Giuseppe Verdi : Macbeth

   in Opera Now (Sep, 2014)
Verdi’s thunderous tragedy is not brilliantly served on CD, least of all in English, so this (the 62nd and last of the Peter Moores Foundation ‘Opera in English’ series) is a welcome if not wholly satisfactory addition. As you’d expect, Simon Keenlyside brings a Lieder-singer’s sensitivity to Macbeth, coarsening the voice but bringing the man’s buried good qualities through – a fine performance (the banquet scene capturing some true essence of terror) by the only singer who genuinely engages with the words in Jeremy Sams’ not-amazing translation. Latonia Moore lacks nothing in power but is somewhat opaque and not always secure until a properly pathetic sleepwalking scene. Perhaps the best thing …