Join us for our next Talk Opera (read the companion pieces below)
Corliss Phillabaum, Professor of Theater at UW Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts, talks about each opera in-depth one hour before curtain prior to each mainstage performance for all ticket holders. Professor Phillabaum keeps Florentine audiences returning to the Magin Lounge, for his unique perspective at each opera’s lecture. Talk Opera is FREE with each ticket purchase.
Mark your calendar for The Elixir of Love talks: May 8 and 10 in the Magin Lounge, one hour prior to performance for ticket holders
Here are the companion pieces to the Talk Opera pre-performance event:
L’ELISIR D’AMORE
INTRODUCTION
Gaetano Donizetti’s quickly written and enduring comic masterpiece has been released in many CD and DVD versions over the years. Performances up until Alberto Zedda’s critical edition became available in the 1980’s were based on scores which included many accretions from decades of opera house routine and were usually considerably cut. Since the late 1980’s performances reflect the original score more faithfully and many or all of the traditional cuts have been restored, revealing additional musical passages of great appeal. In this review I have considered eleven performances on CD and twelve on DVD. As usual I have grouped my recommendations in several categories.
DONIZETTI’S L’ELISIR D’AMORE ON COMPACT DISC
Spring, 2015
Overall L’Elisir d’amore has fared well on compact disc with a number of very fine performances currently available. Earlier versionsBprior to the late 1980’sBtended to make substantial Astandard@ cuts in the score, both in the repeated and elaborated sections of ensembles but even of an entire important scene. Since the release of a critical edition prepared by Alberto Zedda, much of this cut material has been restored, at least in part, often revealing delightful and unfamiliar passages that were long unheard. Within the general groups below, recordings are list chronologically, newest to oldest.
MY TOP RECOMMENDATIONS
Pidò: Gheorghiu, Alagna, Scaltriti, Alaimo (L’Opéra de Lyon, 1996) (Decca, 2:02:53)
This recording was made in the Lyon Opera House following the run of performances there, which is documented on DVD edition. The recent experience of live performances carried over into the studio conditions of this CD recording, producing a performance, which has more spontaneity and nuance than most studio-only recordings. The production and the recording were based on the recently published critical edition of the score with additional editing by the conductor, Evelino Pidò, based on the original manuscript. Cuts that were made in the stage performances were restored for the audio version so that the score is presented complete. Of special interest is the presence of a recently discovered revised version of Nemorino’s Una furtiva lagrima made by the composer many years after the original productions of the opera. It was not used in the stage performances but is here substituted for the standard version.
Many of the appealing values of the stage production are well-captured here. The recently married Angela Gheorghiu and Roberta Alagna play off of each other very well and both sing attractively, although, minus his visual charm, the tenor’s tendency to sing full blast most of the time is more noticeable. Roberto Scaltriti and Simone Alaimo come through very well as Belcore and Dulcamara and Pidò conducts with tremendous vitality and a fine sense of style. In the documentary included with the DVD edition the conductor talks of the advantages of hearing the original orchestration played on period instruments, although there is no confirmation that they were used for either recorded edition. However the wind parts do seem to come through with extra vividness here as they do on the DVD and the score certainly sounds wonderfully fresh.
As for the revised tenor aria, it certainly sounds different. It is in a lower key and many passages, which take the voice up in the original here take downward turns. Even more striking is the added ornamentation in the latter half of the aria, concluding with a very elaborate cadenza! I find that this version puts too much focus on vocal display and loses much of the poignancy of the original, but it is certainly fascinating to hear. Alagna sings it very well and the recording as a whole offers a very enjoyable performance of the opera.
Levine: Battle, Pavarotti, Nucci, Dara (Metropolitan Opera, 1989) DG, 1:58:43)
Three of the principals in this studio recording were also to appear under James Levine in the 1991 live telecast of the opera, where Juan Pons took over the role of Belcore. DG’s sound here is warm, clear and does justice to the fine voices. The production team has made reasonably successful efforts to avoid the sterility of many studio recordings by including appropriate chorus reactions to the events. Divorced from his visual mugging onstage, Pavarotti is ideal as Nemorino with his golden sound, his direct and tasteful style and his peerless diction and delivery of the text. Kathleen Battle is a fine match for him with the bright purity of her sound and vivid characterization. Leo Nucci is luxury casting as Belcore and Enzo Dara brings vocal finesse and fine comic expression to Dulcamara. Levine leads with authority, style and theatrical awareness, and the whole is a fine ensemble performance, not a collection of star turns. Although the critical edition is not credited on the packaging, a number of the Astandard@ cuts have been opened. Highly recommended.
