<<  -- 7 --  Roderic Dunnett    BEAUTIFULLY TOGETHER

In the last act, Gherman's Violetta, nightie-clad with hair down, is truly a pathetic figure, nursed along by shimmering strings and striking violin solo from the Odessa orchestra's leader. This is where Gherman the actress scores : she has a real stage presence, even though she occasionally milks it : her first Act with Alfredo was as spirited as her Musetta; here, her 'Addio del passato', enfolded by Verdi's unexpectedly forward-looking string clusterings, ushered in by the hushed finality of Pavlyuk's doctor and assisted by Ludmila Shyrina's involving Annina, proved as tragically moving as her Liu (in the recent Chisinau Turandot).

Again an East European tinge added paradox, for the doomed couple's duet 'Parigi o cara' ('we'll leave Paris, my dearest' : Lykach rather effectively sings it over her while cradling her head), with its superbly managed pianissimo string staccato, virtually heralds The Bartered Bride a few years later (Smetana, of course, conducted much Verdi and Wagner at the Czech Provisional Theatre). Again, Gherman and Lykach were beautifully together, their closing bars marred only by a small woodwind mistuning. Gherman's forced optimism ('Look, I'm smiling'), and her final, hollow-eyed 'Prendi' -- 'Take this picture of me' -- seemed, momentarily, on the threshold of the greatest Traviatas.