<<  -- 5 --  Roderic Dunnett    FRESH AND ENGAGING

True, Chisinau performances' quality rather depends on which cast you catch, and on the resultant chemistry. I have found myself oddly unmoved by the generally magnificent Oxana Cobzeva, nowadays a stately but almost elderly Violetta, Countess and Butterfly, even though she is undoubtedly one of the great talents among Moldova's older generation artists -- a tradition that embraces the superb Maria Biesu and reaches back to the even greater Maria Cebotari. Mihai Munteanu -- Chisinau's former artistic director, and an astonishing presence as both Canio (Pagliacci) and Cavaradossi (Tosca) -- can hold the audience in the palm of his hand; some others lag behind.

Yet even Elena Gherman, capable singer, charismatic performer and one of their beefiest character actresses, memorable as both Frasquita (in the current Carmen) and Musetta (in last year's Boheme), has the power to wring pathos from Liu -- a very different kind of role, which she shares with Rosa Lee Thomas and the almost as fragile Natalia Josan.

The Korean-American Rosa Lee Thomas's Liu was enchantment itself, as touching in its way as Natalia Yutesh's Madam Butterfly (paired with Liliana Lavric, this year's Carmen, as Suzuki), which I was lucky enough to see two years ago. Her appoggiaturas and tuning are excellent, though the vocal assurance is not always quite there. Yet her first aria as Liu drew the first overwhelming applause of the evening. She has already, I would hazard, made a striking Gilda and Butterfly; here her touching performance and poignant interaction with Calaf and Timur formed a key part of the evening's dramatic power.

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