HEARING the portions of Traviata which other conductors omit was one of the pleasures of Richard Armstrong's treatment of Verdi's opera, particularly as the performance was in every way good enough to warrant their inclusion. It is not Verdi's longest work, after all, and the extra music adds only a few minutes to its running time.
In this respect, as in others, Scottish Opera's revival of its nine-year-old production does the composer proud. The complete version of Violetta's Addio del passato in the last act may seem no more than a matter of singing it twice, but it intensifies the aria's poignancy as Claire Rutter demonstrated in her luminous, exquisitely inflected singing. This, and the succeeding duet with her edgy young Austrian Alfredo, Nikolai Andrei Schukoff, marked the summit of a fine grained, eloquently articulated portrayal, which never sought to tug at the heart-strings but made its effect with convincing naturalness.
Earlier, Schukoff had his moment in the form of his double cabaletta after Dei miei bolenti spiriti , traditionally cut because it seems an irrelevently strutting showpiece. As if to prove otherwise, he sang part of it sitting down, the other part on his knees. Germont's cabaletta, another regular omission, was similarly sedentary - not the only aspect of this Traviata to fine-tune the roles of father and son. Richard Zeller's tight-lipped but full-toned Germont, indeed, was an inescapable presence, looming over the lovers and practically seizing the closing scene for himself. Nuria Espert's production, revised by Peter Watson, has lost none of its intimate potency and gained a few fresh touches. The orchestra, in its new open pit, was vibrantly expressive.
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