As the release of the ‘
Tutto
Verdi’ series from the Teatro Regio progresses, one has begun
to have fears that the later Verdi operas will fail to measure up to
the standards that have been set on DVD by productions from international
houses across the globe.
The issues of the early and middle period Verdi works have been welcome,
because these pieces are so rarely encountered in the opera house; but
with
Macbeth and
Luisa Miller we are coming to operas
that have been performed by major artists in major productions with
superb orchestras and conductors. One might be concerned that these
Parma versions will simply fade in the face of the competition. As this
DVD opens it seems that one’s concerns might well be justified.
The orchestral playing in the
Sinfonia is scrappy and sounds
undermanned in the string department. When the opening chorus begins,
the co-ordination between singers on stage and instruments in the pit
leaves much to be desired. Then Fiorenza Cedolins in her opening aria
sounds over-stretched by the
coloratura.
Happily things soon improve. Indeed from that point onwards the singing
just gets better and better. Even the orchestra and chorus seem to settle
down until by the time we reach the magnificent Third Act - the first
of Verdi’s massive dramatic and musical structures, heralding
the masterpieces that were just around the corner - everybody is firing
on all cylinders to enthralling effect. True, the balance between voices
on stage and the orchestra in the pit is still weighted towards the
latter; better that than heavily amplified voices with the orchestra
consigned to the middle distance. Certainly the playing is rivetingly
dramatic. One does not feel that Donato Renzetti is one of the great
Verdi conductors in the Toscanini tradition, but after the faltering
opening scenes he certainly gets involved with the drama and accompanies
the singers well. The singers are not constrained to produce volume
at all costs. All the principals show a willingness to sing quietly,
and the delicate shading we hear is as impressive as the stentorian
delivery of the more heroic passages.
The undoubted star of the show is Marcelo Álvarez. He ranges
through the whole gamut of expression from quiet Donizettian lyricism
to an Otello-like intensity in the final scene where he accuses Luisa
of betrayal and then realises, too late, that he has failed to understand
the conspiracy that has surrounded him. He delivers his big aria
Quando
le sere al placido (a favourite item at Three Tenors concerts) with
a beautiful
mezza voce far removed from any suspicion of histrionics.
After her uncertain start, Fiorenza Cedolins is fully his match and
she manages not only to act like Callas but also - more difficult still
- to avoid sounding like her. She floats some superlatively spun high
pianissimos, and at the moment in the final duet when Rodolfo
asks her if she really loves Wurm, his hesitation and her horror - highlighted
by extreme close-up camera work - has a positively cinematic intensity.
Much of the success or failure of
Luisa Miller lies with the
three lower male voices. Leo Nucci was of pensionable age at the time
of this recording, but you would never guess it from his firmly delivered
tones. Unlike his younger self in earlier recordings, he is now willing
to fine these down to a delicate
mezza voce in places, to the
inestimable advantage of the music and drama. Giorgio Surian as the
implacable father is granite-toned and black as pitch. Only Rafal Siwek
lets the side down; not in his singing, which is as black as his master’s
and superbly controlled; but his acting in this production savours far
too much of the pantomime villain, complete with eye shadow and evil
grins. This character is not an Iago, glorifying in his nihilistic
Credo;
he is a mean-spirited and mendacious man, out for his own personal advantage
and no more. Francesca Franci does what she can with the thankless role
of the count’s niece, and the smaller parts are well taken.
Another problem with this DVD lies with the production by Denis Krief,
who was also responsible for sets and costumes. Schiller as a dramatist
always brought out the best in Verdi, even when the adaptations let
him down; but Schiller’s play
Kabale und Liebe with its
focus on class divisions in Germany fell foul of the Neapolitan censors,
and Verdi was forced to transfer the action to the Tyrol and retitle
some of the characters. Under the circumstances it might be regarded
as quite permissible to relocate action and period, in the same way
as Jonathan Miller took
Rigoletto to New York via Verdi’s
Mantua from its origins in the Paris of
Le roi s’amuse.
Here one is not quite clear what period and location we are intended
to infer. The Millers live in a large Tyrolean log cabin, but the Count
and his family seem to inhabit a very modern
avant-garde 1930s
mansion - or do they? - the
chaise longue looks very turn-of-the-century
- with abstract patterns on the walls. The costumes appear to date from
around 1890, but the swords which the men produce are not. The situation
is not helped by the fact that bits of various sets slide in and out
without any very apparent motive, and at one point we are left with
the Count in evening dress singing his aria
Il mio sangue in
front of a drop curtain, just as if he were giving a concert performance.
The result is rather a muddle.
Then again, when we come to the final Act, suddenly all comes right.
Álvarez, Cedolins and Nucci are all on their top form, and the
whole performance and its staging catch fire with a vengeance. The modern
dress brings the drama to life in a way that mock-mediaeval German or
Tyrolean costumes never could begin to approach. The audience, who earlier
have shown a willingness to applaud at every full stop or semi-colon
- they even interrupt halfway through the First Act’s concluding
concertato - seem to hold their collective breath; and rightly
so. One might perhaps comment however that the cameras don’t always
point quite where one might wish - it is hard to see precisely what
happens to Wurm at the end, for example.
This DVD is rather an affair of threads and patches, therefore, which
do not add up to a completely satisfying whole. Some of those threads
and patches are excellent things indeed. There are four rival DVDs of
the opera in the current catalogue: one an Italian television production
conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni, and one each from the Metropolitan
Opera (conducted by James Levine), La Fenice (conducted by Maurizio
Benini) and Opera National de Lyon (conducted by Maurizio Arena). The
only one of these I have seen, a good many years ago, was the Metropolitan
Opera production which despite a great cast - Pläcido Domingo,
Renata Scotto and Sherrill Milnes - came in a real museum-piece of a
staging which comprehensively sucked much of the singers’ dramatic
involvement out of the work; I watched the final scene again to confirm
my recollections. That at least cannot be said of this Parma performance,
and the balance between singers and orchestra is better here too.
Paul Corfield Godfrey
See also review of Blu-ray release by
Robert
Farr
722808
[157.00] 
