Recordings Reissue: La Forza di Tebaldi

There is no disputing the fact that Renata Tebaldi and the Decca record company were a match made in heaven. She recorded many of the major Verdi and Puccini operas in the Decca studios. She is also one of the few artists to make complete recordings of operas that used to be repertory standards, i.e. Catalani's La Wally and Cilea's Adriana Lecouvrer. Her 1955 recording of La Forza del Destino has just been reissued, and, to use the technical language of operatic criticism, it's a doozy.



The huge cast required for this opera is filled out with nothing less than an all-star lineup of post-war Italian singers. Tebaldi's Leonora is one of her greatest roles, soaring and expressive, right on the edge between madness and piety in her quest for redemption. Her grand Act II aria and scena is a glorious, religious experience. Mario del Monaco enters the first act like a thunderbolt--he is always at his best in over-the-top roles and his Alvaro is no exception. He displays fine ringing tone throughout, building up to such a height of apoplexy that one expects him to force the opera to follow Verdi's original "suicide" ending just to he can hurl himself shrieking over a cliff!

As the manic Don Carlo (not to be confused with the equally manic Don Carlo in Don Carlo) Ettore Bastianini chews the scenery, managing the subtleties of the "Pereda" aria and then going toe-to-toe with del Monaco in the third act. Giulietta Simionato is a gorgeous, old-school Preziosilla, hitting the low "Buona notte" note that most mezzos avoid today. The minor parts are in good hands: two monks are the very capable Fernando Corena (as Fra Melitone) and Cesare Siepi (as the Padre Guardiano).

The idea for this recording came about in 1953 when Dmitri Mitropoulos conducted a legendary series of Forza performances in Italy. He is absent here, replaced by the pedestrian Francesco Molinari-Pradelli. Leading the Accademia di Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Molinari-Pradelli takes a foursquare approach to the music. He lacks the rhythmic snap necessary for a great Verdi performance.

The other problem is the orchestral sound. In 1955, Decca had not yet perfected its stereo recording techniques, and the problems are readily apparent from the overture onward. The orchestral sound is compressed to an unacceptable degree, and the result is buzzing and rattling in the speakers when the brass and percussion come in at full blast. Even the much-vaunted Decca digital remastering has not cured the fact that for much of this recording, the orchestral forces are simply playing at levels which the recording technology of 1955 failed to capture.It is ironic that, of the major studio recordings of this sprawling opera, the one with the finest singers and best vocal performances is cursed with medocre conducting and worse orchestral sound.

Opera Review: Roads to Madness

Željko Lucic and Maria Guleghina as the Macbeths.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2007 The Metropolitan Opera.

The Met's new Macbeth.
With his version of Shakespeare's Macbeth, Verdi managed to break new musical ground in the middle of his difficult "galley years." The result: an opera with two murderously difficult leading roles. On Monday night, the premiere of Adrian Noble's new production featured baritone Željko Lucic and soprano Maria Guleghina as the Macbeths, in one of the most exciting performances of a young opera season.

Mr. Lucic is an imposing figure, with a big swagger in his manner and his voice. As his guilt slowly peels away the shell of his sanity, the performance rises in intensity until it becomes excruciating to watch.  Mr. Lucic's performance encompassed noble, deep notes, white-faced terror and all-out rage and despair, everything that is demanded by Verdi. He moved from high-powered grandstanding to the intimacy of deep dementia.

Maria Guleghina gave a strong performance as Lady Macbeth. She began the Letter Scene in spoken word, floated crazy, dissonant notes in the middle of the Act II brindisi and ranged her formidable instrument all over the stave in her final mad scene, giving an acting performance inspired by sufferers of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Barefoot, she walked on a long row of chairs, avoiding stepping on the cracks on the floor of the set. The whole time, she compulsively rubbed her hands.





John Relyea was a fine, resonant Banquo, with rolling deep notes and a warm, fatherly presence. His performance makes one wish that Macbeth's best friend could live a little longer--or at least have some music to sing as a blood-covered ghost! His final aria was magnificently sung, and he gave his murderers a heck of a fight before getting killed.  Finally, the large, burly singer made an imposing, terrifying (albeit silent) ghost in the banquet scene.

