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Mozart,  Le Nozze di Figaro: Soloists, Orchestre National du Capitole. Choeur du Capitole. Conductor: Marco Armiliato. Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse. 29.11.2008 (JMI)

New production Capitole de Toulouse and Opera de Lausanne.

Direction: Marco Arturo Marelli.
Sets: Marco Arturo Marelli.
Costumes: Dagmar Niefind.
Lighting: Friedrich Eggert.

Cast:

Figaro: Nicolas Cavallier.

Susanna: Amel Brahim-Djelloul

Countess: Ricarda Merbeth.

Count Almaviva: Andrew Schroeder.

Cherubino: Blandine Staskiewicz.

Marcellina: Daniela Mazzucato.

Don Bartolo: Luciano Di Pasq   uale.

Barbarina: Khatouna Gadelia.


Seven years have past since the last time that Le Nozze di Figaro was seen at Toulouse Capitole and  the most important difference between the occasions is the quality of the cast. In  spring of 2002 we had singers as Giorgio Surjan, Ludovic Tézier and Sophie Koch  in cast, while this time the  singing was generally less good.

The new production is a collaboration with Lausanne, where it was premiered  last year, and has stage direction by the  Marco Arturo Marelli, who also designed the sets. The staging, absolutely traditional, is very tasteful , with numerous mobile panels dominating all scenes, each of them showing  reproductions of Renaissance frescoes. The garden scene is solved by  a series of fences, through which  the charcaters move around. In this production there is no change of time for the plot, following exactly what Beaumarchais, Da Ponte and Mozart wanted. The costumes are colourful  in general and  there is a good plot. Marelli’s stage direction is also quite  good, particularly  his work with singers and  I should mention the relevance that he gives to the roles of Basilio and Marcellina. In short, this is a very  pleasant production without much innovation.

Marco Armiliato was in charge of the musical direction and I still have  very fresh in my memory Ros Marbá conducting from two weeks ago in Barcelona, so that the comparison is inevitable. Armiliatos’s reading lasted some 22 minutes less than Ros Marbas’.   It is true that the Italian  cut some short recitatives, but he also added Marcellina’ s aria “Il capro e la capretta”. If I criticized Ros Marbá for slow tempi for this lively comedy, it is clear that this is not applicable to Armiliato, who from the overture onwards offered a pacy reading, without losing anything from the music. We had Le Nozze as it should be, a comedia giocosa, although somewhat short on subtleties.  The orchestra however  had a less brilliant than might be expected, with some audible irregularities at times.

In this second cast in Toulouse,  Figaro was  Nicolas Cavallier. I have seen him several times on stage and I always thought he is a good actor and a mediocre singer. His way of singing has not much to do with Mozart. He has enough volume, but it is still not a great idea to sing absolutely everything  as forte.

Susanna was the young Algerian soprano Amel Brahim-Djelloul who made a positive impression in the role of Antigone in Enescu’s  Oedipe  last month. The impression was confirmed here. She is a light soprano with a  pleasant voice, very easy on stage and with an attractive appearance. Her biggest problem is that her voice is not developed enough in the middle register, and she is  more suited to Barbarina (which she  sang in the first cast) than to Susanna. Anyway, she is definitely  a very  promising soprano.

The Countess was the German soprano Ricarda Merbeth, better known by her Wagner. She was a good Countess, particularly in “Dove Sono”, which was very well sung indeed. On stage she looked rather too mature in this cast. Andrew Schroeder was a rather moderate Count Almaviva, without much vocal glitter, although he was always a good interpreter. Blandine Staskiewickz played  Cherubino and was better as an actress than as singer. Her high register is tight and of rather poor quality.

The veteran Daniela Mazzucato made an genuine  creation of  Marcellina -  she is a wonderful actress and still a reliable singer, able to cope with all  the difficulties of “Il capro è la capretta”. Luciano Di Pasquale fulfilled his task competently as  Don Bartolo and is a  better actor than singer. Rodolphe Briand was an exceptional Basilio however, a spectacular interpreter who was the focus of attention whenever he was on stage. Khatouna Gadelia was a good Barbarina, as Fréderic Caton was as Antonio. The super veteran Riccardo Cassinelli - surely the oldest  singer still in active service – was Don Curzio.

A sell –out performance. The audience enjoyed the opera and responded very to  the artists. At the final bows,  the loudest applause went to  Susanna, the  Countess and to Marco Armiliato.

José M. Irurzun


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