Herold 2020

Verdi's late masterpiece is presented in Elijah Mashinsky's Met production with sumptuous sets and period costumes. Semyon Bychkov conducts an all-star cast led by South African Heldentenor Johan Botha in the title role with a voice of "impressive size and bronze color" (New York Times). Renee Fleming's Desdemona enshrines one of her signature roles in a definitive performance "she knows exactly how to spin the gentle lines of the "Willow Song" and "Ave Maria" so that they softly fill the hall" (New York Times). A strong supporting cast includes the superb Falk Struckmann as Iago and star tenor Michael Fabiano as Cassio.

When the name Chopin is mentioned, what often comes to mind first are his Nocturnes and their dreamy qualities. Chopin, of course, wrote much more than that, and some of it is quite dramatic and intense. However, Daniel Barenboim seems to have missed getting that memo before recording Chopin's Preludes and the other works on this album. There is both drama and intensity in at least a few of the Preludes, often overdone, but not here. Those marked agitato, Nos. 1, 8, and 22, are placidly performed, with little impetus to them, while the "Polish Dance," No. 7, has no strength in it. No. 12 in G sharp minor has a little more energy, and No. 16 has a little more forcefulness, both coming closer than the other Preludes to living up to their potential.