Charles Castronovo reviews
Puccini: La bohème (DVD)
Sonya Yoncheva, Charles Castronovo et al; Royal Opera House Orchestra/Emmanuel Villaume (Opus Arte / DVD)
Verdi: La Traviata
State Choir Latvia; Latvian Festival Orchestra/Michael Balke, et al (Prima Classic)
Katie Mitchell directs Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor
Katie Mitchell’s ‘split-screen’ production of Lucia di Lammermoor opened to mixed reviews in 2016: some focusing on the drip of the plumbing in Vicki Mortimer’s scrupulous reconstruction of a Victorian bathroom; some on over-crowding issues in the grand set pieces for chorus and principals; some on the intrusive manifestations of the ghosts of the Lammermuir girl and Lucia’s mother. The staging is over-stuffed but it is not stupid or careless.