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SEEN AND HEARD  INTERNATIONAL OPERA REVIEW
 

Verdi,  I Vespri Siciliani : Soloists, Orchestra and Chorus Teatro Carlo Felice Genova, Conductor: Renato Palumbo,  Teatro Carlo Felice Genoa. 25.10.2007 (JMI)

 

Production from Opera Bastille Paris.

 

Director: Andrei Serban
Sets and costumes: Richard Hudson
Lighting: Matthew Richardson

 

Cast:

 

Duchessa Elena: Sondra Radvanovsky
Arrigo: Francisco Casanova
Monforte: Franco Vassallo
Procida: Luiz-Ottavio Faria
Bethune: Cesare Lana
Vaudemont: Carlo Di Cristoforo
Ninetta: Raffaella Ambrosino
Danieli: Carlo Bosi


I Vespri Siciliani is not among the most popular Verdi titles, despite the fact that it does not belong to his works from “galley years”. Although there's  doubtless great quality in  Acts III and IV, the rest of the opera doesn't  reach  hifh same level, in spite of having  some well-known arias, such as  Procida’s in the second act and Elena’s siciliana or bolero  in the final act. The best omens did not accompany some of these in Genoa  performances (there was a strike notice) but  this one had high musical and vocal standards.

The production was directed by the Romanian,  Andrei Serban and originates  from Paris Bastille. Probably its main merit is to take us little by little to accept the stage sets by Richard Hudson, which often felt fairly monotonous. For all five acts we had a big broken wall at the centre of the stage, always in a full white colour. The crack in the wall becomes bigger or smaller as the opera proceeds and in the first act, a beach can be seen through the breach with children playing at the back of the stage. In Act II,   the wall moves to the left leaving a big space for Procida's landing and later for  the abuses by the occupation soldiers. In the last act a large staircase appears where the Sicilian patriots prepare and carry out their revenge. The action is transferred to the end of 19^th century with the occupying army dressed as the French Foreign Legion, whereas the Sicilians are almost always in black -   with the  exception of the last act, where they dress in white for the celebration of Elena and Arrigo's wedding. The costumes are also designed by  Hudson with an emphasis on a   a strong contrast between black and white elements. Matthew Richardson's lighting is always appropriate, with a truly spectacular Sicilian revolt at the end. Serban's direction allows for interesting  movement on the  stage, although not much of that was  possible for the Arrigo in this production. See below.

Renato Palumbo is one the most active Italian conductors and he shows so  strong an empathhy with Verdi that he has become an authentic guarantee of quality  in most Italian opera. The excessive length of I Vespri  and its musical ups and downs demand a very good conductor indeed to keep the attention and interest of the audience. Palumbo gave us  an outstanding reading, full of determination and intensity and under his direction Teatro Carlo Felice's orchestra  turned out an engaging  a performance, although its sound in the overture was not at its best. There was good singing from the chorus too, although I have better memories of them in the past.

American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky sang Duchess Elena and she gave a totally brilliant performance, in spite of the initial warning that  she was suffering a cold. She is one of the most important spinto sopranos of our time, with a dark voice of great beauty, outstanding phrasing and a powerful and bright vocal acuity. Add to all of  this her attractive figure and her skills as an actress and it sums up her excellent perfomance. A very famous  artist said once  that Sondra has the most beautiful sad voice in the world and I think he was absolutely right. The only trace of her cold could be heard in her interpretation of the famous Bolero. In this role she has no rival nowadays, to my mind although her vibrato in the middle register is always a subject of debate. Personally I consider not to matter at all and it doesn’t seem to get any wider. Let us wait for her next debut as Ernani’s  Elvira in Trieste.

Francisco Casanova was an outstanding Arrigo, once one accepts that any stage movement from him can bring problems to his singing. What  a more mobile characterisation might  gain in credibility could be lost in vocal terms, but  his is a voice of quality, capable of elegant phrasing with a nice use of mezza voce. He was particularly outstanding in the very difficult prison scene and his duet with Elena, though not very appealing from a theatrical point of view, obviously.

Franco Vassallo was Guido de Monforte and I found him better adapted to Verdian vocal exigencies than a few years ago. The voice has more weight now, sustaining his outstanding high register. Today he is represents a very valid choice as a Verdi  baritone.  He isn't  the Monforte of my dreams, but still he's a fine one-eyed man in the kingdom of the  blind, as we say in Spain.

Brazilian bass Luiz-Ottavio Faria replaced an indisposed Orlin Anastassov as Giovanni da Procida. The cancellation announcement was badly received by the audience, but the Brazilian turned out to be the great surprise of the evening. The voice is wide, well projected and offers easily enough quality: it's  powerful at the bottom of the tessitura and has no problems higher  up. There are a couple of notes at the passaggio, where some  quality is lost but  this is a good interpreter, who was soundly cheered after his rendering of “O tu, Palermo”.  A very pleasant surprise, indeed.  All of the secondary parts were well covered by Raffaella Ambrosino (Ninetta), Cesare Lana (Bethune), Carlo Di Cristoforo (Vaudemont) and Carlo Bosi (Danieli).

The theater offered numerous empty seats in the back rows of the stalls, which shows yet again,  that  leaving aside a few big media stars, the biggest attraction  for full houses in opera still comes from the most popular titles.  The final bows brought another  triumph for Radvanovsky, and there were  loud  cheers too for  Maestro Palumbo and  the other three main protagonists.

José M. Irurzun