I have just returned from ten days in Barcelona where I attended three performances of Samson et Dalila at the Liceu. Unfortunately only two of the three performances were with José Carreras in the title role-the opening night, Thursday, March 15th and then again on Wednesday, March 21st. As most know by now, Mr. Carreras was unable to sing the performance on the 18th due to a cold and the role was sung instead by José Cura.

On opening night my friends and I arrived at the Liceu with our usual case of 'opening night jitters'. As it turned out, our case of nerves was unfounded; the opening night performance was wonderful from beginning to end. The Liceu's orchestra and chorus were excellent and the principal singers were in great voice.

The sets were bright and colorful, although I'm not quite sure what 'concept' the designer had intended. At some point after the Liceu's 2000-2001 catalog came out last June they apparently decided to switch productions. The catalog clearly said-Preduccio, Teatro Regio de Tori-however, they ultimately used Covent Gardens' by Elijah Moshinsky. Moshinsky's Samson is a far cry from his Stiffelio. If the Met's Samson is "Lion King II", then the Liceu's could best be described as "Son of Lion King". The costuming is best described as 'eclectic'.

The American bass Simon Estes, who had sung the role of Abimélech on the recording of Samson with Carreras and Agnes Baltsa, sang the role of the High Priest this time. I had heard him a few seasons back in the title role of the Washington Opera's Simon Boccanegra and it was a pleasure to hear him again.

The role of Dalila in this production was sung by Markella Hatziano. Hatziano possesses a lovely voice, but I don't think she's really suited for this role. She doesn't sound like a true mezzo. Her voice was beautiful and strong in the upper register, but the low notes were weak and often tentative. Nor does she portray Dalila's seductive qualities convincingly. In fairness to her, she got no help from the production's costume designer. It would be hard for any woman to feel seductive in those tie-dyed smocks. However on the nights that she sang with Carreras, there was at least some vague hint of chemistry between the two characters.

Carreras was in excellent voice on opening night and his portrayal of Samson was well thought out, sensitive and multi-faceted. Carreras's Samson leads as much by the strength of his convictions as by physical prowess. This was especially true in the first act.

In the second act, he slowly succumbs to Dalila's charms and when he sang "Ah cesses d'affliger mon coeur! Je subis une loi suprême...Tes pleurs ravivent ma douler! je t'aime!" - it was poignant and heart rending. His voice still displayed much of the plangent quality that has been a hallmark of his for years. My only regret about the second act on opening night was that my seat on the side in one of the tiers meant I had to view much of the act through one of the Liceu's signature dragon lighting fixtures! (Where's St. George when you really need him?)

The third act was Carreras's best and most convincing. The act opens with a blinded, tortured and shorn Samson slowly and painfully pushing the large wheel of a millstone around and around in circles. Later, when a little boy leads him into the temple in chains, Carreras's Samson is clearly blind. The audience can see that, despite the black make-up around them, his eyes are focused on nothing. He clings desperately to the boy's shoulder. When the boy is removed from him, he helplessly reaches out both hands, desperately trying to "see" as he is taunted by the Philistines. When he does manage to get some idea of what is going on around him, he swings the chain between his wrists around and around in self-protection. Later, when the boy has managed to return to him, they quietly slip over to a spot between two of the pillars and he then sends the boy away. Carreras's Samson summons his remaining strength and slowly pulls down the pillars on himself and the Philistines.

When he performed again on Wednesday, March 21st, his interpretation of the character was essentially the same. While his voice was more tentative in the first and second acts, his third act portrayal was even better than it had been on opening night.

Carreras was unable to sing the second performance, due to either a cold or flu (the announcements were all in Catalan, hence my uncertainty) and in his place, the tenor José Cura sang the title role.

In contrast to Carreras, Cura's interpretation of the role of Samson was a very physical and mono- dimensional one. His demeanor was essentially unchanged throughout the evening. He stood and walked around all evening with his head and shoulders slightly forward, arms away from his sides and fists clenched-as though he was just spoiling for a fight. His voice was strong and clear all evening, but it lacked both beauty and shading. There was no subtlety to his singing. Whether defying the Philistine satrap of Gaza in the first act or expressing his feelings for Dalila in the second-the voice was identical. There was also no chemistry between Cura and Hartziano during the second act.

The shortcomings of his interpretation were, however, most evident in the third act. Despite having been blinded, tortured and supposedly robbed of his strength by having his hair shorn, Cura pushed the millstone around and around without any apparent effort-as though it were a pinwheel. As he had throughout the previous two acts, Cura's Samson looks alternatively at the audience and his fellow singers, with a defiant, challenging (and at this point totally inappropriate) stare. Despite having sung this role frequently in recent years, he clearly has never taken the time to observe sight-impaired people go about their daily activities. In the scene when the Philistines taunt him in the temple, he was far too physical-totally inappropriate at that point in the story.

In short, about the only thing that Cura changed during the performance was his costume, which became progressively scantier as the evening wore on. Given that Simon Estes performance was even better on the second night than it had been on the first, I found myself cheering for the Philistines by the time the pillars came down.

The contrasts between the two tenors continued during the curtain calls. At the end of the first and third performances, Carreras appeared on stage with his usual modesty and humility-gratefully acknowledging both the audience and his fellow artists. Cura, by contrast, thumped barefoot onto the stage in a display of mock exhaustion. He then swooped up the little boy who guides Samson in the last act and carries him around on his shoulder. (If one took the time to look through one's opera glasses you could see from the boy's expression that he was very uncomfortable with this.) However, like Carreras, Cura did acknowledge both his fellow singers and the audience, no matter whether they were sitting in the orchestra (platea) section or at the top of the house in the seventh tier.

All in all, while it was interesting to have the opportunity to compare the interpretation of the two tenors, in retrospect I think Carreras' interpretation was the more interesting one.