The New Criterion

For the past many years, Plácido Domingo and Renée Fleming have been an unbeatable Otello and Desdemona. In fact, this has been one of the outstanding pairings in opera. (Another, I might say, is the Samson and Delilah of Domingo and Olga Borodina.) But Domingo was absent from the recent revival of Otello at the Metropolitan Opera; instead, Fleming was paired with the big South African tenor, Johan Botha. And that proved a potent pairing, too.

The character of Otello, you will recall, begins with a bang: “Esultate!” he hollers, at the beginning of the opera. Only he must not holler: The cry must be huge but musical. And this, Botha accomplished. He was admirable in the rest of the opera, too, mighty and resplendent. He was also sensitive, when Verdi called for that. Botha faltered now and then, but this is a big and challenging part, and Botha handled it manfully. He was the blend of power ...

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