Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901)
La Forza Del Destino - a melodrama in four acts (1862
but performed in the 1869 version)
Il Marchese di Calatrava - Duccio Dal Monte
Donna Leonora - Violeta Urmana
Don Carlo di Vargas - Carlo Guelfi
Don Alvaro - Marcello Giordani
Preziosilla - Julia Gertseva
Padre Guardiano - Roberto Scandiuzzi
Fra Melitone - Bruno De Simone
Curra - Antonella Trevisan
Un alacade - Filippo Polinelli
Mastro Trabuco - Carlo Bosi
Un chirurgo - Alessandro Luongo
Orchestra and chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino/Zubin Mehta
Maggio Danza
rec. live, Teatro Communale, Florence, Italy, 2007
A Zurich Opera House production
Sound: PCM stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1
Picture format: 16.9
Region code 0
ARTHAUS MUSIK 
107
325 [2 DVDs: 178:00]
Verdi’s
La Forza Del Destino is described as a melodrama and
so it is, the tragic twists of fate and the unbelievable coincidences
that dog and blight the lives of Leonora and Don Alvaro are the very
stuff of melodrama. Who could believe in a plot device involving a pistol
thrown to the ground in humble acceptance of a father’s ire against
Alvaro’s desire for his sweetheart Leonora, going off accidentally to
kill the father. Still less that this would trigger the tragedy that
follows in which the crazed brother of Leonora is bent on revenge, swearing
to kill the hapless couple. That said, what wonderful music distinguishes
this opera. That thrilling overture is surely amongst the best if not
the very best that Verdi wrote and how well Mehta
expresses its dramatic urge and nervous excitement.
This production has very minimalistic sets. The final act, for instance,
has Leonora, leading a hermit-like life of penance and imprisoned in
a cave by the saintly, but rigid, Padre Guardino. She is seen behind
what looks like a giant playpen or fireguard. The costumes are very
good and true to the period in which this production is set which to
my mind is a miscalculation. This staging is different to conventional
productions of
La Forza Del Destino. The original intention
was to set the opera in the 18
th century, in the period of
the wars of the Spanish Succession. This lent that bit of credence to
the absurdities of the plot. To bring the action forward to the mid-19
th
century and to the Risorgimento battles in Act III Italy belies that
credence. Add to this suits looking so much like those of today and
the effect is exacerbated.
To the performances: Verdi in this case gives his singers very taxing
roles and this cast rises to its challenges especially buxom Violetta
Urmana who is extraordinarily persuasive as Leonora. Her singing prompts
thunderous, spontaneous applause from this Florentine audience. No wonder
- her strong, intense delivery consistently grips. This endures from
her Act I aria when she shows how torn she is between her love for Alvaro
and duty to her family, through to her Act II prayer ‘Madre, pietosa
Virgine’ and then her Act IV pleading for divine absolution and peace
from her torments, ‘Pace, mio Dio.’ The roles of the bitterly clashing
Don Alvaro - tenor, Marcello Giordani - and Leonora’s brother, Don Carlo
di Vargas sung by baritone, Carlo Guelfi are well cast. Their solo arias
are forceful and their duets powerfully dramatic. The two voices contrast
and blend most strikingly. Julia Gertsever makes for a feisty gypsy
Preziosilla especially as she rouses the troops to ‘battle not bottles’
in Act III. Bruno De Simone, looking amazingly like Phil Silvers playing
Sergeant Bilko, offers welcome comic relief as Fra Melitone. Roberto
Scandiuzzi is a suitably solemn Padre Guardiano. The whole is directed
with great vigour by Mehta.
Slightly flawed nevertheless a powerful
La Forza Del Destino.
Ian Lace
