Verdi - La Traviata / Richard Eyre, Solti, Gheorghiu, Lopardo, Nucci, ROH Covent Garden
Angela Gheorghiu is the definitive Violetta of her generation, the  standard-setter against whom all other exponents of this role must be judged for  the foreseeable future. Her affinity for Verdi's fragile, gentle-hearted  courtesan is rooted in a fine balance of acting and singing skills. She looks  right, her body language is eloquent without overstatement, and her voice is  limpid, expressive, open to a variety of subtle shadings and used gracefully and  intelligently. For this, her firstTraviata, Covent Garden put together a  production in 1994 that is solid and straightforward but otherwise  unspectacular--a fairly subdued background against which her performance stands  out all the more clearly. Though lacking the vocal splendor and personal  magnetism of Placido Domingo, Frank Lopardo gives a sensitive performance as  Alfredo, and Sir Georg Solti paces and accents this performance with a  thoughtful subtlety that is relatively rare in his work. The result is deeply  satisfying.--Joe McLellan