<<  -- 4 --  Roderic Dunnett    NEAPOLITAN UPRISING

Most notably, the Duke, Michail Milanov, seemed all but on a par with the great tradition of Bulgarian basses - Christov, Ghiaurov, Ghusulev. This was a performance of awesome vocal command, confirming Gomes' Duke d'Arcos alongside Verdi's Philip II among the top-flight dramatic bass roles. Fernando del Valle, virtually intonation-perfect, superb in the top range and pretty much everywhere else, is a tenor of almost Domingo strength. Terrific, even though his acting reduced Rosa to a kind of Inspector Clouseau and brought Act I close to Offenbachian farce. David Curry's Fernandez and Michael Gluecksmann's Masaniello were pick of the rest, but a cast free of vocal drawbacks made this an impressive evening at the opera.