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SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL
OPERA REVIEW
Production Zurich Opera, coproduction with New National Theatre Tokyo
Direction: Grischa Asagaroff
Sets and Costumes: Luigi Perego
Lighting: Hans-Rudolf Kunz
Cast - Cavalleria
Santuzza: Beatrice Uría-Monzón
Turiddu: José Cura
Alfio: Cheyne Davidson
Lola: Katharina Peetz
Mamma Lucia: Cornelia Kallisch
Cast - Pagliacci
Canio: Jose Cura
Nedda: Fiorenza Cedolins
Tonio: Carlo Guelfi
Silvio: Gabriel Bermúdez
Beppe: Boiko Zvetanov
My visit to Zurich comes to an end with the traditional
double bill of Cavalleria Rusticana & I Pagliacci in a
very traditional production by Grischa Asagaroff that had
its premiere in Zurich in 1996. Admittedly there isn’t a
whole lot that can be done with these operas (or at least
I’ve not yet seen it), since the librettos put things so
unequivocally. There’s a semicircular stage for Cavalleria,
with Mamma Lucia’s house on the left and the Church to the
right, leaving a space in the middle where the action, set
some time in the kitschy 50s, takes place. The same stage,
minus the church, serves Pagliacci... adding a small
theatre for the Canio troupe in the middle: Altogether
traditional and uninteresting.
This performance was the first revival this season and I
got the impression that it was rather under-rehearsed.
Stefano Ranzani offered a very bland reading, particularly
in the first half of Cavalleria and in the second act of
Pagliacci. The orchestra and chorus were far below what
they have offered on previous occasions and there were
numerous problems of coordination between stage and pit.
José Cura was both Turiddu and Canio and he gave a
compelling stage—but uneven vocal -
performance. Turiddu
especially is rather tight for him nowadays, while
Canio suits him much better.
French mezzo soprano Beatrice Uría-Monzón’s Santuzza
turned in credible acting and accomplished-but-modest
singing. Baritone Cheyne Davidson is a Zurich regular but
did not shine as Alfio. Fiorenza Cedolins is not the great
soprano she was a few years ago... her voice being
considerably smaller now than I remember it. In
combination with her regained shapely figure the former
Cedolins would have been an stirring proposition, as it
was, her Nedda was not exciting. Still that didn’t compare
to Carlo Guelfi (Tonio) who is just a shade of his former
self, with a wide vibrato throughout the high register.
Silvio was sung by Gabriel Bermúdez, who has a body with
worthy of an acrobat. If the size of his voice
matched his muscles, he’d be an exceptional baritone,
singing—as he does—with expressively
and with much taste.
José
Mª Irurzun