FROM AROUND THE WORLD: LONDON.

Two Royal Opera revivals brought major cast changes to familiar productions. Taking over from Bryn Terfel in the first reprise of the Graham Vick staging of Falstaff that reopened Covent Garden in December 1999 was Paolo Gavanelli, whose solidly traditional view of the character lacked much of the richness of detail that made his predecessor's interpretation so endlessly fascinating (Jan. 12). He also missed out on the sense of nobility that the Fat Knight -- down-at-heel and sexually preposterous though he is -- must retain, though his substantial Italianate tone and idiomatic diction were nevertheless rewarding.

Notable also was the unscheduled appearance of the Nannetta, Sally Matthews, who made her Royal Opera debut replacing the indisposed Jenny Grahn. Just twenty-five, Matthews recently sang the same role for British Youth Opera, and she coped with the transition to Britain's most august venue with assurance, aided by her natural grace as a stage performer and a bright, pearly soprano ideal for Verdi's ethereal heroine. She enjoyed a well-deserved triumph and will surely be back soon.

Simon Keenlyside brought his outstanding artistic intelligence to bear on Ford without really suggesting that this was his natural vocal territory, and muchthe same applied to Patricia Schuman's conscientious Alice. Australian tenor Steve Davislim proved a neat, attractive Fenton in his ROH debut. Bernadette Manca di Nissa returned as a paragon of a Mistress Quickly, and Gwynne Howell was once again miscast as Pistol. (Comedy has never been his strong suit.) Bernard Haitink conducted the mercurial score as if it were a very serious business indeed, and the result was a shade over-earnest.

Hans Pfitzner's ambitiously philosophical Palestrina took to the boards again in Nikolaus Lehnhoff's cogent production (Jan. 29) and proved even more impressive than before. Granted that the composer's ruminative and deeply idiosyncratic (some might say perverse) style is not to all tastes, the work can generate admiration, even affection when sympathetically presented. Nothing was lacking, certainly, in the magisterial conducting of Christian Thielemann, formal whom this composer is something of a specialty, if not cause. With the orchestra on its best form, the grand paragraphs were unfolded with firm yet flexible articulation that demonstrated that Pfitzner's magnum opus really is a work of significance and depth.

Two newcomers to the cast in particular explored their roles with the most comprehensive of outlooks. The plangent tones and deep inner uncertainty voiced by Philip Langridge in the title role made his study of artistic and human withdrawal painful yet mesmerizing, and his performance was finely contrasted by the ebullience, even bullishness of John Tomlinson's Borromeo -- the music-loving Cardinal who drags Palestrina kicking and screaming back to work to save the tradition of polyphonic church composition. That both these artists are now just past the zenith of their vocal summers detracted nothing from the expressive impact of their performances, and if anything added to it.

French mezzo Sophie Koch brought a vivid characterization and neat, tonally flavorful singing to the ...