Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901)
Simon Boccanegra - Melodrama in a Prologue and Three Acts (vevised 1881 edition)
Simon Boccanegra, a sometime corsair and Doge of Genoa – Dmitri Hvorostovsky (baritone); Maria Boccanegra, Simon’s daughter known as Amelia Grimaldi - Barbara Frittoli (soprano); Jacopo Fiesco, a Genoese nobleman - Ildar Abdrazakov (bass); Gabrielle Adorno, a Genoese gentleman in love with Maria – Stefano Secco (tenor); Paolo Albiani, a courtier – Marco Caria (baritone); Pietro, another courtier – Kostas Smoriginas (baritone)
Kaunas State Choir; Orchestra and Chorus of the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra/Constantine Orbelian
rec. 2013, Kaunas Philharmonic, Lithuania
Booklet includes full libretto with English translation, artist profiles and colour photographs
DELOS DE3457 [65.50 + 64.05]
Delos, in their promotion of this issue justifiably make much
of the rarity of studio recordings of opera over the past two decades. The
changing marketplace marked the end after the feast of the previous decades
when several weeks or even a month could often be taken over a studio recording.
This was fine whilst the rarity of a recording, or the status of the artists
involved, might eventually produce a profit. However, far too often such recordings
were being subsidised by the pop market. By the turn of the century the scene
had changed completely with few studio recordings of opera. A decade later
rarity was an over-generous description with only the likes of Opera Rara,
with financial support from the Sir Peter Moores Foundation, being a notable
exception.
This paucity of studio opera recordings had a big impact on the careers of
many singers who, unlike predecessors, were deprived of the opportunity to
lay down their interpretations for posterity. This applies, more than most
to Dmitri Hvorostovsky who takes the eponymous role in this recording. He
won the prestigious Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in 1989, in the
final of which he sang a wonderful and amazingly long-breathed rendition of
Rodrigo’s aria from Verdi’s Don Carlo. After that he
recorded a couple of recital collections for Philips. However, he did not
feature in any of the three early Verdi recordings that the label managed
to squeeze in before the end of their project ten years later, Oberto,
(Philips 454 472-2), Jerusalem (462 613-2) and Alzira (Philips
464 628-2). By then Hvorostovsky had not quite become the dominant Verdi baritone
of choice at New York’s Metropolitan Opera that he has since. Whilst
he has featured in a number of telecasts that have made it onto Blu-Ray and
DVD, this recording fills a big gap in his CV. He takes on a major Verdi role
in a studio recording of one of the composer’s most significant works.
How does he do? The simple answer is very well indeed. In the past decade
or so his voice has grown darker and stronger but without intruding thickness.
The defining points are, to my mind, how the interpreter of Boccanegra manages
two critical moments. The first there's the concluding Figlia
at the end of the recognition duet in act one (CD 1, tr.13) and second, the
tonal depth, expression, even ferocity of declamation Plebe! Patrizi!
Popolo and the following narration in the Council Chamber Scene (CD2,
trs.2,3 and 4). Both extremes are achieved by Hvorostovsky with tonal security
and expression. A warning, do not look for the word Figlia in the
accompanying libretto it is unaccountably missing. Elsewhere, Hvorostovsky
lives up to the vocal qualities I mention to give a comprehensively satisfying
interpretation.
As his daughter Amelia, Barbara Frittoli sings with rather womanly warm tone
for a young girl. She suffers an odd moment of unsteadiness. Her feel for
the words and innate Italianate vocal expression does much to compensate and
are vital to the drama of act two as Amelia wrestles with convincing the Doge
as to Adorno’s virtues and her love for him. In the latter role, Stefano
Secco, a lightish pleasant Italianate lyric tenor, manages the more demanding
dramatic sequences without over-forcing his voice to give an all-round convincing
interpretation.
Of the lower male voices the outstanding singing comes form Ildar Abdrazakov
as Fiesco, initially Boccanegra’s implacable enemy. His tonal riches,
legato and expressiveness are outstanding with his singing of the recit and
aria Il lacerate spirito (CD1, tr.3) a vocal highlight. This surmounts
even Hvorostovsky’s contribution, significantly larger though the latter
is. I cannot wait to hear him as the mentally tortured King in Verdi’s
Don Carlo. Perhaps commercial success for this issue might tempt
Delos.
