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Verdi, Simon Boccanegra:  Greek National Opera, conductor: Carlo Montanaro, Alexandra Trianti Hall, Athens Megaron 11.5. 2008 (BM)

Picture © Haris Akriviadis

Former GNO artistic director Lazaridis had made it his mission to bring some of the opera world’s most prominent directors to Athens, and for this new production of Simon Boccanegra he recruited David Alden, who has been labeled “post-modernist” and called all sorts of names, such as “the Stephen King of opera” (inter alia for his blood-soaked reading of Lucia di Lammermoor at ENO). Presumably, he might prefer a nickname like “the Jackson Pollock of opera”, since he refers to what he does as “modern art on stage”, but that would be overstating things just a tiny bit. The onstage images he created for Athens were “interesting” or stylized at best: a coffin, a rock, a window overlooking the sea (what a relief!), the trendy, pink Doge’s palace resembling a designer hotel (enhanced by excellent lighting effects from Wolfgang Goebbel, I might add), rags to raincoats costumes for the plebs and leather or shiny armor for the aristocrats – but wait!, those were all by set and costume designer David Fielding.

Alden was supposed to be directing – and he likes to point out that in this day and age, opera singers are increasingly indebted to directors, as opposed to conductors - but alas, very little was done here to make the acting stand out and offer the audience some guidance with this convoluted plot. Though clearly well aware of the deeply personal issues which Verdi wove into this work, rather than explore the relations between its characters on stage, it would seem that Alden’s foremost concern was to project visual concepts, e.g. the giant silver hand created for the Council Chamber scene. To make matters worse, Simon and Amelia sang at each other from opposite ends of the stage during their beautiful recognition duet, and even as he lay dying during the final scene. Interaction between the characters was lacking across the board, and the whole thing would have been a fairly dreary (not to mention cold) affair, had it not been for the musicians, who delivered plenty of passion.

Dimitri Tiliakos’ debut in the title role was a fitting tribute to (though by no means an imitation of) his teacher, the late Kostas Paskalis, who was the last to perform – and direct! – Boccanegra in Athens. It takes a mature artist to portray this character, who has been referred to as Verdi’s alter ego in terms of elusive fatherhood, and Tiliakos has undoubtedly reached this point in his career. Although hard put to remain dignified in his Hell’s Angels to buffoon-like attire, his was an imposing rendition of one of the composer’s most in depth and nuanced character portraits - of a devoted father and peace-loving politician - conveyed by Tiliakos fluid baritone, complete with an exciting high register and a velvety low range.

Chilean soprano Angela Marambio was Amelia, in what has become a signature role for her, and she was luminous after overcoming some initial trepidation during her first aria - even when Alden had her bending over backwards (not the easiest posture to sing in, one would imagine). Sadly, her partner Francesco Demuro was light-years out of his league as Adorno, his tenor just about as non-descript as his CV. Balint Szabo as Fiesco did well, but his bass was lacking in timbre when reaching for the lower notes. Dimitris Platanias had the physical advantage of looking his part as Paolo the villain, but was also in excellent voice throughout and made a crucial contribution to the effectiveness of the wonderful Council Chamber scene – as did Marambio’s mesmerizing trill on “pace” shortly before the mood switched from the shining F# major of the peace hymn to the somber C minor of the curse. Needless to say, none of this would have been possible without a fully focused GNO chorus (under Nikos Vassiliou) and orchestra, conducted by Carlo Montanaro. The astounding job he did with this ensemble was particularly perceptible in the way they brought out Verdi’s magnificent musical description of the sea, and Montanaro’s interaction with the singers was palpable as well. Who says conductors don’t matter any more ? !

Bettina Mara


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