A weak Nabucco in Munich (July 14, 2008)

Up early in the morning for breakfast and the bus to the airport. And so the flight to Munich, everything went fine. Train to Munich Main Train Station (Munich HBF) and soon in my hotel. I could have been relaxing and having everything ready and gotten a meal in the right time but the stress, getting batteries for my camera, and having the MD player in my hotel recharging. That all got to me and then I ate at McDonalds at Karlplatz forgetting the time and suddenly I had lost my way in Munich. Then I took a taxi to the opera house. I learnt some lessons, don't tell the taxi driver that you are going to the Nationaltheater say the opera instead, that one should be kind to the drivers of cars in Munich since most pedestrians is not, and don't stress.

And then it was opera time. My favorite opera, NABUCCO by G. Verdi and one of my favorite sopranos, Maria Guleghina as Abigaille. When the manager went out to announce something I got scared maybe it was something about my favorite Abigaille. But no, Giacomo Prestia was not well but was still singing.

Even as Giacomo Prestia was not well I still enjoyed his Zaccaria more than Paolo Gavanelli's Nabucco. Paolo Gavanelli was simply quite wrong as Nabucco in my opinion. He did quite well in Nabucco's great aria and was quite good in the great duet with Maria Guleghina. Ismaele was Aleksanders Antonenko who was not the best tenor for this role, but then which top star tenor would want to sing Ismaele. It is usually a role for the young tenor in the beginning of his career like it was for Josep Carreras and José Cura.

Maria Guleghina was a wonderful Abigaille. But the production was not a great one. The chorus sang well but felt nothing. It was much use of the possibilities on the stage to move stars and so on. But seldom did that add something to the opera. It was a lot of lost opportunities. Fenen was also great. Heike ....

For more reviews from my travels, see www.operaduetstravel.com