SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Rossini,  Ermione: (ed. Brauner/Gossett, Concert Performance). Cast, Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, London Philharmonic Orchestra/David Parry. Royal Festival Hall, London 28.3.2009 (CC)

Carmen Giannattasio (soprano) - Ermione
Patricia Bardon (mezzo) - Andromaca
Paul Nilon (tenor) - Pirro
Colin Lee (tenor) - Oreste
Bülent Bezdüz (tenor) - Pilade
Graeme Broadbent (bass) - Fenicio
Rebecca Bottone (soprano) - Cleone
Loïc Félix (tenor) - Attalo


In December 2008, Carmen Giannattasio took over the title role of Donizetti’s Parisina from Patrizia Ciofi, with marked success. So much success, it seems, that the step of starring in this Rossini opera seems short indeed. Giannattasio remains  superb, and if she did not eclipse her Donizetti triumph she at least equalled it.

Rossini’s Ermione is one of his Neapolitan operas (it was premiered in Naples’ Teatro San Carlo in March 1819), one of a sequence of opera seria that Rossini wrote for this venue between 1815 and 1822. There are a number of tenor parts (four), and there is a distinct feeling that Rossini is setting the tenors off against each other by giving them progressively more difficult music to sing, to the extent that the pre-concert talk contained a reference to the score as “extreme sports for singers”. Ermione comes immediately prior to the popular La Donna del lago and immediately after the only slightly better-known Mosè.

The plot takes us back to antiquity, just after the fall of Troy into the hands of the Greeks. Andromaca, one of the two main female roles of Ermione, is the widow of Hector and is loved by her captor, Pirro, son of Achilles. In falling in love in this way, he incurs the wrath of Ermione (daughter of Menelaus and Helen), to whom he was previously engaged.

Act One is set in Epirus. Much centres on the jealousy of Ermione for Andormaca. Her vilification of Pirro leaves us in no doubt of her feelings towards him, and the arrival of Oreste, her former lover, strikes fear into Pirro and joy into Ermione. The latter plans to use him to effect revenge. Andromaca, however, has no intentions of being Pirro’s wife. The act ends in chaos. In Act Two, Andromaca succumbs to Pirro. The latter half of the act plots Ermione’s descent into insanity.

If you are wondering why the overture to Ermione does not turn up in the endless stream of Rossini opera overture discs, it is probably because Rossini introduces the chorus during it course. “Troia! Qual fosti un dì” (“Troy, how great you were”), the choir sings before a typically nimble Rossini Allegro gets under way. The LPO strings excelled in their nimble articulation, but the clear stars were the solo clarinet and flute (Robert Hall and guest principal Celia Chambers, respectively). Neatly, the chorus enters after the overture with melodic lines from that overture and expands on them.

The two main female roles were fabulously taken. Here, we heard Giannattasio as the excellent singer she is, but perhaps shorn of the sense of danger her Parisina last-minute substitution gave us. Still, her voice cut like a knife and, in duets with Paul Nilon’s Pirro, she simply dwarfed him, both in terms of projection and musically. She could be tremendously imposing (“Trema!” she sang, and “Vendetta!”, and clearly meant it). Her Act One duet with Pirro, which contains some simply beautiful music, was slightly marred by this mismatch between herself and Pirro. Giannattasio’s way with phrasal affekt in terms particularly of appoggiaturas was a lesson in Rossini singing, for they just sounded so absolutely natural as well as being expressive. Patricia Bardon was her equal, though, possessed of a big, focussed voice and an equal amount of stage presence in the vital role of Andromaca.

The second and final act was were Giannattasio truly shone. Her portrayal of her character’s decline into madness was riveting. She actually made us believe she was absolutely furious as she told Oreste he was unworthy of her love, just as we felt her disorientation in the opera’s final stages. Ermione’s final anguish was vividly portrayed.

The lyric tenor Paul Nilon, as Pirro, has a stinker of a part to sing in terms of stamina. His voice had all the requisite agility and one had to admire his technique, but he did not have the emotional range for the part. He just did not sound angry when the words and situation called for it. As Oreste, the marvellous South African tenor and Opera Rara regular Colin Lee revealed a slightly reedy top end. His voice is on the light side perhaps for “Ah Come nascondere la fiamma vorace” but in spite of this he was significantly ahead of the Turkish tenor Bülent Bezdüz (who seemed to have brought his fan club with him). Bezdüz certainly looked the part of seasoned opera singer, but close your eyes and another story was unveiled. The tenor duet just served to underline the more burnished tone of Lee’s voice, and Lee was again memorable in the final stages of the first act, with Ermione.

Soprano Rebecca Bottone was a young-sounding, fresh and confident confidante to Ermione; her male counterpart in confidences, the tenor Loïc Félix (who as Attalo fulfils a similar role in relation to Pirro), despite a strong start seemed to weaken vocally later.

David Parry is the accepted conductor on these occasions, and he accompanies very well indeed. Just sometimes the tension drops (Pirro’s aria in Act One Scene Three, for example) but his ear is much attuned to the Rossinian sound world.

The Opera Rara recording linked to this performance will not be the first recording of this opera on CD – Claudio Scimione, with a cast that included Chris Merritt and William Matteuzzi, released a version on Erato that is currently deleted (and fetching a huge price at the time of writing on amazon.com: $168.50, to be precise!). There is also a DVD from Glyndebourne, conducted by Andrew Davis and starring Maria Caterina Antonacci. Opera Rara’s contribution will, however, be a stimulating and vital experience, if this performance is anything to go by. I believe the set will not be available for around a year, but in the meantime we can console ourselves with the set of Parisina, which is due for release in September 2009.

Colin Clarke


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