The genius of Mozart is never difficult to find.
In a memorable scene from the awfully fanciful play Amadeus, Mozart's supposed arch rival Salieri realizes that genius when a deceptively simple melodic line suddenly emerges from an oboe, boring into his very soul.
In Idomeneo, Mozart's first great opera, the genius shows itself perhaps most compellingly at the end of Act 2, when the chorus finishes registering its fright over a sea monster not with one last big chord, but an eerie fade-out.
It took remarkable self-assurance for the 24-year-old composer to bring the curtain down so quietly, when big finishes were the norm; it took genius to make it work so well - as music and as theater.
That moment is hardly the only example of Mozart's ingenuity, of course. You can sample the work's extraordinary range of beauty and imagination in Washington Opera's presentation of Idomeneo, the company's first since 1961.
Throughout Saturday's opening night at the Kennedy Center, conductor Claire Gibault provided a combination of momentum and elegance that helped to reveal exquisite detail after exquisite detail in the orchestration, while giving admirable support and guidance to the singers. Even when the wind instruments couldn't cooperate technically, there was, invariably, a good deal of sensitive playing emanating from the pit to complement the generally accomplished, incisive work onstage.
Reports from New York earlier this season, where he starred in Giordano's Andrea Chenier at the Metropolitan Opera, suggested that Placido Domingo, at 61, has finally begun to show worrisome signs of vocal decline. Well, maybe he had a rough time up there at the Met, but he sounded as dynamic and full-throated as ever here in the title role.
Mozart purists might object that the tenor sang in roughly the same manner he would sing Verdi or Puccini, but this was consistently stylish vocalism nonetheless.
Domingo tellingly revealed the anguish of a king who, having made a rash vow to Neptune to sacrifice the first person he sees upon being delivered safely from a shipwreck, must face the prospect of killing his own son. He delivered Fuor del mar, Idomeneo's showpiece aria of rage, with sure technique and vivid phrasing; he tapped the deep eloquence of the prayerful Accogli, oh re de mar.
Jossie Perez skillfully handled the "trouser role" of Idamante, Idomeneo's son. Her warm, ample mezzo filled out the music, while her acting had a good deal of nuance. As Ilia, whose love for Idamante touches Idomeneo's heart, Anna Netrebko proved enchanting. Her pearly, slightly tremulous soprano rode Mozart's melodic curves with extraordinary gracefulness and interpretive impact.
The flamboyant part of Elettra, the daughter of Agamemnon (later immortalized operatically in Strauss' Elektra) who is determined to win Idamante's love, turned out to be a good match for Cynthia Lawrence.
The soprano's voice didn't boast effortless beauty but always connected strongly to the text. Lawrence negotiated coloratura demands fearlessly. She summoned terrific power and vibrancy for the mini-mad scene in the last act, even managing to make the wild laugh at the end a fully musical, as well as theatrical, gesture.
As Idomeneo's confidante, Abrace, tenor Corey Evan Rotz offered a beautifully molded tone and concern for the impact of each word. (In this slightly abridged performance, using the New Mozart Edition of the score edited by Daniel Heartz, the second of Abrace's two arias was cut.) The chorus did shining work, smoothly balanced and rich in tone.
It's easy to quibble with certain things in the production, designed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle for the Metropolitan Opera in 1982, directed here by the Met's David Kneuss and lit by Joan Sullivan-Genthe.
There is something at once attractive, yet ultimately a little dull, about Ponnelle's sepia-toned sets, with their antique architectural drawings and a giant peek-a-boo face of Neptune.
Likewise, the often highly stylized movements that Kneuss asks of the cast look neat early on, a bit silly over time. A case in point is in Act 3 when the choristers, responding to Idomeneo's entreaty to listen, bend their bodies in unison toward him. I could also do without Ilia blowing a kiss to Idamante, who, far upstage, languidly catches it.
Ponnelle's costumes, in muted colors, combine styles of Grecian times with those of Mozart's. Although perhaps not consistently applied, this mix of clothing does serve the opera's underlying message that Idomeneo represents the old ideals of monarchial rule, Idamente the newer, more temperate ideals of the Enlightenment.
It's possible to read lots of symbolism into the opera, even without such visual hints. On the surface, just ancient gods and monsters, heroes and lovers; beneath, the opera is on a very human scale.
That point is driven home in this production in Act 3, when a dead child is brought before Idomeneo, proof of how grave and dangerous the situation has become for his people. In the end, an old-fashioned deus ex machina rescues them, but Mozart's divine music - the touch of genius - tells us that we are really the ones responsible for our well-being, that human love is the answer and the guide.
Opera
What: Mozart's Idomeneo
Where: Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. N.W., Washington
When: 7:30 tonight, Friday, Nov. 14 and Nov. 20; 7 p.m. Monday and Nov. 23; 2 p.m. Nov. 17
Tickets: $41 to $285
Call: 800-876-7372, 202-467-4600