The singers were intense in their back and forth, but the long, arching melodic lines that hold this scene together are in the orchestra, and Kim brought them out with tautness and full-bodied sound. Mimì seeks out Rodolfo’s friend Marcello (the robust-voiced baritone Artur Rucinski) at the tavern where he and Musetta (Federica Lombardi, a vivacious soprano) are now living, to share her despair over Rodolfo’s constant jealousy. Her work in Act III, the emotional core of the opera, was exceptionally fine. Kim’s way of conveying the structural elements of the score - which is not just a series of dramatic scenes but, in Puccini’s hand, a composition with an overall form - was just as important as her attention to details. Kim kept the orchestra with her every moment, and the entire scene around that aria - the awkward, nervous exchanges between Rodolfo and Mimì as they first meet - had shape and drive. Hartig brought a conversational flow to the aria “Mi chiamano Mimì,” stretching one phrase to express a bashful, intimate feeling and slightly rushing another to convey nervousness. She was equally alert to the characteristics of Anita Hartig, as Mimì, a soprano whose bright voice, even when high-lying phrases had metallic glint, came across with tremulous, affecting vulnerability. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard Puccini’s score so freshly played. And at the Met this week, she did the job with musicianly care, assured technical command, subtlety and imagination. Last month, Kim made history at the San Francisco Opera as the first woman music director of a major American opera company. But on Tuesday, when “Bohème” returned to the Metropolitan Opera - in Franco Zeffirelli’s enduringly popular production, and with an appealing cast in place - the star of the evening was the conductor, Eun Sun Kim, in her Met debut. Yet the music is full of traps for a conductor, especially when it comes to pacing and rhythmic freedom give singers too much expressive leeway, and things can easily turn flaccid.Įven in a good performance of this well-known staple, it’s hard for a conductor’s work to stand out against the singers’ voices, which usually claim our attention. Giacomo Puccini’s beloved “La Bohème,” with its lyrically rich and deftly written score, has the makings of a surefire opera.
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