It’s a sad indictment of our cultural history that Covent Garden has not before now been able to field a black singer in the role of Verdi’s Moor, Otello. Russell Thomas has a striking stage presence and charts the character’s trajectory from straight-backed Venetian general to hunched victim of Iago’s plotting, eaten by jealousy. Whether he has all the requisite vocal qualities for this most demanding of tenor roles is a moot point.
It’s a resonant voice, with a distinctive edge that enables him to register anguish as well as anger. But those expecting the sovereign ringing timbre of a Vickers or a Domingo will be disappointed, though Thomas, who specialised in Mozart and lyric roles earlier in his career, observes that the part is rooted in the bel canto tradition. A less-than-heavyweight Otello, however, needs sensitive support, and Daniele Rustioni, for all his otherwise exemplary handling of the score, gave him little quarter in the big scenes, unleashing Verdi’s thunderous, lightning-flecked sonorities in all their thrilling potency.
