More Trouble for the BSO

Last Monday The New York Times wondered if the Boston Symphony Orchestra should start a disabled list. After all, the prior week had been one of the most frustrating in BSO history. First, newly hired conductor Andris Nelsons, a healthy, dynamic 34-year-old, was scheduled to make his first appearance after signing his contract conducting the Verdi Requiem last Saturday night. But he hit his head on a door, yes, a door, in Bayreuth, Germany, and suffered a concussion. He canceled. Then the magisterial bass, Ferruccio Furlanetto bowed out of the Requiem with a cold. And Friday and Saturday programs had to be changed when conductor Christoph Eschenbach withdrew because of an ear infection. Surely BSO executives and Nelsons agreed on the Verdi for its operatic, show-stopping sections, wide dynamic range and intense sense of drama. It is one of the four greatest requiems in the Western canon, joining those — all operatic, too — of Mozart, Brahms and Berlioz. It is a work you anticipate with excitement, with a sense of “occasion,” as the Times put it. Alas neither substitute conductor Carlo Montanaro nor three of his soloists were entirely right for the event. Montanaro, a protege of Zubin Mehta, is an experienced opera conductor with an enormous repertoire. Perhaps too enormous, because on Saturday he never seemed to have a coherent personal vision of the arc of the requiem. The murmuring opening, which I heard over the radio, should be so soft you are surprised that the music has even begun, but it was too loud. The first iteration of the thundering “Dies Irae” was too fast, the “Agnus Dei” not smooth, the final moments of the concluding “Libera Me” too loud. Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais, Nelsons’ wife who left Germany for Tanglewood, has a lovely small voice, but she had to force it to reach Verdi’s stratospheric heights, especially at the end of “Libera Me,” when the soprano must float one of Verdi’s terrifying pianissimo high Cs. She hit the note, but left it quickly, obviously relieved. German mezzo Lioba Braun had fine high notes but chest tones too weak for the reassuring “Lux Aeterna.” Neither Braun nor Opolais could really fill out their duet in “Recordare,” which contains one of the score’s most memorable melodies. Then there were the men. Eric Owens, a fine bass in Wagner and some Verdi — think the “Rheingold” Alberich and “Rigoletto” — had neither the weight nor vocal splendor to anchor the ensemble. Tenor Dmytro Popov, however, was fresh-voiced and gleaming, rather like a naïve choirboy having a good time. His “Ingemisco” was very fine. Of course the greatness of the Requiem showed through more often than not in this imperfect performance. But I suspect Nelsons will reschedule the work sooner rather than later: He will want us to hear his way with Verdi’s sublime score.