Lucia lucente

If just once in the two years (and four months) I've been writing this blog, you've found even one second of pleasure, it is to Lucia Popp that your gratitude is ultimately due. Lucia is my operatic mother; if there had been no her, there would be no me, or at least no me the opera devotee. So it's not just your gratitude (if you feel any) that's due to her, but mine as well.

And with all of that already set in stone, last night I experienced her at the absolute top of her game, almost too exquisite to be believed: and I say almost because when it's Lucia we're dealing with, no level of excellence can truly surprise. The performance in question is her Susanna, in a 1980 Le nozze di Figaro filmed in Paris and evidently released in Japan. Lucia recorded Susanna a couple of years later and that performance is itself gorgeous enough; but the atmosphere of a live performance, and the opportunity to see and not just hear, add a million layers of loveliness. Sweet and sparkling, but strong-minded and canny as well, her Susanna is effortlessly the heart of the opera, and could remain so with just a fraction of the stage-time. Naturally it goes without saying that she her singing is straight from heaven, so terribly beautiful that she'd break your heart, were she not so busy swelling it with love and joy. Unsurpringly, her "Deh vieni" is quite literally a show-stopper.

Though not, it has to be said, the only one. Though in my eyes the brightest, Lucia is not the only star in this production. José van Dam is her rather wonderful Figaro, possessed of a kind of careless elegance which has him at times a more naturally noble figure than the Count himself. No peasant servant he, and his warm and graceful way with both text and music is a joy to behold. Cherubino is Frederica von Stade — what more can I say? She's all one could ask and more besides, adorable and shy and, oh yes, vocally magnificent. The applause and shouts for both her arias is near deafening and must add a good few minutes to the running time. Gabriel Bacquier makes a (mostly) amiable kind of lecher as Almaviva and Kurt Moll is at his growly teddy-bear best as Bartolo. And just when you think Act I has been so full of brilliance there can't be anything left in the magic bag: along comes Act II and with it, the sublime Contessa of Gundula Janowitz, serene and regal but with a twinkle in her eye that recalls her days in Seville. Audience reaction to her "Dove sono" is so passionate and so prolonged she's obliged to return and bow not once but twice before the opera can continue. She's heartbreakingly beautiful in the serious moments and a charming comedienne as well — I think she won me over for good when she rushed to let her suspicious husband into her room, humming to herself in a hilarious attempt to feign nonchalance. Adorable isn't a word I necessarily immediately associate with Contessa Almaviva but in this case it's the right one.

The rest were excellent too. However, this DVD came from House of Opera and only those principals I've named are credited on the label. So the identities Marcellina, Barbarina, Don Curzio and Antonio remain a mystery to me: but they were all very good indeed. Truly a delight from top to bottom. And you know, though I'm grateful she's surrounded by such a worthy and dreamy cast, Lucia as Susanna would have been more than enough on her own. This must surely rank among her best performances; certainly it's one of the best I've experienced, on a level with her to-die-for Sophie. She's really just irresistably gorgeous. I adore Lucia unconditionally and, thank god, she's been in my life basically since I was born, so that I've never had to go to the trouble of discovering her. But if I had to discover her now, I'd say this Susanna would be a brilliant way of doing so.