SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Verdi: Macbeth (1847 version): various soloists, The Chelsea Opera Group orchestra and chorus.  Conductor: Brad Cohen. Queen Elizabeth Hall London. 29.3.2008 (ED)


Opera simply does not come much better than this: the Chelsea Opera Group’s concert performance of Verdi’s Macbeth was an unqualified triumph in musical and dramatic terms.

There is some debate as to the relative merits of Verdi’s two versions of Macbeth - the earlier dates from 1847 and the latter from 1865. The intervening period saw a sizable shift in Verdi’s compositional style, from the direct and often rough-edged to one of more rounded tone and refinement. For me the earlier definitely has its appeal as it fits the nature of the drama more naturally. Power hungry scheming and murder are not acts naturally born out against a backdrop of luxury. Verdi was acutely aware of this, and made the point by hounding his librettist for a text of directness, repeatedly pointing to Shakespeare for his justification.

Chelsea Opera Group’s realisation gloried in wilful exposure the oftentimes unvarnished orchestral timbres which are used to conjour with thrilling exactitude the atmospheres that allow the dark undoing of human ambition to reach fruition – from the repeated appearance of the witches, the murders of Duncan and Banquo, the banquet scene and death at the hands of righeousness. Brad Cohen’s conducting showed sensitivity of pacing and colouring.

Perhaps in this “opera senza amore” vocal colouring, or tinto, plays a more crucial role than in any other. It defines the characters in a way no stage action can match, and during a concert performance the emotional basis of the roles is carried by it almost alone. Almost, since this performance allowed the observance of the emotional relationship between Macbeth and his Lady at such close quarters that one heard their words and saw the whites of their eyes too, revealing a depth of characterisation barely possible on a distant opera house stage.

What serves to make the Macbeths interesting to observe is the divergent paths their characters take. Macbeth, as Olafur Sigurdarson portrayed him, needed prompting by his Lady to act upon the prophesies, and only when enlivened still further by their urgings in Act III fully took the dreadful final move towards securing his own doom. His singing, like his physical involvement, grew in terms of stature as the drama progressed, ever full of tone, but moving in an arch from reluctance to over-confidence, and at the end, world-weariness. A flawed personality, but a less interesting one than his Lady possesses.

Nelly Miricioiu sang the first Lady Macbeth of her career, but she drew the character with such precision that it spoke volumes for the completeness of her artistic integrity. Too much, perhaps, has been made of Verdi’s requirement for a singing actress with an ‘ugly, coarse and hollow’ voice. Therefore it was very much contrary to Verdi’s wishes that Nelly Miricioiu did sing the role with superb vocal awareness and great subtlety for nuances of tone and colour.

Miricioiu’s first entry - through the orchestra reading Macbeth’s letter recounting the witches’ prophecies - made clear her situation and her destiny. Here was the wife of a valiant soldier, whose worldly ambitions had so far failed to satisfy her. Having reached an age when any further ambition could almost be beyond her, the prospect of the greatest glory of all is resolutely grasped. There was venom in the voice and Miricioiu’s face as she resolved Duncan would not live, still more when Banquo’s fate was sealed. Yet for all this vaulting ambition, private domesticity found a place too with slight gestures, looks and vocal touches. Be it the Lady’s irritation at Macbeth’s initial slowness to act and, later, her embarrassment at his shameful conduct during the banquet scene, rescued only by her quick thinking, enough suggestion was sowed of her increasing mental fragility that the full power of the sleepwalking scene not only highly credible but inevitable and devastating in its impact.

Banquo was stylishly sung by the Italian lyric bass Paolo Pecchioli, whose rich tone lent the part much in the way of dignity and personal integrity. Michael Bracegirdle sang Malcolm with assurance and feeling for the situation. Daniel Grice supplied his multiple roles with confidence, whist Stephanie Corley was a model of vocal restraint as the Lady-in waiting. If only this vocal consistency was continued by the chorus. The men fared well as banquet guests, soldiers and assassins; the ladies less so in the more involved passages for the witches during Act III. That my summary of these contributions is brief does not belittle their importance. It is just that this performance convinced beyond all expectations where it needed to most of all. Long may the Chelsea Opera Group maintain this performance standard for they put many an international company to shame. Tickets for Massenet’s Cendrillon on 1 June 2008 should sell like hot cakes, and with all due reason.

Evan Dickerson

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