sound. Therefore, the duet ended with the soprano delivering thunderous B flats and a B natural in the final climax while the tenor’s voice sounded distant and small.

After the enthusiasm that the audience showed to the singers, the encores began.

Beczala sang “Amor ti vieta” from Giordano’s “Fedora.” It seemed that the tenor did not want to take any risks and opted once more for a short aria, mostly written in the middle (It only rises once to an A natural) and with light orchestration so he could sing with his manufactured dark sound.

Radvanovsky mentioned the Valencia tragedy, due to the storm Dana, before singing “Pace! Pace! Mio dio” from Verdi’s “La Forza del destino,” proving how her strong vocal technique enables her to sing pianissimo, mezza voce, crescendos and diminuendos, emiting a soaring crystalline high B flat in “in van la pace” while finishing with a fortissimo strong B flat. Her voice sounded fresh and clean. Her interpretation of this aria was a true lesson of good singing, vocal resources and vocal flexibility.

The couple sang the “brindis” from Verdi’s “La traviata” to concluded the event. It was charming to see them dance a waltz in the solo orchestra moment due to the absence of the choir.

The singers where strongly rewarded by the audience which had enjoyed every moment of the concert, although it was noticeable that the soprano received the strongest ovations. A mostly Verismo concert based on Puccini and Giordano, with the beautiful lyricism of “Rusalka,” and the presence of Verdi in the encores, which was dedicated to the victims and survivors of the storm Dana tragedy which was currently taking place in the Valencia area.