Following the principle that the grass is always greener on the other side of the interval, there was no doubt which of the lyric arts was getting the better deal out of last night's opening celebration.
Balletomanes could enjoy what appeared to be a very thoughtfully planned survey of the Royal Ballet's achievements over the last 50 years, while those in the audience who were there primarily as supporters of the opera had to settle for a bizarre triptych of bleeding chunks, taken entirely from German repertory and given in very staid concert versions, with the singers behind music stands and the orchestra dominating the stage.
No chance then, to sample what the sound will be like for opera in the refurbished auditorium with the orchestra in the pit, or to appreciate the value of what seem to be vastly improved sight lines in the far more steeply raked stalls. That will have to wait for the opening night of Verdi's Falstaff next Monday. For these were performances devoid of theatrical content, without even the electricity that is often generated in concert perfor mances of complete operas. Certainly the overture to Weber's Oberon, with which the music director Bernard Haitink began the 50 minutes alloted to him, was hardly an electrifying curtain-raiser. Chosen because the work was premiered in this theatre in 1826, it proved an over-stringent test for an orchestra that sounded as if it was still reacquainting itself with the place and has yet to regain the smoothness of its string tone or the full security of its woodwind playing.
No gala occasion at Covent Garden for the last two decades has been complete without Placido Domingo and he duly appeared partnered by Deborah Polaski in the duet for Siegmund and Sieglinde that ends the first act of Wagner's Die Walklüre. It was the only real star-turn.
Domingo has sung Siegmund at the ROH, and Polaski has been one of the company's stalwarts. But the significance of including a run-of-the-mill account of the finale of Beethoven's Fidelio rather escaped me, though Christine Brewer's singing (as Leonora here) is always worth hearing, and it at least gave the Royal Opera chorus the chance to make its presence felt. But what a waste on such a high-profile occasion.
