Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk is fast becoming appreciated as one of the great 20th century operas. “Lady Macbeth” is shorthand for a woman killer (even though Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare never actually kills anyone). This story of a frustrated wife who experiences cruel male oppression and rape, and takes her revenge via a lover and some poison, was a major success in Moscow until Stalin attended a performance, hidden behind a curtain, and, his puritanism scandalized and possibly also fearing murderous plots against himself, had it closed down the following morning.
This pair of DVDs from Florence, Italy, issued last year, makes a strong showing. The general atmosphere of the opera comprises boredom, both sexual and in the workplace, leading to periodic outbursts of brutality and sadism. The set is entirely of unpolished wood and must have cost a great deal to build. It therefore has to suffice for the musically rich outdoor scene in the prison camp which ends the opera as well, with paper snow effective enough in the circumstances.
There has been some damning by faint praise of this set of DVDs on the Internet, but I found it consistently enjoyable. Jeanne-Michele Charbonnet is outstanding as Katerina, and Sergej Kunaev convincingly undeterred as Sergei. James Conlon conducts the orchestra and chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
Another version of this opera, with Nadine Secunde and Christopher Ventris, was reviewed in the Taipei Times on Jan. 13, 2005 (EMI 5 99730 9). It had stronger contrasts, with more farce, than this Italian production, and seemed at the time hard to better. This new version has its own distinctive character nonetheless.
Video Artists International (VAI) in the US has a justified reputation for unearthing historic recordings and then presenting them in DVD format with cleaned-up sound and new subtitles. They have just released a Nozze di Figaro from the Salzburg Festival of 1963, but this is if anything overshadowed by an even older item in their catalogue.
Figaro first though. Why, with so very many versions of this opera available on DVD, should anyone want one in black-and-white with mono sound? The answer is that it preserves the performances of artists much praised in their day. This one has Geraint Evans as Figaro, Evelyn Lear as Cherubino, Hilde Guden as the Countess, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as the Count and Graziella Sciutti as Susanna. Lorin Maazel conducts the Vienna Philharmonic.
For some reason, though, I found this DVD lackluster. It may have been the fact that it was a clumsily filmed staged version that was the problem. But even musically it often sounded harsh and unlovely.
This DVD, therefore, is of only historic interest. It contains none of that Mozartean magic necessary for any real recommendation. That kind of magic, and much more, can be found on the superb film with Herman Prey, Mirella Freni, Kiri Ti Kanawa and (again) Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau (DGM 073 4034), reviewed in the Taipei Times on Aug. 4, 2005.
The VAI item I was most impressed by recently was a performance of Turandot with the great Franco Corelli in the role of Calaf. It’s taken from an Italian telecast in 1958, and once again is in black-and-white with mono sound. But I found it one of the most absorbing versions of this opera I’ve ever watched. There’s something muted about it — no over-the-top histrionics for Nessum Dorma, for instance — and Corelli reveals himself not as just a big voice but as a genuine and sensitive artist. This is backed up by a stage production that’s tremendously engaging, giving a dreamlike impression of old Beijing that amply supports the Emperor’s description of it as a world of menace and cruelty that Calaf should simply walk away from. Yet this effect is achieved only by elaborate make-up, close-ups, masks, dance and painted scenery — scenery that’s evocative even in monochrome.
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