Giuseppe Verdi - Il Trovatore
Royal Opera House, 2017
Richard
Farnes, David Bösch, Anita Rachvelishvili, Gregory Kunde, Lianna
Haroutounian, Vitaliy Bilyy, Francesca Chiejina, Samuel Sakker
Opus Arte - Blu-ray
The
principal challenge for a director approaching Il Trovatore must be to
find a way of making its notoriously implausible plot half-way
intelligible and work around its operatic template of mannerisms and
numbers. It's a tall order and the best you can do is just attempt to
tone things down and let Verdi's overheated orchestration provide all
the drama. The other approach is to just let fly, run with it, but you
need exceptional Verdi singers to make that convincing. David Bösch's
production for the Royal Opera House tries to do both, but the focus on
mood doesn't quite make up for the static direction and not all the
singing performances are quite good enough to carry it off either.
There are however some good points to the production and the
performances, certainly enough to ride on Verdi's music and bring this
work to its breathless conclusion.
The set designs for
David Bösch's production settle for the generic modern day setting of a
dark barb-wired landscape of wartime devastation that is now
unfortunately quite common at the Royal Opera House. As far as mood
goes, the dark gothic minimalism works well to downplay some of the more
extravagant drama, which is instead allowed to simmer in the recurring
presence and imagery of fire. A simple gesture in the opening scene for
example, where Ferrando having given his troops and himself the
heebie-jeebies over the curse of the evil wicked witch burnt at the
stake who still haunts the Count di Luna's family, tentatively kicks
over the remnant of the burning camp fire, expecting it looks to find
bone lying there.
There's a similar reliance on mood and
suggestion elsewhere. Azucena's caravan at the gypsy camp is decorated
with macabre looking dolls pinned to its outside, the scene eerily lit
by the orange flames of the camp flickering brazier. In terms of
direction however there's little thought or effort made to make the
characters or the drama feel real of convincing. It's all rather
static, the scenes remain a collection of disconnected dramas with no
flow or follow-through that aren't resolved in any way until the
conclusion. Like the ROH's controversial 2015 Guillaume Tell, it
unimaginatively relies on generic groups of soldiers/thugs threatening captives in bleak war-torn landscapes and subjecting them to brutal beatings, torture and execution.
What
counts here and ultimately determines the nature of the production is
the quality of the Verdian musical and singing performances. In terms
of the musical interpretation, the early indications were that Richard Farnes doesn't seem to have much to offer as far as arrangements and
interpretation, but in reality it seems it's more just an indication
of good pacing. The delivery matches the early setting of mood,
building on the drama, letting Verdi's score for the opera take on its
own momentum, and when those moments of thunderous impact are needed, it
proves to be a full-blooded account.
The singing however
is a mixed bag as far as the division between the male and female roles
goes. Although there are some impressive moments in the performances
of Lianna Haroutounian's Leonora and Vitaliy Bilyy's Conte di Luna, they
aren't totally convincing or always secure in their delivery. Both are
a little static and their characters lack personality and direction - a
fault as much with Verdi and Cammarano's writing as much as the
director's failure to bring them to life. Haroutounian is certainly
capable, her 'Tu vedrai che amore in terra' quite impressive in its own
right, if still not having a good flow or connection to character and
situation.
Anita Rachvelishvili and Gregory Kunde are
much better equipped to handle the technical and dramatic challenges of
Verdi's writing for the voice, and as Azucena and Manrico, their voices
and performances ultimately hold more sway over the outcome and
effectiveness of the production. Rachvelishvili comes out on top,
taking the role of Azucena with relish, matching Verdi's intensity but
not overselling it. Kunde is always a joy to hear, a dramatic rather
than a belcanto Rossinian, and that kind of dramatic lyricism serves him
well for Verdi. He brings real character and personality to Manrico in
his stage presence and singing. When these two are in alignment with
the thunderous performance of the Royal Opera Orchestra under Richard Farnes, it's enough to carry this Il Trovatore over the line. That's no mean feat.
The Opus Arte Blu-ray presents the
recording of the opera on its dark stage very well throughout to such an
extent that you can almost feel the heat of the conflagration in the
closing scene. The High Resolution audio stereo and surround mixes are
superb, giving clear presence to the voices, and if you can listen to it
loud (on headphones maybe) the impact of the Anvil Chorus and the more
thunderous parts of the score is just amazing. The extra features are
not plentiful, just a snappy 3-minute introduction with soundbites from
cast and the creatives and a 3-minute look at the set designs. The
booklet however contains a very interesting essay by Flora Willson on
the history of the writing of the opera and the working relationship
between Verdi and Cammarano revealed in their correspondence.
Links: Royal Opera House
Giuseppe Verdi - I Due Foscari
Royal Opera House, 2014
Antonio Pappano, Thaddeus Strassberger, Plácido Domingo, Francesco Meli, Maria Agresta, Maurizio Muraro, Samuel Sakker, Rachel Kelly, Lee Hickenbottom, Dominic Barrand
Opus Arte - Blu-ray
Some early Verdi operas are worth reviving, and some are really of curiosity value only. I due Foscari, Verdi's sixth opera, is one that is worth coming back to occasionally, if only for the unusually sensitive and dark melancholic beauty of its score. Although there are evident weaknesses in the plot development, it's also worth re-examining now and again just to see if a production can make something more of the strong themes that underpin the work. The Royal Opera House's 2014 production of I due Forscari makes a strong case for the musical value of this work, but Thaddeus Strassberger's production doesn't quite have what it takes to elevate this to the level of being considered a neglected Verdi masterpiece.
