BSO offers Verdi masterpiece

Barbara Frittoli and Jose van Dam in the BSO production. (Michael j. lutch)

James Levine has made the performance of operas in concert an annual tradition at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Last season brought Berlioz's epic "Trojans"; this year it is "Simon Boccanegra," surely the least performed of Verdi's great operas. The BSO had never before played a single note of its score and no doubt many in the large and enthusiastic crowd on Thursday night in Symphony Hall were also encountering the work for the first time.

To be sure, it's not without difficulty, namely, a tortuous plot that snakes over decades and involves secret identities, spurned lovers, political intrigue, a shocking recognition scene, a mysterious villain, and more than a whiff of class warfare. The 1857 premiere flopped but Verdi came back to the work with help from a new librettist, Arrigo Boito. The revised "Boccanegra" of 1881 would earn a place among his masterpieces, with a legendary "Council Chamber scene" that contains some of the composer's most inspired music.

The opera's title character, the Doge of Genoa, is a onetime corsair thrust into power yet burdened by the ghosts of the past. On Thursday, the bass-baritone Jose van Dam's portrayal had depth, style, and poignancy, conveying the fierce strength and cunning of a successful political leader but also the private doubts and inner longings that trail him like a shadow. In Act I when Boccanegra rediscovers his long-lost daughter Maria, van Dam sang with a moving paternal tenderness. Alas his vocal estate is not what it once was, and Thursday he was recovering from a cold that took a toll on his upper range, but his dramatic instincts clearly saw him through.

Also fighting health problems was the bass-baritone James Morris, who was recovering from bronchitis; his portrayal of Boccanegra's rival Fiesco was solid yet less deeply internalized and as a result less commanding. The soprano Barbara Frittoli warmed into the role of Maria, singing with a lustrous tone and telegraphing her character's vulnerability in Act I but also its steely resolve when pleading with her father in Act II. For me the big surprise was the promising young baritone Nicola Alaimo, who sang with great resonance and impressive vocal flair as the sinister Paolo, Boccanegra's mortal enemy. Tenor Marcello Giordani, ardent yet unfocused, was Maria's suitor Gabriele Adorno; Raymond Aceto was the Genoese plebeian Pietro.

The Tanglewood Festival Chorus did a marvelous job throughout, and Levine and the orchestra brought out the dramatic potency and the rich, darkly expressive coloring of this arresting score. If you're a Verdi fan, catch this while you can; it might be a long time before Boston sees another "Boccanegra," at least one that's not playing at the movies.