Although Don Carlo is a work often staged by the main opera houses in the world these days, few theatres could boast to cast it with such a starry group of singers as the Met, especially in the rarer Italian five act version. When the curtains open at the Fontaineblau’s scene, the Romantic Kaspar David Friedrich-like images sound promising indeed, in spite of a not entirely welcome coziness of atmosphere. However, the next scenes are bureaucratically staged and never did the auto-da-fé look so comfortable to look at – maybe Republican sensibilities would rather avoid the burning of the heathen in front of the audience… The sense of routine would not be improved by Fabio Luisi’s highly irregular conducting. He showed slack control over his forces: the orchestral phrasing was often imprecise and most ensembles sounded disjointed. The auto-da-fé was also from the musical point of view a non event – undisciplined choir and brass section would not help him anyway. Acts IV and V showed a noticeable improvement, also because the singers seemed to reach their best form then.
Although Sondra Radvanovsky’s firm creamy soprano has some artificiality in order to make for a certain immaturity in this repertoire, she more than measured up to the big moments, especially a vocally immaculate act V, crowned by exquisite pianissimo singing. The same cannot unfortunately be said of Violeta Urmana’s Eboli. Of course this favourite singer displayed her customary musicianship and rock-solid technique, proving to have one of the most homogeneous mezzos in this repertoire. However, the kind of vocal upfront impact required by Verdian writing is incompatible to her vocalisation and the results were a bit dull. Her two arias were too calculated to produce the right effect, although in terms of stage presence she often overshadowed Radvanovsky’s more generalized acting.
Richard Margison’s tenor is natural and quite pleasant, but he seemed to be short of top notes that evening, having to resort to some forcing and squeezing to get up there. His looks were not one would call physique du rôle, but his unexaggeration is more than welcome. As to Dwayne Croft, his baritone developed to be smoother and darker than it used to be and he sang with consistent legato throughout. It is a pity that his “macho” acting is so unintentionally comic that it made me think of Monthy Python movies. Although Ferruccio Furlanetto’s voice is not as round and smooth as it used to be in Karajan’s days, he is still a commanding Filippo, offering crusty delivery of the text and producing consistently firm tone. His sensitive rendition of his great aria is still exemplary in its dramatic accuracy. As for Paata Burchuladze’s Inquisitore, yes, it is a very powerful voice, but quite wobbly and his Italian is incomprehensible. Finally, Vitalij Kowaljow, taking the role of the friar, is a name to keep and Olga Makarina has the right pearly tone for the Voice from Heaven.
I HEAR VOICES 
Its interesting that while I agree almost completely (my memory here is obviously not very fresh but much clearer than that of the almost contemporaneous RosKav) with your description of Radvanovsky and Urmana I’m pretty sure I enjoyed the later’s portrayal a great deal more. I think the generalized nature of SR’s acting that you refer to made for a very uninteresting performance. Elisabeth has some stunningly gorgeous music but I think it requires more personality to come across (will look forward to your report of Harteros at DOB – hope to hear hear later this season).
With Urmana, by contrast, the charisma and gorgeous tone you refer to made her, any stylistic deficiencies notwithstanding, an enormously satisfying Eboli.
Furlanetto sang exceptionally well but I do recall the diminished roundness and smoothness – not only from his time in the 80s with Karajan but even from 2 or 3 years earlier at the Met. It was still a tremendous performance but not a little concerning. Fortunately I don’t think it was indicative of a sustained decline and indeed his Filippo and Fiesco this past season were actually somewhat more smoothly sung (though not, of course, as luxuriously as 25 or even 7 or 8 years earlier).
Hi, Cavalier!
It is curious that this Elisabetta remains the best thing I’ve seen with Radvanovsky to this date. As for Urmana, she never really convinced me in those Italian dramatic mezzo roles, even if she never sang less than very well in them.