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that decisive moment

Netrebko Conquers: The Week in Classical Music

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Anna Netrebko (left, with Ferruccio Furlanetto) gave one of the performances of her career in Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino” in London.Credit...Bill Cooper

[Read all of our classical music coverage here.]

Apologies, readers! You may notice that this week’s compendium has been put together and published on Saturday morning, rather than the usual Friday afternoon.

Blame the unreliable Wi-Fi on my flight back from London, where I had traveled to see the opening of Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino” at the Royal Opera House. The main draw: the show brings together Anna Netrebko and Jonas Kafumann in a staged opera for the first time since 2008.

It was a particular coup for Ms. Netrebko, who gave, I wrote, “one of the performances of her career.” Comparing it with some other recent new roles, “it is a more spontaneous creation than Ms. Netrebko’s serene Aida or her stilted Tosca, with the grandeur and sorrow of her Adriana Lecouvreur and a febrility that recalls her Lady Macbeth.”

Here’s a clip of her singing “Pace, pace,” the climactic aria in “Forza,” in concert in Buenos Aires last year:

Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival announced its 2019 season. Here’s our summary, and here’s the full release.

Some good news out of New England: Florence Price’s music will make its debut with the Boston Symphony, five years after William Robin, writing in our pages, called the orchestra out for overlooking her.

And Anthony Tommasini compared the Met’s old and new “Ring” productions when it comes to Wotan’s Narrative, perhaps the cycle’s emotional center. Here are the clips!

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An excerpt from the Metropolitan Opera’s old staging of Wagner’s “Ring.”
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An excerpt from the Met’s current production.

With singing like that, I hope you’ll agree that late was better than never this week. Enjoy your weekend! ZACHARY WOOLFE


On Wednesday at Zankel Hall, the vocal ensemble Theatre of Voices and its director, Paul Hillier, presented small sets of music by Arvo Pärt and David Lang. But the impact of their tour through Pärt — an assemblage of works composed in different decades — was drained of some pleasure by a video piece projected alongside it. The sedate shots of animals and skyscapes brought Mr. Pärt’s profundity (as well as the group’s singing) down to earth.

The premiere of the full version of Mr. Lang’s “the writings” helped illustrate how little help musicianship of this caliber actually requires. Presented simply, without multimedia interference, Mr. Lang’s work brought the Theatre’s singers together with members of Yale Voxtet.

They made a strong case for Mr. Lang’s latest cycle, which draws inspiration from the Hebrew Bible. The text of the third movement, “for love is strong,” is a long list poem of similes revolving around rooted, droning tones. And in a later movement, one could hear a chattering central vocal part that seemed influenced by Meredith Monk. But the harmonies — quickly shifting, comforting and peculiar at once — served as reminders of Mr. Lang’s individual artistry. SETH COLTER WALLS


On Monday evening, the Metropolitan Opera brought back David McVicar’s handsomely efficient production of “Tosca,” with the conductor Carlo Rizzi leading a rich and exciting reading of the score. Flu season provided more excitement: On Monday afternoon, the soprano Jennifer Rowley, who was to have sung the title role, withdrew because of illness. She was replaced by Iulia Isaev, a Romanian soprano making her Met debut.

With a powdery soft tone and comforting low register, Ms. Isaev was most convincing in the first act, in which we get to know Tosca as a sweet and playfully pious diva. Her flirtatious interplay with Joseph Calleja’s Cavaradossi felt alluringly natural. (He, too, was battling a cold but pulled out some stirring lines.)

But the opera’s fascination stems from Tosca’s growth under pressure, as she faces the awful choice between hearing her lover tortured and submitting to a sexual bully — and then when she, with desperate clarity, kills her tormentor. Ms. Isaev never quite marshaled the power to convey that transformation. The aria “Vissi d’arte” should mark a turning point in the opera, but while Ms. Isaev’s rendition had melting sadness, in the cautious top note of the climax there was none of the bitter fire that should fuel the dramatic events to come. CORINNA da FONSECA-WOLLHEIM

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