Much like the later Un ballo in maschera, the beauty of Verdi's musical composition in I due Foscari far exceeds the quality of libretto and the treatment of the source material. That might seen unfair since I due Foscari (and Un ballo in maschera) are based on real historical events, the former coming from a strong literary source in a work by Lord Byron, but Verdi's writing undoubtedly confers more sensitivity and personality on the characters than is evident from the limited text that describes the plot and the situation. Much of the exciting developments and action I due Foscari however takes place either before the opera starts or occurs off-stage. The last time I reviewed this opera, I described it as a kind of courtroom murder drama where we don't see either the killing or the trial. The main drama having already taken place, the characters are mostly left to just run through the standard numbers that express their grief and anger (the dominant moods here) towards life's cruel twists of fate. It wouldn't be far off the rigid formula and expression of an opera seria format in that respect.
What is significant here in I due Foscari however it that the work evidently comes from a very personal dark place, and it's more than just railing against fate and the cruel whims of the gods. We do get plenty of that in the nature of the opera itself and in the dark 'tinta' of the work. Doge Francesco Foscari's deep melancholy over the death of his three children and the imprisonment and trial of his only remaining son is undoubtedly informed by Verdi's own personal family experiences with the deaths of his children. There is also however a burning anger at human injustice, the abuse of power and authority and the impact on lives crushed for the sake of greed, ambition and personal gain.
I due Foscari then isn't a conventional numbers opera by any means, nor one that is plot-led. It's about exploring character, personality, location, mood and situation. Bel canto can go so far in exploring and giving voice to those sentiments, but Verdi's score - while giving tremendous voice to his characters in their arias - goes much further musically than his predecessors of Donizetti and Bellini. The quality and expressiveness of Verdi's music helps define all those other external elements and internal conflicts that impact upon a person in the kind of situations that Jacopo, his wife Lucrezia and his father the Doge find themselves in. Whether the quality of the drama merits it or not, I due Foscari is a fascinating early sketch for future developments that the composer would expand upon in La Traviata and Rigoletto and with even greater facility and purpose in his mature later works.
It's clearly much more than a sketch, but at the same time, it's still rather less than a successful whole. You can't fault Thaddeus Strassberger's intentions for the production to reflect the dark tone of I due Foscari and something of the feel for its Venetian locations without getting too mired in period realism. Kevin Knight's set designs however aren't always able to reflect those intentions on the Covent Garden stage, succeeding only in making Venice look exceedingly ugly. The ugliness is I'm sure intentional, reflecting a deeper reality beneath the surface beauty and the elegant formalism and attire of the Dieci - the Council of Ten. The use of water and platforms to walk above the floods for example are a less 'picture-postcard' view of Venice that serve well to show another side of the character of the lagoon city.
The production however pushes the bleakness and nihilism much too far, over-emphasising what is already there in abundance in Verdi's score. Additional gory scenes of dismemberment and torture are unnecessary; there's more than enough personal torment there already in the lives and in the fates of Jacopo, Francesco and Lucrezia without adding to it so heavy-handedly. It also takes things a little too far at the conclusion, which is powerful enough on its own terms without Lucrezia collapsing into raving madness and violently drowning her own son, but there's no doubt it has the desired impact of stunning the audience into the realisation that this is far from the kind of Verdi opera we are familiar with.
Where the production is most successful is in the actual performance. Antonio Pappano's conducting of the Royal Opera House orchestra made the biggest impression, demonstrating fully the qualities of Verdi's score. It was delivered with force and vigour and yet at the same time with tenderness and sensitivity for the fluctuations of mood and tempo. All four of the principal roles impressed, and arguably, they're all equally important in this work. You can see why Plácido Domingo has moved into the Verdi baritone repertoire with roles like Francesco Foscari out there. It suits his age and stature as well - you couldn't imagine him singing the tenor role of Jacopo here, for example. He doesn't have the rich baritone growl of Leo Nucci in the role of Doge, but the passion is all there, some of the phrasing is beautiful and he works wonderfully with what is expressed in the musical accompaniment.
Domingo's fit for the role really comes apparent when he's working with the other performers, and it's no coincidence that this is also when the full power of Verdi's writing is at its strongest in this work. The duet with Lucrezia, the trio with Lucrezia and Jacopo are some of the high points of this work and they come across marvellously in this interpretation. That's as much to do with the impassioned edgy performance of Maria Agresta as Lucrezia and the lyrical beauty of Maurizio Muraro's Jacopo - each of them reflecting Verdi's clear writing and characterisation of the roles. The writing for the chorus also serves an important function in I due Foscari, and that too is handled impressive and to great effect by the Royal Opera Chorus under the direction of Renato Balsadonna.
On Blu-ray, the performance feels somewhat more cold and clinical than it appeared when broadcast live in the Royal Opera House's 2014 Cinema Season, but the qualities of the performances are all there in the fine High-Definition presentation, particularly in the uncompressed PCM stereo mix. Extra features on the Blu-ray include a brief Introduction to I due Foscari, which has interviews with the cast, with Pappano, Strassberger and a look at the costume and set design for this production. An Interview with Antonio Pappano looks in a little more detail at the leitmotifs and the beautiful melodies that Verdi composed for the work. The enclosed booklet has a good synopsis and an essay by Francesco Izzo that looks at the distinctive musical colour and characgterisation that makes this a significant Verdi work.
