Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, Opera in a Prologue and Three Acts, with libretto by Giacomo Badoaro (1640)
Ulisse – Furio Zanasi (baritone)
Penelope – Lucile Richardot (contralto)
Telemaco – Krystian Adam (tenor)
Minerva/Fortuna – Hana Blažíková (soprano)
Nettuno/Tempo/Antinoö – Gianluca Buratto (bass)
Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner
John Eliot Gardiner, Elsa Rooke (co-directors)
rec. live, June 2017, Teatro la Fenice, Venice, Italy
Reviewed in surround sound
OPUS ARTE Blu-ray OABD7299D [195]
Here is one of the world’s great poems – or its second half – designed to be sung. Giacomo Badoaro turned it into a fine libretto, and Monteverdi at his late peak made it into an opera. A few scenes have been lost since, but more than enough survives to allow a coherent treatment of the famous tale. Gardiner and Paolo Zanzu prepared this edition for the 2017 anniversary Monteverdi tour of the composer’s three operas. Each was filmed in Venice, where this opera was first performed. Three pieces of other music by Monteverdi are brought in to flesh out this edition, from Tirsi e Clori, Ballo delle Ingrate and one of his Scherzi Musicali.
The production is a semi-staging. There are no sets, but a stepped rear platform gives height, not least for scenes with the gods, while the rest of the action is at stage front. The orchestra is on stage, divided into two halves placed left and right of the conductor. His seated central position has space around him so the singers can move freely in and out, sometimes interacting directly with the instrumentalists. The drama responds very well to this approach.
There are no music stands, and no concert dress, of course: the singers move and act in costume. Costumes are mostly modern and formal, such as Penelope’s elegant burgundy-coloured long dress. Ulisse’s garb, especially his worn overcoat, manages to suggest a dignified personage masquerading as a beggar, rather than actual poverty. Neptune and Jove are splendid in white tie, the former in smart blue suit, the latter in black. The suitors sport variously coloured waistcoats with mandarin collars, and the shepherd Eumete wears a white smock.
The characters’ movement is convincing, dramatic when required, and close camera work catches it well. One has to make allowances, as for example in the very final moment. In a close-up, the faces of husband and wife converge for an embrace of recognition at last, but in our view separated by the back of the conductor’s head. There are no props, but one notices it only when Ulisse’s bow is needed for the suitors at the end of Act Two, and is replaced by some unconvincing mime. Overall, though, this considered and respectful presentation is most effective, and suits the work’s statuesque qualities, and yet does not impede its occasional comic ones.
The casting is exemplary, and the hand-picked team of sixteen solo singers is strong and consistent. The leading roles are very well taken, and performances honed to persuasive stage characterisation, presumably by thorough preparation and many performances. Lucile Richardot’s Penelope has dignity and passion; her rich contralto is well suited to both. Her long-absent and unrecognised husband Ulisse is Furio Zanasi, whose firm high baritone is distinctive enough to set him apart from those with whom he interacts. That includes the touching scenes with his son Telemaco, excellently sung by tenor Krystian Adam. But this applies all down a long cast list, and indeed to the superb Monteverdi Choir, whose few contributions are predictably fine. Heavenly indeed is their celestial spirits’ chorus “Giove amoroso” in Act Three.
Indeed, that is the scene I would play to any sceptics who persist in regarding this as a lesser opera than Orfeo or Poppea (whoever actually wrote that last one). Those are easier to enjoy from a first hearing, but Il ritorno d’Ulisse rewards further and deeper acquaintance, perhaps at first best heard an act a time. Its progress is stately for sure, but its theme of the restoration of the rightful ruler is one found in many cultures and periods – certainly from Homer’s Odyssey to Tolkien’s The Return of the King – and this is its greatest treatment.
No sets, but there is much visual interest in the sight of the orchestral musicians and their old instruments, the detailed work of the conductor, and the acting and singing of such various characters. The musical execution of players and singers under Gardiner seems to me exceptional, and the surround sound is realistic. The only weakness is a very slender booklet and the absence of any extras, when there was much to say about the work itself and its modern restoration, and when such a long tour must have resulted in some travellers’ tales.
Roy Westbrook
Cast and other details
Pisandro – Michał Czerniawski (tenor)
Anfinomo – Gareth Treseder (counter-tenor)
Eurimaco – Zachary Wilder (tenor)
Melanto – Anna Dennis (soprano)
Giove – John Taylor Ward (tenor)
Giunone – Francesca Boncampagni (soprano)
Iro – Robert Burt (tenor)
Eumete – Francisco Fernández-Rueda (tenor)
Ericlea – Marina Rodriguez-Cusi (mezzo)
L’Umana Fragilitŕ – Carlo Vistoli (counter-tenor)
Amore – Silvia Frigato (soprano)
Ericlea – Francesca Biliotti (mezzo)
Lighting Designer - Rick Fisher
Costumes - Patricia Hofstede and Isabella de Sabata
Musical Assistants - Paolo Zanzu and Antonio Greco
Language Coach - Matteo delle Fratte
Production Manager - Matthew Muller
Stage Manager - Noel Mann
Video Director - Sébastian Glas
Video format 16.9, Audio LPCM 2.0 and 5.1 DTS-HD
Region: All
Subtitles in English, Italian, French, German, Japanese and Korean.
