Met in Prospect Park

The Met Arrives in Prospect Park

The Metropolitan Opera presented a concert in Prospect Park over the weekend.

By FRED KIRSHNIT

Even though Senator Schumer, introducing the festivities in Prospect Park on Friday, stated that the summer solstice was the "longest night of the year" — it is, of course, just the opposite — the time seemed to fly by as the Metropolitan Opera presented soprano Angela Gheorghiu and tenor Roberto Alagna singing a program of highlights and arias. This was typical summer fare: Everything was fine, nothing was great.



I have profound admiration for Ms. Gheorghiu. Her steadfast refusal to appear in any Regietheater productions that downplay the efforts of composers, conductors, and singers, emphasizing instead the inelegant and distracting productions of solipsistic directors, has endeared her to those of us who still go to the opera house to hear the music. This is a courageous stance to adopt, particularly for a European singer. One hopes it will not shut her out of the Metropolitan house in a few years.

There was much to like about this alfresco experience. The weather was lovely. The crowd was friendly and surprisingly quiet throughout. The Met chorus was sporting their new concert duds designed by Isaac Mizrahi. Although there were no excerpts from "Die Fledermaus," a constant ballet of bats entertained us with graceful motions. And, oh yes, the music was pleasantly entertaining, if not particularly intense.

Ms. Gheorghiu and her husband, Mr. Alagna, offered such fare as "Ton coeur n'a pas compris le mien" from Bizet's "The Pearl Fishers" and "C'est le Dieu" from "Lakme" by Leo Délibes. Both seemed to prefer a careful approach, nothing out of the box that might have strained their golden voices. In this huge venue they were aided by electronic amplification that could have allowed them to take a few vocal chances, but this was simply not to be. Their blended sound was especially pleasing in "Parigi, o cara" from "La Traviata."

Mr. Alagna rather generously sang an air from his brother David's opera "Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamne" and offered a technically impressive but emotionally disappointing "E lucevan le stelle" from Puccini's "Tosca." Ms. Gheorghiu was more aglow, singing the stuffing out of "Ebben? Ne andro lontana" from Catalani's "La Wally" and presenting a flawless "Un bel di" from "Madama Butterfly." It was difficult to find fault with such pure singing, but it was not at the same dramatic level that she would have achieved onstage.

Much less satisfying was the oom-pah-pah conducting of Ion Marin, especially when the dynamic duo was on a break. The opening overture to Verdi's "La Forza del Destino" was positively catatonic, ignoring every dynamic change. Even the superlative chorus fell victim to the pedestrianism of Mr. Marin; the heroic and normally stirring "Va pensiero" from Verdi's "Nabucco" fell far from the mark.

Encores were on the lighter side, ranging from a rather venial "Nessun dorma" to the charming Romanian song "Tu iubesc" and an "O sole mio" in both Italian and English that good-humoredly reminded of Kitty Carlisle and Allan Jones. In fact it was good humor and generosity that carried the evening. Everyone had a marvelous time and nobody had to pay those humongous ticket prices.