Secondary roles such as Eric Halfvarson’s vigorous Melcthal, Enkelejda Shkosa’s concerned Hedwige and Nicolas Courjal’s ultra-villainous Gesler are expertly done, while the Royal Opera Chorus and Orchestra are on top form throughout. Malin Byström understands the internal conflict of Arnold’s beloved enemy Hapsburg princess Mathilde and is persuasive in delineating it, while Sofia Fomina is vocally confident and convincingly boyish as Tell’s son, Jemmy. In the near-impossible tenor role of Arnold, with its punishing plethora of high notes, John Osborn stands his ground more than honourably. The leading role of the Swiss patriot is delivered in sombre (if not glowering) yet dignified manner by Gerald Finley, who quite properly makes the famous aria ‘Sois immobile’ an expressive highlight. Yet musically it has a lot going for it, not least the rarely performed and ambitious score itself, conducted by Antonio Pappano with his customary zeal and stylistic insight. The theatre was originally called Covent Garden, but it was renamed in. William Tell itself is pretty well a write-off. It was built in 1858 to provide opera and ballet performances to the people of London. On a visual and theatrical basis, then, the show is scarcely recommendable – though Michieletto would redeem himself not long afterwards at the same address with a Cav & Pag which, not surprisingly, reached DVD and Blu-ray first.
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