In the world of opera on DVD, a small but increasing number of European opera houses are seeing the economic benefits of getting in on the act. Zurich has been there for some time, closely followed by Barcelona. Now Florence is joining the race, with two high-quality productions currently available in Taiwan from Jingo (www.jingo.com.tw).
Verdi's Simon Boccanegra doesn't feature among many people's favorite operas. There's only one important female character, the plot is impossibly complex (25 years pass between the Prologue and Act One, but few of the many events that have taken place during that time are clearly explained), and the music only catches fire here and there. But there is a strong Council Chamber scene, the Prologue — which Verdi went to the trouble of reworking in his late style — is musically wonderful, and Boccanegra's reunion with his long-lost daughter has its admirers. Given a strong cast, this opera can be made to work reasonably well.
The new Florence version appears to have several key points in its favor. The conductor is Claudio Abbado, in his youth responsible for the famous CD version with Cappuccilli, Freni, Ghiaurov, Carreras and van Dam that effectively put the opera back into the international repertory (DGM 449 752-2). Boccanegra's daughter Maria is sung by Karita Mattila, who was Eva in the incomparable Metropolitan Opera DVD version of Wagner's Meistersinger (DGM 00440 073 0949, reviewed in Taipei Times February 17, 2005). And the stage direction is by Peter Stein, celebrated for his many innovative opera and theater productions.
The result only partially converted me to the opera. Stein's working method appears to be to create blocks of color — the first scene, for instance, is almost entirely blue — and then alternate them. Boccanegra (Carlo Guelfi), Paolo (Lucio Gallo) and Fiesco (Julian Konstantinov) all have to age 25 years and more during the opera's action, and this they manage to do, while continuing to sing with unabated vigor. Mattila is in fine voice as Maria.
But this Florentine version has to compete against the Metropolitan Opera's with Chernov, Te Kanowa, Lloyd and Domingo (DGM 073 031-9), issued on video in 1995 and on DVD in 2002. By and large it fails to achieve the same intensity, though some episodes — the Council Chamber scene in particular — are very strong. This, then, is probably a production to be acquired by collectors who want more than one DVD version of the work.
Florence Opera is also responsible for a new Le Nozze di Figaro, again directed by a famous veteran, this time Jonathan Miller. The approach is exceptionally realistic, with the general look reminiscent of the interiors of the 18th century painter Chardin, a near contemporary of Mozart's. There's no eccentric updating for its own sake, and nothing is allowed to distract from the drama Mozart and da Ponte intended their first audiences to see.
This is all in all an excellent Figaro. It was filmed in 2003, and it's good to hear, on the evidence of so recent a production, that playing Mozart over-fast appears to be going out of fashion. But you could always count on conductor Zubin Mehta not to throw away fine music in headlong acceleration.
Mozart needs to be stylish, but not to the exclusion of his extraordinary humanity. This production achieves the balance in exemplary fashion. Giorgio Surian's Figaro matches his Susanna well, and the difficult relationship between the Count and Contessa (Eteri Gvazava) is well-handled. It's hard to understand why the latter receives only routine applause in the curtain calls.
It's interesting, as well, to hear resident singers in different roles. Lucio Gallo, for instance, is here a youthful Count Almaviva, while in Boccanegra he plays the darker figure of Paolo Albiani. Patrizia Ciofi, the Susanna here, sings a modern Violetta complete with sunglasses in another fine release from Jingo, La Traviata conducted by Lorin Maazel from La Fenice, Venice (2004).
The main feature recommending the live outdoor concert filmed in Dresden in 1999, Dresden Classical Night, is the presence of the fine Bulgarian-born soprano Anna Tomowa-Sintow. Predictably, she gives a superb performance. But there are six soloists in all, so none of them gets that much screen time. They end up singing the Brindisi from La Traviata together, a bizarre event indeed. The other soloists are Deborah Sasson, Vincenzo La Scola (who sings Gabriele Adorno in the Boccanegra reviewed above), Neil Shicoff, Volker Bengl and Roland Seiffarth.
Lastly, a film that's not new but deserves a few words of praise nonetheless. Entitled Hans Werner Henze: Memoirs of an Outsider, it's a highly atmospheric survey of the life and work of the man it describes as Germany's most distinguished composer. Born in Westphalia in 1926, Henze is seen in his home of 40 years, just outside Rome. Early on you hear Simon Rattle describing his work and position in 20th century music generally. “Essentially he is always going to be an outsider — as a gay man, as a liberal growing up in the Third Reich, as a person who seems to be somehow, not a refugee, but always somewhere else.”
Henze is a composer who was heavily criticized, along with Shostakovich and Britten, by the serialists in the post-1945 era for not being sufficiently austere. These days this has become an asset, though his wanting to have all instruments playing all of the time can be a problem. Even so, this is a truly fascinating DVD, and highly recommended.
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