A delicious, sumptuous musical feast alla Rossini was served up by the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra (RBSO) at the Thailand Cultural Centre on June 26, as music director Michel Tilkin, soprano Lucia Conte, mezzo-soprano Paola Cacciatori and baritone Korawij Devahastin Na Ayudhya indulged in the charm, wit and elegance of Italian opera in a cleverly conceived show entitled "Rossini 150 Years".
Related compatriot composers were also represented, but the core of the programme consisted of overtures and arias by "Signor Crescendo", as Rossini was known, the prolific and wealthy genius who composed over three dozen operas before he was 40, then enjoyed a long retirement as a renowned gourmand and celebrity chef in his own right. Italians, after all, famously like their haute cuisine and opulent opera in equal measure.
When Gioachino Rossini died one-and-a-half centuries ago, he had already enjoyed a lifetime of artistic adulation across Europe, unparalleled financial success and widespread influence. The universal popularity of his accessible style has of course persisted, and this special concert was attended by the Italian Ambassador H.E. Francesco Saverio Nisio as part of a year-long festival which also celebrates, fittingly, 150 years of diplomatic relations between Italy and Siam.
The Il Barbiere Di Siviglia overture grabbed the audience's attention immediately, and began this gala performance with a concentrated finesse, a lightness of overall orchestral tone capturing the idiom of Rossini. The musicians benefited from the experience of seasoned guest concertmaster Cecile Huijnen, with metronomic stability allowing the sophisticated yet whimsical nature of the music to flow naturally.
Soprano Lucia Conte duly made her first entrance for Bellini's pleading aria Oh! Quante Volte, a slowly unfolding and expressive Recitative and Romance which immediately showed off her lyric coloratura voice and masterful phrasing. The hushed intensity is carried in part by an extended French horn solo, played here with admirable control by Supreeti Ansvananda. Conte herself effortlessly reached a soft top C at the aria's apotheosis, as the character Giulietta bemoans her long separation from Romeo. Puccini's O Mio Babbino Caro towards the end of the evening was just as moving.
Mezzo-soprano Paola Cacciatori then followed with a gem of the bel canto style, Rossini's Cruda Sorte from another of his best known masterpieces, L'Italiana In Algeri. Her slightly lower tessitura was no less penetrating and the purity of her voice came across wonderfully on many long-held fermatas, which gave an opportunity to have a little teasing fun with the other musicians as she timed her moments to fall back into regular meter. (The essential cavatina Una Voce Poco Fa, later in the evening, was delivered with comparable élan.) The "Rossini cocktail" continued with an engaging orchestral interlude in the form of the storm depicting Temporale, featuring pinprick precision among the strings as their secco staccato crotchets suggested delicate raindrops before a full tempest.
This set the stage nicely for a star of the Thai opera scene, the baritone Korawij Devahastin Na Ayudhya, who introduced himself powerfully with the quasi-militaristic Non Più Andrai from Le Nozze De Figaro, by Rossini's own great personal hero Mozart. With punchy vocal delivery alternating with a smooth, velvety tone, this paved the way for a captivating highlight involving all three singers, the sublime Terzettino Soave Sia Il Vento from Mozart's other comic miracle, Così Fan Tutte. Conte, as Fiordiligi, and Cacciatori, as Dorabella, soared like two love-struck songbirds above the warm tenore of Korawij's supportive Don Alfonso, whilst Tilkin and the RBSO followed the gentle rubato attentively as their undulating patterns evoked the soft movement of waves at sea.
Rossini's youthful overture to Il Signor Bruschino then closed the first half in endearing fashion, the second violin section being brought to their feet alone for applause after demonstrating just what a tight rhythmic unit they can be. On five occasions, the score asks them to tap their bow sticks in unison on the music stands, one of the very few occasions in orchestral life that violinists are called upon to count like percussionists!
The more substantial and mature La Gazza Ladra overture, which followed the intermission, boasts two famous "Rossini rockets", whereby feverish excitement is built by a repeated phrase starting very quietly, then growing and growing in volume and tension as if Rossini the chef was adding truffles or foie gras, piece by piece to a new mouthwatering surprise recipe. The duet Dunque Io Son was the final such Rossini offering of the concert, enhanced by effective choreographic interaction between Cacciatori and Korawij.
It was then left to Tilkin and RBSO to round off a thoroughly enjoyable evening, with the drama of Verdi's La Forza Del Destino overture showcasing harpist Emma Mitarai, and the poignancy of Mascagni's Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana revealing the lush, soothing timbre of the string section. "Amore… molto amore!" shouted one ecstatic patron from the stalls. What a memorable evening!
