Massenet: La Navarraise – Roberto Alagna

   in Opera Now (Feb, 2019)
Massenet jumped onto the verismo bandwagon with the one-act La Navarraise, premiered at Covent Garden in 1894; I like the fact that he missed taking a curtain call and being presented to the future Edward VII because he was outside having a smoke, no doubt to calm his nerves. (Whoops!) No need anyway, as the evening was a triumph. Since then the opera’s fortunes have slumped – Operabase lists no performances worldwide in the recent past or the future – so a new recording is a welcome addition to the catalogue. It’s a sturdy reading from conductor Alberto Veronesi, who confidently leads the way through the melée of instrumentation; much percussion, …