Mozart - La Finta Giardiniera

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - La Finta Giardiniera

Opernhaus Zürich, 2006

Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Tobias Moretti, Rudolf Schasching, Eva Mei, Christoph Strehl, Isabel Rey, Liliana Nikiteanu, Julia Kleiter, Gabriel Bermùdez

Arthaus Musik - Blu-ray

Written when Mozart was just 18 years old, La Finta Giardiniera is undoubtedly one of the composer's lesser works.  It's very conventional in its arrangements, the development of the story and the tone owing much to the Neopolitan opera buffa style popularised by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi.  The plot is one of unhappy lovers unable to be with the one they love, some with hidden identities that are just waiting to be revealed and, for the most part, the expression of this situation requires little more than a series of arias - one person on the stage at a time - relating the woes of their misfortunes in love, with developments confined to the spoken dialogue sections and revelations in the ensemble Act finales.

For the most part.  With Mozart, as with Pergolesi, however, there's a great deal of interest in the common people and a conflict exists between the serving classes and their masters where the roles are often somewhat reversed.  Appearances are often deceptive, as the hidden identities suggest, as do the gender confusion over the cross-dressing and the filling of male roles by female singers and castrati that are typical of these kind of comedies.  Who really rules the roost and who wears the trousers?  "Let's assume a dignified manner", Arminda advises on the necessity of keeping up appearances here at one point in La Finta Giardiniera, but in reality each of the characters' emotional lives and questions of their identity are in turmoil.

What further distinguishes and exaults Mozart's (and indeed Pergolesi's) treatment of this fairly standard Metastasian situation more than just the realisation of the comic potential within the work,  is the playfulness and the originality of the manner in which he brings order to all the confusion.  It's far from Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, or indeed Così Fan Tutte (but then it doesn't have a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte either), but even in this early work by the composer, the arrangements in La Finta Giardiniera are light and clever, sparkling with wit and invention in a way that belies what could otherwise be a heavy-handed melodrama filed with unlikely contrivances.

Most famously, there's the Podestà Don Anchise's Act I aria 'Dentro il mio petto io sento', where he marshals the sounds of the orchestra to describe his feelings for his gardener Sandrina (the Marchioness Violante in disguise and hiding from her lover Count Belfiore, who stabbed her in a fit of rage and believes her dead).  Nardo (in reality, Violante's servant Roberto), also attempts to woo the Podestà's servant Serpetta by adopting the Italian, French and English manner, which is playful and charming but also related to these questions of identity, and happiness cannot be found while one's true self is kept hidden.  There's a lightness and vibrancy to the work then, a consistency and appropriateness of tone, and that's brought out wonderfully by the La Scintilla orchestra of the Zurich Opera House under Nicholas Harnoncourt.

The singing too is good all around, the cast well-suited to the roles in physical appearance as well as in the tone of voices.  None of them are particularly exceptional, singing either with too little feeling for the characters or too much.  Eva Mei sings Sandrina beautifully, but seems elsewhere and not really engaged with the others around her, while at the other end of the scale, Rudolf Schasching's Podestà's personality is a little over-emphasised to the detriment of the singing.  Christoph Strehl and Isabel Rey have rather a better handle on their characters and are delightful, as is the comic contribution and interaction between Julia Kleiter's Serpetta and Gabriel Bermùdez's Nardo.

Unfortunately, it's rather let down by the staging.  Tobias Moretti's direction never really manages to bring any real life to the admittedly limited opportunities for drama to be found within the arrangements.  With a few pot-plants and twigs scattered around, the clean white designs of the stage scarcely resemble a garden since the all-purpose structure has to make do for the interiors of the Podestà's home as well.  There are a few off-stage amusements and some back and forth interaction between the stage and the orchestra pit that help keep it interesting, and one of two clips of security camera footage that extend the scope to show outside events, but nothing ever comes together thematically or with a consistency of tone.

Still, this is an enjoyable account of a neglected early Mozart work.  It only existed in revised German Singspiel form until the original Italian version was rediscovered in the 1970s and recorded for the first time by Harnoncourt, so there are not too many staged versions available.  (An open-air production at Aix-en-Provence in 2012 takes advantage of its outdoor location and fares rather better with a cast of fresh young singers in the roles).  The Blu-ray release from Arthaus Musik is a reissue of the previous TDK release, retaining the original menus and specifications, only with new packaging.  There's some minor flicker in the encoding of the image, but the sound is fine on the PCM and DTS HD-Master Audio 7.1 mixes.  The BD is all-region, with subtitles in English, German, French and Spanish.

