Although most people would agree that Simon Boccanegra contains some of the most astonishing music ever written, many still find it the most forbidding of Verdi's operas. The criticism most often flung at it is that the plot is complicated to the point of incoherence. The charge is ironic; true, the opera lacks the concision of Aida or La Traviata, but its complexity is ultimately the source of its richness.
Verdi's source was an obscure Spanish play that has much in common with Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, notably sharing its vision that time, to please some, tries all. Boccanegra, the elected, plebeian Doge of Genoa, and Fiesco, the patrician upholder of the values of hereditary aristocracy, circle each other across divides of politics, class and family hatred for 25 years, and can only contemplate reconciliation when Boccanegra is dying.
Caught between them are the young lovers - Gabriele, a fiery aristocrat; and Amelia, Boccanegra's illegitimate daughter and Fiesco's granddaughter - whose relationship is finally capable of transcending both public and private enmity.
Elijah Moshinsky's Royal Opera production, one of his finest, quashes any accusation of dramatic obscurity. Its Mantegna-inspired designs look hyper-traditional, but allow the narrative to unfold with tremendous clarity, carefully delineating the complex intersection of private and political lives, and unblinkingly exploring the characters' psychology.
At the centre of this revival are two exceptional performances from Alexandru Agache as Boccanegra and Robert Lloyd as Fiesco. Agache has always possessed a great voice but has only recently matured into an actor of outstanding subtlety: he's commanding when quelling his political enemies, and harrowing in his confrontations with Fiesco, when the public self-assurance cracks to reveal isolation and anguish. Lloyd is formidable as his opponent, his implacable vindictiveness gradually giving way to the realisation that he has misjudged both his own life and that of his enemy.
The young lovers are less assured. Tamar Iveri's rapturous, if loud Amelia is altogether too knowing. The tenor Marco Berti is a macho Gabriele, thrilling at full throttle, but insecure in quieter passages. The score is the most fiendish challenge a Verdi conductor can face. Richard Farnes tends to downplay the incipient political violence to emphasise the private conflicts.
It's a flawed performance of one of the greatest of all operas, although you need to hear it for Agache and Lloyd.
In rep until July 12. Box office: 020-7304 4000.
