William Tell is always going to be a problematic work.
There is plenty of drama in there, but the shape of each of
the acts never quite makes musical sense. The characters seem
well defined in isolation, but are all curiously similar when
heard together. Most problematic of all is the overture, which
is both unrelated to the opera proper, and which easily overshadows
everything that follows it.
Antonio Pappano gives us a warts-and-all concert performance,
with no real efforts to excuse or smooth over the score's many
problems. Large, but apparently conventional, cuts are made
to the third act, and while I don't know what I'm missing, what
remains seems plenty long enough. But Pappano's genius with
opera, and especially Italian opera, is to bring out the drama
and the urgency in every bar, and that is exactly what he does
here. The performance of the overture is exemplary, with lots
of bass, lively percussion and wonderfully free woodwind solos.
The quality of the music immediately drops when the singing
begins, but the performance maintains the pace and continues
the drama of the overture well into the first act. Pappano has
assembled a fine cast, and Gerald Finley's many fans are not
going to want to miss his rendition of the title role. He is
more subdued than most of his colleagues, not quieter as such,
but always singing with a round, intimate tone that endears
every phrase. The other soloists are perhaps more stylistically
suited to Rossini's overt vocal writing, but Finley's sophistication
is a welcome contrast.
I've just been reading Richard Osborne's review of the recording,
and it is clear that he likes it less than I do. I certainly
agree with his point that the sound recording is not ideal,
although most of the soloists come off all right. The choir
sounds distant and generalised though, and the back of the orchestra
sounds better than the front for some reason. For all that,
the general impression that the sound recording gives is of
sharp-edged and crisp precision. When Pappano builds up one
of Rossini's famous climaxes in the choir and orchestra, the
audio is able to intensify everything, even though the details
remain obscured.
Osborne's main criticism, and I certainly agree with this myself,
is that the release is obviously a by-product of a live performance
- or rather six - and the live situation causes more problems
than it is worth. Not so long ago, a label like EMI could be
relied upon to take projects like this and devote studio time
at Abbey Road to getting them just right. The finances at EMI
now mean that it is a miracle they are releasing any CDs at
all, so perhaps we should think ourselves lucky. The liner demonstrates
the dichotomy. We are given the full libretto in French and
English, something only a major label would do. But the rest
of the liner is pretty inconsequential, and light-hearted in
a way that really jars. There is even a picture of the Lone
Ranger on the inside of the back cover – there's no need for
that, surely?
Gavin Dixon
See also a
concert review by Jack Buckley
Gerald Finley - Guillaume Tell