Ferro: Bonney, Winbergh, Weikl, Panerai (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 1986) (DG, 2:02:29)
By the 1980’s recordings of L’Elisir d’Amore began to be based on the new critical edition of the score and to include at least some of the passages, which had long been regarded as Astandard@ cuts. In this recording most of the ensemble numbers have regained their full musical development and reveal many unfamiliar passages and some delightful variations on the familiar score. Since conductor Gabriele Ferro favors bracingly brisk tempos in these sections they add relatively little to the length of the performance but allow many sections to build to more exciting climaxes.
Even though three of the principals are non-Italians, the entire cast handles such rapid-fire moments with aplomb and in DG’s warm and well-balanced sound the performance is highly enjoyable. American soprano Barbara Bonney brings spirit and tenderness to her brightly sung Adina and Swedish tenor Gösta Winbergh’s warm sound and intensity create a somewhat more serious Nemorino than usual. German baritone Bernd Weikl creates a delightfully arrogant Belcore and sings with considerable flair and ringing high notes, while veteran Italian baritone Rolando Panerai is an idiomatic and charismatic Dulcamara whose sales pitch is delivered aggressively as a kind of operatic infomercial spiel. Recommended.
Serafin: Carteri, Alva, Panerai, Taddei (La Scala, 1958) (EMI, 1:51:05)
Despite the bass-shy, slightly overbright early stereo sound and the then-standard cuts, this recording has much to offer. Under Tullio Serafin’s loving direction the well-cast performance is fresh and spontaneous, despite its studio origins. The singers, all-Italian except for the fine Peruvian tenor, Luigi Alva, capture the mixture of humor and gentle pathos that makes Donizetti’s opera so special and they all work as a fine ensemble. Rosanna Carteri captures both the flirtatiousness and the underlying warmth of Adina while Alva is an ideal Nemorino, tender without wimpishness and suffering without sentimentality. Renato Capecchi uses his aggressive baritone to create an overbearing but human Belcore and Giuseppe Taddei is a richly comic Dulcamara without vocal mugging. His sales pitch patter is remarkable: as he lists the ills that his elixir can cure, he articulates each one so specifically you would swear he knows each one intimatelyBa masterful execution of patter that makes his pitch seem totally plausible. This recording seems to be out of print currently but Amazon lists a number of copies available inexpensively from its affiliate dealers. Well worth hearing.
THE ELIXIR OF LOVE: DONIZETTI IN ENGLISH
Parry: Plazas, Banks, Holland, Shore (Philharmonia Orchestra, 1997) (Chandos, 2:12:28)
Over the years the English label Chandos has issued a fine series of recordings under the title Opera in English. Although the series has now been concluded, it leaves a valuable legacy of good to excellent recordings in our native language, ranging from Handel to Walton and even including a fine version of Wagner’s Ring! Its 1997 version of Elixir is representative of the high quality of the line.
The four main characters, who appear in this studio recording played their roles the previous year in a new production by the English National Opera, and this stage experience certainly contributed to the liveliness of the recording and to the fine ensemble work. The English version used is by Max Jacobs, as revised for the ENO production with input from the singers. It is faithful to the story and characters, though not slavishly literal and is both singable and intelligible. (As is true even in original language performances, rapid-fire ensemble numbers with everyone singing at once usually establish their content initially but from that point on the musical development takes precedence over intelligibility. A complete English text is included in the booklet-and wonder of wonders, it is even in large enough type to be readable!
The performance, under David Parry’s direction, does fine justice to Donizetti’s opera, without eclipsing the best of the original language versions, and its ready intelligibility in idiomatic English is a plus for listeners who are open to such a thing. I particularly enjoyed tenor Barry Banks as a bright-voiced and endearing Nemorino and Andrew Shore as a genuinely entertaining charlatan.
AN ELEMENT OF INTEREST, BUT LESS APPEALING AS A WHOLE
Molinari-Pradelli: Gueden, Di Stefano, Capecchi, Corena (Maggio Musicale, 1955) (Decca, 1:49:09)
The main interest in this early stereo Decca recording lies in the performance of Giuseppe di Stefano as Nemorino, in his all-too-brief vocal prime. He is not the most subtle of Nemorinos, but his beautiful sound, crystalline delivery of the text and sheer joy in singing show him at his considerable best. There is also fine work from Renato Capecchi as Belcore, but the performance overall is severely studio-bound, with correct but dull conducting from Francesco Molinari-Pradelli. Hilde Gueden’s bright sound lacks Italianate warmth, particularly since the variable recorded sound puts an edge on the voices and distorts from time to time in louder passages. Even the normally ebullient Fernando Corena is a rather dull Dulcamara here. The score takes the usual Astandard@ cuts of the period, including the crucial scene in which Adina sees the village girls flirting with Nemorino. For di Stefano fans only.
