Gioacchino ROSSINI (1792-1868)
Il Barbiere di Siviglia [160:00]
Count Almaviva – Rockwell Blake (tenor)
Rosina – Kathleen Battle (soprano)
Figaro – Leo Nucci (baritone)
Doctor Bartolo – Enzo Dara (bass)
Don Basilio – Feruccio Furlanetto (bass)
Berta – Loretta di Franco (mezzo)
Fiorello – David Hamilton (bass)
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Ralf Weikert
John Cox (stage production)
Robin Wagner (set design)
rec. live, Metropolitan Opera, December 1988
Aspect Ratio 4:3, PCM Stereo and DTS 5.1
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 073 4022 [2 DVDs: 97:38 + 61:52]
Any new DVD of The Barber has to contend with very stiff competition.
This one has very enjoyable aspects but on the whole doesn’t come up to the
mark. The lumbering production is the first thing to get the attention. The
stage of the Met is the last place anyone would go to for intimacy, but even
with that in mind this production is really too big and ponderous for its
own good. There is so much naturalism here that it gets in the way rather
than enhancing the production. Moorish lattices and Andalucían costumes are
all very well but they draw too much attention to themselves. The revolving
stage allows the action to flow very impressively but having a horse-drawn
cart on stage (twice!) smacks of excess. Too often we are given grandeur instead
of wit so that humour falls by the wayside.
While this larger-than-life staging style is too much for me, I could still
live with it were it not for the variable quality of the singing. The stand-out
star here is Kathleen Battle’s Rosina, and doesn’t she know it! To be fair,
her tone and colour are very beautiful here and the utterly distinctive purity
of her voice shines through magnificently. The tessitura is so easy for her
that she even sings sections of Ah, qual colpo inaspettato transposed
up an octave. She is lithe and athletic in her coloratura throughout. It would
be a tough judge indeed who is not impressed by Una voce poco fa. However
this has the down-side that the performance is all about her. Every
time she is on stage she dominates the action, perfectly self-consciously.
She is in no way a team player and this comes across obtrusively in the ensembles,
a serious shortcoming in this ensemble-based opera.
American tenor Rockwell Blake is an unsteady Almaviva, his voice shaky and
gravelly even from the outset. Ecco ridente is pretty painful to listen
to and things seldom rise above the mediocre. Given the quality of his voice
he was extremely brave to include Cessa di piu resistere in the final
scene. Regrettably he attacks from below the note throughout the entire aria.
The coloratura is blurred and the roulades are foggy, though the last blast
is fairly exciting. Leo Nucci gives a disagreeably blustery performance as
Figaro. He shouts his way through Largo al factotum and most of his
other numbers too. Rolling his eyes ludicrously seems to be the only acting
style he is able to summon up to deal with the overbearing sets he has been
given.
Only the basses are entirely good. Enzo Dara is a top-notch Bartolo of the
old school with a richly distinctive voice, sounding relatively young and
energetic. He copes well with the patter and is the best actor on the stage.
Furlanetto looks and sounds noticeably younger as Basilio but his voice still
has a tinge of thunder. Di Franco gives a satisfying rendition of Berta’s
aria, though Weikert’s direction of the orchestra is fine without being extraordinary.
Brian Large’s video direction is good and the DTS sound is remarkably well
focused, but you won’t buy a Barber for these things. The most recently
released competition, Pappano’s excellent Covent Garden set, knocks this out
of the field on every count with better singing, staging and conducting. This
Met version isn’t one I’ll be returning to often.
Simon Thompson