Macduff was the tenor Dimitri Pittas. This is a tiny part--one of Verdi's smallest tenor roles. But his Act IV aria was beautifully sung with longing for the character's murdered family. The final stage-fight between him and Macbeth was compelling to watch, bringing the rebellion to an exciting close.

This new production by Adrian Noble emphasizes drama and efficiency over visual splendor. The entire action takes place on a cracked, black obsidian disk, (very New Bayreuth!) with columns at the front and the trees of Birnham Wood toward the back. The trees-to-columns effect leads one to expect these sets (by Mark Thompson, who also designed the company's surreal black-on-black Pique Dame) to be recycled for the Met's next staging of Parsifal. Noble does a good job of coming up with powerful ways to stage the dramatic action of the play, and his inspired singing actors help make the production work.

James Levine conducted with brisk efficiency, letting the formidable Met brass tear into the score, while maintaining the delicate balance between the winds and strings. The Met chorus, whether portraying the Macbeths' party guests, the maniacal witches, or the oppressed people of Scotland, were both superb and tight.

Opera Review: Figaro Gets Hitched

The Metropolitan Opera's current revival of Le Nozze di Figaro is anchored by an extraordinary pair of male leads. As Figaro, Uruguayan singer Erwin Schrott gave a high-energy reading of the character, leaping and bounding across the stage. The physicality of his performance was matched by high quality singing, with ringing firm notes and genuine anger in the crucial Act IV betrayal scene. As the Count, Michele Pertusi's strong presence lent force to the nobleman's rage and frustration--yet he also shows the vulnerable side to the character in the opera's finale. In some ways, these two singers are similar. Each shares a swaggering stage presence, expert buffa delivery and fine comic instincts.

Canadian soprano Wendy Nielsen stepped in for an ill Hei-Kyung Hong at the October 10 performance, and the audience was not disappointed. Nielsen sang "Porgi Amor", "Dove sono" and the Letter Scene with a sweet, carefully modulated vocal tone that also blended well in the opera's many ensembles. This is not the frail, wilting Countess, but a robust woman who is determined to hang onto her man at any cost.



Lisette Oropresa sang a high-energy Susanna, pert and sparkling. Anke Vondung made her Met debut as Cherubino, investing the character with a strong mannish energy necessary for this trouser role. Finally, the other three comic leads of the opera (Dr. Bartolo, Marcellina and Don Basilio) were in the capable hands of Maurizio Muraro, Ann Murray and Robin Leggate. From the first act onwards, their comic business and double-dealing enhanced the events of Figaro's crazy wedding day.

Conductor Philippe Jordan led a brisk, egg-timer performance with a stripped-down Met band. The downsized orchestra responded with crisp tempi and exceptional woodwind playing. In keeping with the brisk tone of the evening, the opera was given with one long intermission (between Acts II and III) which made for two long stretches of music but enabled the orchestra to blaze through Mozart's score in three and a half hours, flat.

The Operas of October

The opera season in New York is off to a strong start, with the Met's surreal Lucia competing for attention with the gritty new Cav/Pag at the City Opera. As October gets under way, highlights to look forward to include:

• Alexander Zemlinsky's little-heard A Florentine Tragedy at the New York Philharmonic. Zemlinsky was the teacher of Schoenberg, and was long considered a lost example of early 20th century Austrian opera. His works have come under reassessment in recent decades, thanks to the efforts of conductor James Conlon. Maestro Conlon leads concert performances of this opera at Avery Fisher Hall, starting Thursday, Oct. 18.
  
• The following week features the second new Met production of the season, a new staging of Verdi's Macbeth starring baritone Željko Lucic and Maria Guleghina as his lady wife. Based on Shakespeare's blood-soaked "Scottish Play," this is the first performance of this famously unlucky opera at the Met since 82-year old singing coach Bantcho Bantchevsky fell from the balcony during the intermission of a matinee performance in 1988. His death was ruled a suicide, the first and only to occur during a performance in the company's history. Hopefully, this new staging (by Adrian Noble) will keep opera lovers in their seats until the final curtain.
  
• Handel's baroque showpiece, Agrippina, takes the stage at City Opera, a house that has become known for quality presentations of operas by the great baroque composer. The City Opera's 1997 production of Xerxes sparked the baroque revival in New York and spurred the careers of David Daniels and Lorraine Hunt. This Agrippina is a welcome revival, featuring the singing talents of countertenor David Walker.