“Le Siège de Corinthe” is Rossini’s adaptation
and translation into French of “Maometto II” which had its
premiere in Negroponte. As is so often the case with his operas, its
editorial history is complicated and any modern performing edition has to
make choices which will not please purists. Some will welcome the inclusion
of the Act II ballet music; well played as it is I find it a bit of a bore
purely as a listening experience without the visual enhancement of dancers
on stage. Otherwise, we are told in the booklet, “Revision of the
original edition and the parts for the first performance
(Théâtre de l’Académie de Musique, Paris, 9
October 1826) by Jean-Luc Tingaud. New edition for ROSSINI IN WILDBAD by
Florian Bauer.” I am not exactly sure what that means. Presumably we
are hearing in this Naxos live recording pretty much what Rossini presented
in Paris, including some material, such as the full closing section of the
finale to Act II, which cannot be heard in the opera’s predecessors.
On the other hand we also experience the cuts Rossini made to try to effect
a compromise which would accommodate the French tastes. These were turning
away from classicisms towards a more heroic operatic idiom and would
eventually result in what we understand as “Grand Opera”,
whereby the tragic fate of the individual was played out against a more
panoramic backdrop depicting large-scale, national concerns.
Knowing only the original opera and “L’assedio di
Corinto”, the thrillingly sung but frankly editorially bastardised,
Italian back-formation which Thomas Schippers presented at La Scala in 1969,
I was keen to hear this opera in the form which Rossini presented it to his
Parisian audience. It is certainly a cogent and scholarly version we hear
performed at the Wildbad Festival. It is as well sung as one could hope
these days, unless Juan Diego Flórez happened to have been available.
The only other available issue of this opera in its French incarnation is on
Nuova Era and suffers from very Italianate treatment and pronunciation. This
Naxos bargain edition seems to be a clear first choice.
However, Mahomet’s opening aria “Chef d’un peuple
indomptable” hardly impresses as it should. Regazzo’s vibrato is
obtrusive and he is hardly comfortable with the fioriture, resorting to a
kind of breathy over-emphasis which compares unfavourably with Sam
Ramey’s celebrated assumption of the Turkish leader. Nor is he at ease
with the French text, although he is better than baritone Marco Filippo
Romano, whose pronunciation as Omar is overtly Italianate. The rest of the
cast sing in good French and I am especially impressed not only by Matthieu
Lécroart’s native diction but also by the noble, mellifluous
beauty of his bass whenever Hiéros - a minor role - sings. His Third
Act aria is especially enjoyable. Majella Cullagh is an experienced
Rossinian who has sung in some lovely Rossini operas for Opera Rara but it
must be said that her soprano occasionally turns shrill these days. She is
more comfortable in quieter, lower passages when her silvery voice sounds
most alluring. She is not required to go stratospheric too often as this is
not the edition used by Beverly Sills to show off her high coloratura
soprano. No doubt some are put off by what seems, at least by modern
standards, Schippers' rather arbitrary confection, with cuts and
“illicit” interpolations from “Maometto II”, but his
live and studio performances, both starring Sills, exhibit first-class
singing which it would be a shame to overlook because of editorial scruples.
The two tenors, Marc Sala and rising star Michael Spyres - again,
this is not the arrangement that Sills and Marilyn Horne sang for Schippers
whereby the role of Néoclès is transposed for a mezzo-soprano
- have voices very similar in timbre, neat and accomplished with fast
vibratos and the range to encompass Rossini’s excessive demands. In
his big Act III showpiece aria, “Grand Dieu”, Spyres bravely
goes up to two rather tight, but full-voiced, high Cs and then even produces
two slightly uncomfortable high Ds. Neither is exactly the heroic voice that
the new French style demanded. Perhaps surprisingly, Franco Bonisolli for
Schippers in the live 1969 La Scala recording under Schippers gives us far
more of that while still coping wonderfully with the tessitura and
ornamentation.
That is not to say that this is by any means an unsatisfactory
performance. The sound is excellent, the ensemble crisp and energised and
the singing generally first rate, my reservation about Regazzo’s
lumpiness notwithstanding. The famous Act 1 Trio is superb, one of
Rossini’s most melodic inspirations. The Third Act Trio, here
performed in its shorter version, is another exquisitely sung highlight.
There was a time when Naxos would at least provide an original language
libretto
but since they ditched jewel cases in favour of slimline double CDs you must
seek
it out on their website.
Ralph Moore
See also review by
Robert
Farr (July 2013 Recording of the Month)
