SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL OPERA  REVIEW
 

Verdi,  Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio: (New Production) Soloists, Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Regio di Parma. Conductor: Antonello Allemandi. Teatro Verdi di Busseto. 23.10.2007  (JMI)

Director: Pier’Alli

Sets, Costumes and Lighting: Pier’Alli

Cast:
Oberto: Paolo Battaglia.
Leonora: Francesca Sassu
Cuniza: Mariana Pentcheva
Ricardo: Fabio Sartori
Imelda: Georgia Bertagni

For the current Festival Verdi a series of performances have been transferred to Busseto, scarcely 3 miles from the house where Verdi was born and  the most important event is the performance of Verdi's first opera in his home town's theatre. Busseto’s Teatro Verdi is small with a capacity of only 300 seats, reduced in this case to about 250 because of the removal of some  of front stalls seats and a couple of boxes next to the stage. In these circumstances one cannot reasonably expect a traditional Verdi performance, since it is simply impossible to accommodate an orchestra of more than 40 people and a normal sized chorus. Despite the reduced forces however, the sound was surprisingly full.

The Festival brings a new production, adjusted to the special needs of the small stage by Pier'Alli, who was also responsible for the only existing production of Oberto until Ignacio Garcia made the new one in Bilbao last year (See DVD review by Göran Forsling)   Pier'Alli is also responsible for the sets, costumes and lightinng. Pier’Alli's aesthetic work is remarkable, yielding a fine result from the reduced stage. A semicircle of dark panels in the form of rotating pseudo-mirrors, turn to become baroque ornaments or walls and so facilitate simple scene changes. Costumes relate to romantic times, as the lighting does, and they are attractive, particularly for the chorus and extras. Stage Direction was fairly static, essentially consisting of hand movements from the soloists and  chorus: it became boring in the end, too repetitive and excessively mechanical. Chorus members take up the lateral corridors of the stalls quite a lot of the time, since the stage and boxes cannot accommodate everybody. It looked pretty but otherwise lacked interest.

Antonello Allemandi used lively tempi, without falling into the hurried pace that he employed in Il Turco in Italia last summer in Pesaro. Allemandi's best repertoire is Verid  and he seems to have worked hard with this score. The mini Orchestra of the Teatro Regio gave a very good performance and Allemandi managed not to  swamp the singers, which seemed  impossible when listening to the overture. The Teatro Regio chorus was on top form.

The role of Oberto was sung moderately by Paolo Battaglia. His middle register is not bad at all, but he is tight in the upper ranges. He is not a particularly outstanding singer, at least in this bel cantista repertoire, which is what this opera is after all.

Francesca Sassu sang Oberto's daughter Leonora and gave a generally immature performance. It did not matter whether her voice is adequate or not to the role, because she is simply not ready as a performer. Her movements on stage seemed more mechanical  than Olympia's  in Hoffmann. By contrast,  Bulgarian mezzo - soprano Mariana Pentcheva as Cuniza  was at a professional who knows what she is doing. Her voice is ample, although in this theater they all seem to be, but is not particularly striking, once again with a tight high register.

Fabio Sartori, as Riccardo, seemed to come from another world. This voice is apparently in very good shape, extremely powerful and with a remarkable squillo. I say in apparently good shape, because in this theatre it was difficult to draw firmer conclusions but Sartori seemed sufficiently strong here to sing Otello which I had hithertoo thought not to be the case. Overall, I had the impression that he was more uncomfortable than formerly with the high notes, since he avoided the optional notes in his cavatina and in the better known aria “Ciel Pietoso, ciel clemente”  in the last act. If he can deliver an optional B flat but does not sing it,  as was the case here, it could well be that he wasn't entirely comfortable and in fact “Ciel Pietoso” did not attract the expected reception, due to the fact that Sartori sang it without much nuance and uniformly forte.

Busseto's small theatre was packed with visitors from Japan, America and Germany who rewarded Sartori and Maestro Allemandi with the greatest applause.

Jose M. Irurzun