The two important designated baritone roles of Pietro and Paolo are strongly
sung by Kostas Smoriginas and Marco Caria respectively. The former represented
Lithuania in the 2005 Cardiff Singer of the World whilst the latter, a young
Italian, is making waves in Vienna and elsewhere. His tonal beauty and vocal
heft enables him to portray the many facets of his role in a very satisfying
manner. This is particularly the case as he has stand up to the Doge’s
questions and then curses himself at the conclusion of the Council Chamber
scene (CD2, tr.4).
On the rostrum the American pianist-conductor-composer Constantine Orbelian
plays the drama of the work for all it is worth. He clips a few minutes off
Abbado’s memorable performance recorded for CD in 1977 after performances
at La Scala. Abbado remains the stereo benchmark (DG 415 692-2). He is less
appealing in the more lyrical aspects and the introduction to act one which
should evoke the lapping sea on Genoa’s shore goes for little (CD1,
tr.6). The recording is somewhat resonant with the voices set behind the orchestra.
Appendix - Simon Boccanegra and
its 1881 revision
During Verdi’s presence in Paris in 1855 for the production of Les
Vêpres Siciliennes he accepted a commission from the Teatro la Fenice
in Venice for the 1856-57 season. He decided on the subject of Simon Boccanegra,
based, like Il Trovatore, on a play by Guttiérrez. It was an ideal
subject for Verdi, involving a parent-child relationship and revolutionary
politics in which he had always involved himself in occupied Italy. Given
the political background of the subject, and despite the action being set
in 14th century Genoa, the censors gave Verdi and his librettist,
Piave, a hard time. The composer held out and the opera was premiered on 12
March 1857. It was, in Verdi’s own words "a greater fiasco than
La Traviata", whose failure could be attributed to casting.
The critics of the time wrote about the gloomy subject matter and the lack
of easily remembered arias and melodies. A production at Naples went better
but that at La Scala in 1859 was a bigger fiasco than Venice. The composer
had moved his musical idiom much too far for his audiences and he wrote "the
music of Boccanegra is of a kind that does not make its effect immediately.
It is very elaborate, written with the most exquisite craftsmanship and needs
to be studied in all its details."
Verdi’s regard for his composition - and he was his own sternest critic
- meant that although the work fell into neglect, the possibility of revision
and revival was never far from his mind. In 1880 the composer had written
nothing substantial since his Requiem in 1874 and no opera since
Aida four years before that. His publisher, Ricordi, raised the subject
of a re-write of Boccanegra. In private Verdi was seriously and secretly
considering Boito’s proposals for an opera based on his beloved Shakespeare’s
Othello, whilst in public he maintained that he had hung up his operatic
compositional pen. However, when Ricordi told Verdi that Boito, who had provided
him with a synopsis and verse suggestions for Otello, would himself
revise the Boccanegra libretto, the composer agreed to undertake
the task. The revised Boccanegra was a triumph at La Scala on 24
March 1881. It is in this later form that we know the opera today and which
is featured on this recording.
Boito, an experienced composer as well as a librettist, made a very significant
addition to the original libretto in the form of a completely new scene to
end act one. Known as the Council Chamber Scene it drew from Verdi
dramatic music the like of which he had hardly previously ventured, even in
Aida, and very much akin to that which was to mark out his style
in Otello. Eschewing static arias or choruses a seamless flow of
integrated music moves the dramatic situations rapidly forward. The scene
makes considerable demands on the role of Boccanegra. The success of the baritone
taking the part determines the success of any recording or performance. When
that strength of baritonal tone and declamation is lacking, the whole performance
is blighted as can be heard in the recordings made by Placido Domingo (review)
in his guise as a would-be baritone. The scene contrasts sharply in musical
style with the more lyrical recognition duets including that between the Doge
and his daughter — and no composer does father–daughter duets
better than Verdi — and also that with Fiesco in the final act. Whilst
having obvious echoes of the original, the confrontation of Boccanegra, now
Doge, with Amelia, ward of his enemy Fiesco was also significantly re-worked.
The re-workings evident in the 1881 revision are dealt with in detail, including
musical examples, in volume two of Budden’s seminal "The Operas
of Verdi" (Cassell, 1978, pp. 244-334). He describes the work (p.334)
"as remaining for the Verdian connoisseur a pearl of immeasurable price".
Opera Rara has issued the recording of the 1976 BBC broadcast of the original
version; true Verdi-lovers should have
this in their collections (review).
Robert J Farr
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