Schumann - Genoveva

Robert Schumann - Genoveva

Opernhaus Zürich, 2008

Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Martin Kušej, Juliane Banse, Shawn Mathey, Martin Gantner, Cornelia Kallisch, Alfred Muff, Ruben Drole, Tomasz Slawinski, Matthew Leigh

Arthaus Musik

Genoveva (1850), Robert Schumann’s only opera, was composed around the same time that Richard Wagner was working on material for Lohengrin and the Ring of the Niebelungen and it represents an interesting alternative view of how folklore, mythology and legends could be used as an expression of essential Germanic characteristics elevated through the art of the opera or music drama. Genoveva however was regarded as a failure when it was first produced, and Schumann would consequently never compose another opera, so it’s the Wagnerian model that has succeeded as the dominant influence, but Schumann’s approach would appear to be more deeply rooted in relating these characteristics elevated in mythology back down to the nature of the individual, and that consequently makes the story of Genoveva rather an interesting one.

Ostensibly, the work is an account of the medieval legend of the martyrdom of St Genevieve, the story promoting the virtues of truth and purity when Genoveva, the Countess of Brabant, is unjustly accused of infidelity, imprisoned and (in the original legend) executed only for her innocence later to be discovered. Schumann’s approach to the work is rather more complicated in its focus and in its unconventional depiction of the varied characters. In the story, Genoveva rejects the advances of her head servant Golo while her husband Siegfried is away fighting in Charles Martel’s crusade against the Saracen army of Abdur Rahman that is threatening to invade Europe. Consumed by desire for the Count’s wife and smarting from her rejection, Golo conspires to have Genoveva denounced for adultery by arranging for another servant, an old man, Drago, to be found in her bedroom. While one should expect sympathy to lie with the unjustly maligned Genoveva and with the husband whose trust has been abused by his servant, a large part of the opera is given over to consideration of the “lower orders”, giving depth to Golo, Margaretha and Drago, and it’s there that we find, perhaps, more interesting facets of human nature and German character.

That approach is emphasised very much in Martin Kušej’s staging of the rarely performed work for the Zurich Opernhaus in 2008. As with his De Nederlandse productions of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and Der Fliegende Höllander, and perhaps even in his Bayerische Staatsoper production of Rusalka, there’s a sense of class conflict within the consuming passions that is emphasised also in Kušej’s Genoveva. Using a boxed-in set of pure white walls (although they don’t stay that way for long), the set design bears little resemblance to the medieval period setting of the work. Within this space, the four figures of the central drama are often present, even if they aren’t required to be on the stage. In the case of Siegfried, for example, even though we know he’s gone to fight in the crusades in Act II, he’s physically still present there on the stage while the drama unfolds between Golo and Genoveva, even if he doesn’t take part in the action. It’s a rather avant-garde Brechtian theatrical device, but it serves to keep the focus on the drama and the overheated emotions between each of the characters – other action usually takes place off to the sides of the boxed area – showing that the influence or “presence” of the key players is important, even if they aren’t actually there.

Kušej also makes use of his now trademark shock tactics of minor nudity and plenty of blood also to tremendous effect. Distancing techniques – the characters laughing uncontrollably during the overture, squashing invisible insects and wrestling with a slippery dead fish – are used to suggest that the libretto shouldn’t be taken entirely literally when Siegfried refers to Genoveva as “a woman of true German stock”, while she for her part observes that it’s “a blessing to be the wife of a hero”, and Schumann’s score would tend to suggest that this indeed shouldn’t be taken entirely at face value. While such aspirations are noble, and one would be accustomed to accepting them as such in a Wagner opera, there are characters of lower orders present in Schumann’s opera with genuine grievances about their treatment and station, even if their means of wresting back some kind of justice can only be achieved through violence and subversion. Without taking anything away from the noble characteristics of Genoveva then (Siegfried is shown in a less heroic light by Schumann and certainly in Kušej’s staging, enjoying the pleasures of the witch Margaretha at the opening of Act III), the suggestion is perhaps that these figures have a voice that needs to be heard if such actions are to be avoided.

