VERDI Falstaff The Barbican, London 23 May 2004

Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra with Michele Pertusi, Ana Ibarra Nadal, Marina Domashenko,Jane Henschel, Carlos Alvarez, Bulent Bezduz and Maria Jose Moreno, Darren Jeffery, Peter Hoare, Alasdair Elliott etc

Confronted by a forest of microphones, this was surely a LSO/Live recording session? The last of three concert performances (very unusual, that) made for a glorious evening which we were privileged to attend. It found everyone alert and determined to give their best in a well filled Barbican Hall; rather like athletes who have three chances to achieve their best height or distance. No pretences, no 'production'; just a row of music stands and microphones for each singer, and nothing serious went wrong.

The start was disconcerting; Falstaff often is so. Explosive orchestral playing and Falstaff with his henchmen bawling their heads off at a steady fortissimo, just about getting across during the noisy first scene. But it soon settled and Michele Pertusi, a real find, revealed himself a tall, slender, elegant figure, a plausible seducer with a honeyed voice. Small gestures indicated girth without padding and when the ladies came on telling gestures became more frequent, and their voices were marvellously blended and distinct. Ana Ibarra Nadal, Marina Domashenko and Jane Henschel (who found a true baritonal timbre to impersonate her victim) made a fine trio of senior plotters and practical jokers; Bulent Bezduz and Maria Jose Moreno charming lovers, seizing their fleeting moments together, and making maximum impact with their brief solo opportunities. We were complicit with Carlos Alvarez's suave and later menacing Ford, though sparing some sympathy for the gullible Knight.

Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra, playing to numerous microphones, stole a lot of our attention of course, with pluses and minuses because they had broken out of the orchestra pit which this opera really needs. No one minded, on this occasion but certainly not for always, that we had to imagine the scenes in which the plots were worked out, and it was the music which made most impact; we had libretti supplied (legible print, strong black on white) and the house lights kept well up for us to follow the text and translation, as we wished, until many of us got lost and gave up in the ensembles, which are hard to set in print and cover many pages in few minutes. Attention was riveted from first note to last; so much for concerts in which we are frustrated by having libretti supplied but are plunged into darkness for "atmosphere", so they usually say!

Everyone seemed to be in perfect voice; Colin Davis had achieved ensembles of split second togetherness, and I haven't heard a better cast assembled for live recording. His manner is self effacing, and the singers weren't able to watch him from their positions across the front, but ensemble and flexible rubato were immaculate. A very happy evening, recieived tumultuously.

I wondered if we had been at the performance which would become the definitve basis of the recording, with patches from the others for 'belts and braces'; secrets rarely revealed. I anticipate that the final outcome will be superior to the lauded Trojans, which had to cope with some vocal problems and cast changes. I look forward to the CDs which promise to be very competitive in a very competitive field.