BARGAIN OF THE MONTH
Gioacchino ROSSINI (1792-1868)
Il Barbiere di Siviglia [176:00]
Count Almaviva - Juan Diego Flórez (tenor)
Rosina - Joyce DiDonato (mezzo)
Figaro - Pietro Spagnoli (baritone)
Doctor Bartolo - Alessandro Corbelli (bass)
Don Basilio - Feruccio Furlanetto (bass)
Berta - Jennifer Rhys-Davies (mezzo)
Fiorello - Changhan Lim (bass)
Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/Antonio Pappano
(also harpsichord)
Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier (stage directors)
rec. live, Royal Opera House, 7 July 2009.
Aspect Ratio 16:9, LPCM Stereo and DTS Surround
VIRGIN CLASSICS 6945819 [2 DVDs: 102:00 + 74:00]
This sparkling performance is an absolute delight and for many will prove
to be a first choice for this popular work. I was lucky enough to be in the
theatre on the night this was recorded - originally for cinema transmission.
Watching it brought back to me just what a magical night it was, all the more
so for the fact that it almost didn’t happen. This was the second night
of the run and on the first Joyce DiDonato had suffered a bad fall, breaking
a bone in her foot. To her credit she was still determined to sing and in
the end decided that doing it in a wheelchair was the best option. Pappano
came out front-of-curtain before the overture, something the DVD has kept
in, and explained the situation, adding that he couldn’t wait to see
how it all worked out! The sheer sense of the unexpected and the unpredictable
helped to spark a very special theatrical occasion that night, nowhere more
so than the moment in the second act when Rosina complains of a cramp in her
foot; this DVD captures the atmosphere brilliantly. The wheelchair itself
is certainly daft and it would have been better without it, but you’ll
probably find that you stop noticing it after a while. Anyway, DiDonato herself
said that it helped her to identify more with just how frustrated and trapped
Rosina felt and that consequently it was an aid to getting deeper inside the
role. Hmm, maybe ...
The chief joy of this set is the singing which is absolutely first rate from
everyone involved. Miraculously, the wheelchair doesn’t seem to have
restricted DiDonato’s singing apparatus and she is on thrilling form
all night. Una voce poca fa has fantastic coloratura and razor-sharp
top notes. Her vocal technique is even more thrilling in the lesson scene:
both bring the house down, and rightly so. She seems to thrive on a massive
wave of goodwill emanating from the audience and it inspires her to reach
fantastic heights. Even more thrilling, however, is the miraculous Almaviva
of Juan Diego Flórez whom I have never heard sounding finer than here.
I remember thinking at the time that there must surely never have been a Rossini
tenor as fine as him, not even in the composer’s own day, though we’ll
never know for sure. His voice juggles strength and lightness, sweetness and
power, and fantastic vocal acrobatics all built on the foundations of phenomenal
breath control. Ecco ridente by itself is enough to bring the house
down, full of fantastic ornamentations, roulades and leaps. His final bravura
aria, Cessa di piu resistere, will knock your socks off. Furthermore
he has great personal chemistry with all of his colleagues, most importantly
with DiDonato herself. They strike sparks off each other in the lesson scene
and together show a great gift for comic timing. Theirs is one of the great
partnerships of contemporary opera and we are blessed indeed to have it preserved
here.
Pietro Spagnoli’s Figaro is full of joie de vivre, his ebullient
entrance aria setting the tone for an evening of great humour captured within
a voice of strength, character and endless vocal character. Alessandro Corbelli
reinforces his reputation as one of the finest buffo basses we have, managing
to be comic and serious at the same time. His Bartolo is funny but also a
frustrated, almost sympathetic old man, full of character but never a caricature.
Furlanetto is a thunderous Don Basilio. His calumny aria makes the house shake
and he loves hamming up the eccentricities while bringing a comic seriousness
to the role. Similarly Jennifer Rhys-Davies manages both pathos and humour
in Berta’s well sung aria.
The production itself is a riot of primary colours and excellent good humour.
The somewhat abstract set allows alcoves and entrances to appear and disappear
at will in true buffo style. It has a remarkable capacity to rise off the
ground and rock around during the “confusion” finale of Act 1.
Only the storm scene looks a bit daft: originally Rosina was meant to smash
up the set to vent her rage. DiDonato’s injury makes this impossible
so, in a gesture of female solidarity, Berta does it for her.
Underpinning all of the entertainment is the musical anchor of Pappano’s
direction. This was his first Barber but he sounds as though he has
been conducting the score his whole life, showing an unerring sense of timing
in the recitatives and excellent pacing through the all-important crescendos.
The playing of his orchestra is top notch and he has them eating out of his
hand.
The picture is clear with perfectly judged camera angles and the surround
sound is remarkably true to life. The DVDs also include extra interview features
with Flórez, DiDonato, Pappano and the directors. For once these are
genuinely informative and interesting, though Leiser and Caurier go on a bit.
This DVD gets a big thumbs-up on every front and merits the highest enthusiasm.
Simon Thompson
A big thumbs-up on every front ... see Full Review