Kušej accordingly sets the opera in Schumann’s own period to reflect the social and political climate as he would have known it around 1848. Whether you buy into the devices and techniques employed by the director, the staging nonetheless has a striking, distinctive look that commands attention where the drama as it is outlined in the libretto ordinarily might not. Genoveva is not considered to be a dramatically strong work, and the criticism is often levelled against it that it’s a failed work because of this, so it’s even more to the credit of Kušej’s staging that it better reveals the distinctions of the characterisation that are clearly there. It is perhaps true that, musically at least, Schumann doesn’t manage to find a distinct voice for each of the characters – musically, it’s restrained, with few grand gestures and only some gentle choruses to punctuate the long monologues – but considerable impact can be drawn from the subject with commitment from the performers and a conductor who is keen to get to the heart of an important but underrated work in the history of German opera.

Fortunately, it has that not only with Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the helm and a fine performance of the orchestra of the Opernhaus Zürich, but in the singing of an exceptionally fine and committed cast who are often called upon to sing in difficult positions and occasionally perform somewhat undignified or just plain bizarre actions. Juliane Banse in particular is outstanding in the rather demanding role of Genoveva, but Shawn Mathey is a committed Golo and Martin Gantner a fine Siegfried. Cornelia Kallish and Alfred Muff also make a strong impression in the roles of Margaretha and Drago. This is far from bel canto however, and if the singing appears unexceptional in some parts, the acting and commitment to the roles proves just as important. The booklet included with the BD includes a fine thought-provoking essay on the work by Ronny Dietrich, the principal dramatic advisor of the Zurich Opera. It may take some persuading to accept Kušej’s belief that Golo is the central figure of the work and not Genoveva, but it is worth considering that the composer would have probably identified with Golo in his troubled relationship with Clara Schumann’s father.

The quality of the Blu-ray presentation itself is good, and the image is relatively clear. Some minor blue-edges and a little bit of vertical shimmer could have been avoided with a BD50 disc instead of a BD25 for the two-and-a-half-hour opera. It in no way however detracts from the overall quality or sharpness of the image or the fine high quality audio tracks in DTS HD-Master Audio 7.1 and PCM 2.0, where there is only a slight dullness in the voices at times due to the boxed-in stage set.

Haydn - Il Mondo della Luna

Joseph Haydn - Il Mondo della Luna

Theater an der Wien, 2009

Concentus Musicus Wien, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Tobias Moretti, Bernard Richter, Vivica Genaux, Dietrich Henschel, Christina Landshamer, Anja Nina Bahrmann, Maite Beaumont, Markus Schäfer

Unitel Classica - C-Major

This 2009 production of Haydn’s Il Mondo della Luna for the Theater an der Wien, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt for his 80th birthday celebrations, is a treat for anyone interested in seeing rarely performed opera of quality and distinction, and seeing this particular 'dramma giocoso' done playfully and intelligently with respect and understanding for the material.

It’s understandable that some would rather see a faithful period production of the 1777 opera, but there is nothing in Il Mondo della Luna that is period specific or anachronistic in a modern setting. While the one notable event is the fact that man has in the meantime now walked on the moon, its mysteries remain. Those mysteries are delightfully exploited by Ecclitico and his friend Ernesto, the two of them wishing to marry the daughters of Buonafede, while Ecclitico’s servant has designs on his maid, the rather formidable Lisetta. They plan an elaborate scheme to trick the old man into believing that they have transported him to the moon in order to show him the foolishness of his ways and turn his outdated ideas about women against him.

The world on the moon, it transpires, is the mystery of the workings of women, who the opera playfully labels "lunatics", their behaviour strange, mercurial (to mix planetary metaphors), inconstant and inconsistent. It’s a subject evidently that is as contemporary now as it was then, or even when Mozart tackled the subject somewhat later in a similarly humorous manner in Così Fan Tutte (or even perhaps The Magic Flute, to which Il Mondo della Luna feels like a closer relative).

Appropriately, the drama and singing are low key, with no grand exhibitions of vocal virtuosity, the performances rather delicate, modest, playful and charming, each of the singers however all getting their moments in the spotlight in an opera that is principally made up of a running series of arias with short recitative in-between (although there is one beautiful duet towards the end, 'un certo ruscelletto'). The staging is modern and just a bit too glittery, but it uses technology well without ever contradicting the libretto or the intentions of the drama. The craft of the staging is impressive, a revolving stage, imaginative props and some minor acrobatics keeping the action fluid and always interesting.

The technical aspects of the Blu-ray are faultless - the 16:9 image clear and sharp in a 1080i transfer, the sound mix available in LPCM stereo and DTS HD Master-Audio 5.1 giving a good stage to both the orchestration and the singing. A 25 minute Making Of featurette is included and is of particular interest for a good interview with Nikolaus Harnoncourt.