Royal Opera House Review 2021: Macbeth
Sound & Fury in Phyllida Lloyd’s Version of the Scottish Play – and Signifying Plenty
Next in Line?
“A lot of eyes were on Daniele Rustioni in the pit. Rustioni has been widely tipped as a potential successor to Antonio Pappano as music director, and revivals such as these often function as auditions-by-association. By my reckoning he’s probably through to at least the second round of the recruitment process, not least on the strength of the audience response.
It was lithe, characterful stuff throughout, with many of the trademarks associated with Pappano’s own conducting – sleek, sinuous phrasing, with moments of pointed lyricism. Rustioni summoned doom and dread from trombones and timpani in the work’s more fateful episodes. There is a keen eye for detailing, with smoky strings given wispy dynamic shading in the sleepwalking scene.
The music of Act three had a surprising gracefulness – more like Rossini than Verdi, in the best possible way, and this light-touch lyricism in Italianate repertoire would surely make him a perfect successor to Pappano. How ambitious is he? Let’s hope the incumbent doesn’t go the way of Duncan.
It’s a great opera for the chorus – and William Spaulding’s choristers raised the roof consistently. …
…The rather dour, determined joy of the final choral number gelled rather well with the production’s ambiguous conclusion – a superb meeting of direction and music.
In sum, this revival was a major musical success that continued to make its case for the long-time production.”
Operawire, Benjamin Poore