Verdi's Rigoletto is a work of contrasts. The Duke is equally at home in a glittering palace or a tawdry brothel (a historically accurate characterisation of King Francis I of France, on whom his character is based); his romantic ballads are juxtaposed with the musical depiction of violent storms. Pretty courtly dances share the stage with powerful orchestral evocations of impending doom. The hunchbacked jester moves from sneering, vicious courtier to tenderest of fathers to implacable murderer; his daughter Gilda exudes purity and virtue even as she lies to conceal the existence of her suitor.
The latest revival of David McVicar's production for the Royal Opera makes the most of some of these contrasts; others are simply ignored. Dimitri Platanias gave us a wonderfully warm and rounded rendition of the title role, at his best in the tender moments between father and daughter where his richness of voice is very appealing. Platanias did a good job of managing the changes between tenderness and violence, although he played the violent parts less strongly than many: rather than the domineering, manipulative figure penned by Victor Hugo, his rages were those of an ineffectual man unable to control anything around him.
From a purely musical point of view, Ekaterina Siurina gave as good a Gilda as you might wish for. Her voice was strong, clear and perfectly weighted; diction was immaculate; timbre was pleasant; every note hit in the middle. Dramatically, I was less sure: it seemed to me that Siurina had thrown herself into the score rather than throwing herself into the character. No such reservation could be held about Vittorio Grigolo, who played the Duke with Tigger-like enthusiasm. When Grigolo is given time to breathe, he has a quite beautiful voice; his big Act I duet with Siurina was sheer delight, as was his Act II cavatina Possente amor mi chiama.
It was disappointing that he wasn't always given that time. John Eliot Gardiner's tempi were idiosyncratic, to say the least: rubato happened in some unlikely places, and he generally erred on the side of very fast. For two of the Duke's biggest numbers, Questa o quella and La donna è mobile, Gardiner took the music at such a clip that Grigolo struggled to keep up; certainly, there was no space for his airy elegance of phrasing. The celebrated Act III quartet Bella figlia dell'amore boasted four singers who sounded great (Christine Rice is one of the stronger castings you'll see as Maddalena), but its timing went rather ragged. It was a pity because Gardiner's conducting was excellent in so many other ways: the balance between the various instrument groups and voices was finely tuned to enable you to hear every nuance, and the dynamics and accenting brought out many of the details of Verdi's marvellous score.