Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901)
Nabucco - Dramma lirico in quattro parti (1842)
[137:00]
Nabucco - Leo Nucci (baritone); Ismaele - Bruno Ribeiro (tenor);
Zaccaria - Riccardo Zanellato (bass); Abigaille - Dimitra Theodossiou
(soprano); Fenena - Ann Maria Chiuri (mezzo-soprano); High Priest of Baal -
Alessandro Spina (bass); Abdallo - Mauro Buffoli (tenor); Anna - Cristina
Giannelli (soprano)
Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Regio di Parma/Michele Mariotti
NTSC 16:9; PCM Stereo & DTS 5.1; Region 0
Subtitles in Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese,
Korean, Japanese
C MAJOR 720408 DVD [147:00]
This is the first of an enterprising series of Verdi’s
complete operas filmed in the Teatro Regio in Parma, an opera house proud of
its associations with the composer. Its size, shape and architectural
character are just right for most of the composer’s works and, despite
my reservations about the present issue, I look forward to the rest of the
series.
Nabucco was Verdi’s third opera but his first major success when
it
was given at La Scala in 1842. Although it is now best known outside the
opera
house for the great chorus Va, pensiero there is scarcely a dull
moment
throughout and in a good performance the sheer drive of the work grips the
listener
throughout. That is largely the case here, due more to the musical
performance
than the production. Fortunately the two main roles - Nabucco and Abigaille
-
are taken by two outstanding artists who are convincing both musically and
dramatically.
Leo Nucci in particular makes the most of the title role, displaying the
real
authority that it needs. Even he looks at times a shade desperate in a
production
which gives him little to work with, and allows little opportunity for real
interaction
with the other singers. Fortunately this does not apply to his big duet with
Abigaille
in Part Three which has real tension. Dimitra Theodossiou has the necessary
ability
to take vocal charge of proceedings here and elsewhere. The role calls for a
singer
who gives the impression of being a force of nature and too many sopranos
see
this as an excuse for singing that is wild and approximate. That is not the
case
here. Riccardo Zanellato has the necessary vocally imposing voice as the
fierce
prophet Zaccaria, but lacks the essential dramatic forcefulness required,
although
admittedly the feeble threatening gestures he is allowed in this production
were
always likely to have minimal impact. Anna Maria Chiuri is a more positive
than
usual Fenena but Bruno Ribeiro as Ismaele makes him seem even more of a wimp
than
usual. The production generally seems to consist of little more than getting
the
characters and chorus on stage and positioning them so that they can aim
their
voices at the audience. In addition in an opera about the conflict between
the
Hebrews and Babylonians it would have been helpful to the audience and more
productive
of dramatic effect if these two groups had been distinguished by more than
the
wearing or otherwise of shawls and had been allowed to interact more
positively
with each other. I dislike productions which impose an alien concept on an
opera
but in this case there seems to be little positive effort at imposing any
concept
at all. The drama of the opera evaporates visually into a series of not very
interesting
stage pictures.
Fortunately for the success of this Verdi series the chorus and orchestra,
and
especially the latter, are amongst the best things about this performance,
and
I look forward to hearing them in more of these operas. There is a ten
minute
“bonus” telling the plot of the opera and a brief introduction
to
it and synopsis in the booklet. I applaud the intention of filming
Verdi’s
complete operas but hope that the rest of the series adds more to recordings
already
available.
John Sheppard
Not the strongest contender.
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