NOT RECOMMENDED, BRIEFLY NOTED
Morandi: Ruffini, La Scola, Frontali, Alaimo (Hungarian State Opera Orchestra, 1995) (Naxos, 2:15:39)
Unlike a number of Naxos’ opera sets, this Elisir makes no attempt at sounding like anything other than a studio-made recording pieced together over a number of days. There is a stop/start quality to the performance, reinforced by the brief audible drop-out of signal between numbers. The singing is competent but lacks theatrical excitement. Although the score is apparently given complete, there is little sense of dramatic progression to the action, and the empty hall acoustic adds to the sense of remoteness of the action. Not competitive.
Viotti: Devia, Alagna, Spagnoli, Praticó (English Chamber Orchestra, 1992) (Erato, 2:09:14)
This 1992 studio recording is based on the critical edition of the score and opens some of the long traditional Astandard@ cuts. As a performance it is competent but not especially exciting, with a fluently sung but rather cool Adina in Mariella Devia and a monochromatic, rather loud Nemorino, recorded early in Roberto Alagna’s career. The overly bright empty church sound puts a haze of hard resonance around the voices that is unpleasant. Not recommended.
Bonynge: Sutherland, Pavarotti, Cossa, Malas (English Chamber Orchestra, 1971) (Decca, 2:19:00)
Luciano Pavarotti’s first recording of Nemorino finds him in slightly more youthful voice, less outgoing in personality, and much more inclined to sing softly than in later versions. Joan Sutherland is badly miscast as Adina. Of course she sings the music with beautiful tone and brilliant technique but comes across as a rather matronly and sober character and her mushy diction makes her words generally unintelligible. Dominic Cossa is a competent, rather colorless Belcore and only Spiro Malas, brings some life to the performance with his energetic Dulcamara. Richard Bonynge conducts rather ploddingly in this very studio-bound version. The score is given complete (pre-critical edition), and is actually more than complete. Bonynge and Sutherland insert a glaringly out-of-place coloratura aria by another composer after Adina admits her love for Nemorino. Apparently, the insert was approved by Donizetti as a showpiece for Maria Malibran, but it sounds like it has wandered in from another world and ridiculously holds up the happy ending of the opera. Not recommended.
Schippers: Peters, Bergonzi, Guarrera, Corena (Metropolitan Opera Broadcast, 1966, live, mono) (Sony, 1:53:50)
Carlo Bergonzi’s warmly sung Nemorino is the attraction here but the thin, edgy sound and constant stage noise are major distractions, particularly as the remaining cast is competent but not memorable, except for Fernando Corena as Dulcamara, who is much more animated than in the plodding 1955 studio recording on Decca. For Bergonzi fans only.
Cillario: Freni, Alva, Sordello, Bruscantini (Glyndebourne, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, 1962, Live, mono) (Glyndebourne, 2:04:57)
Although this live performance reflects the typically high standard of ensemble at the Glyndebourne Festival and boasts an attractive cast headed by Mirella Freni and Luigi Alva, the thin, edgy mono sound and especially the high level of stage noise and footsteps make for a rather strenuous listen. Not recommended.
L’ELISIR D’AMORE ON DVD
Note: Within groups the recordings are listed in chronological order, newest to oldest.
MY TOP RECOMMENDATIONS
Gardner: Grant Murphy, Groves, Naouri, Maestri (Opéra National de Paris) (Pelly, 2006) (BelAir Classiques, 2:33:00)
Laurent Pelly is one of the most imaginative stage directors in opera today and is notable for productions, which always spring from precise attention to the words, music and drama of each opera. This 2006 Paris Opera staging is an outstanding example of his art, a wonderfully warm, humorous and moving realization of Donizetti’s classic ‘melodramma giocoso.’ For once the hot sun and fertile terrain of this Basque farming region is convincingly caught in the sets and costumes and in the behavior of the characters. The first scene is dominated by mountains of bales of hay with part of a huge baling machine to one side. (The action is updated to the mid-20th Century.) The landowner, Adina, has set up a sunshade and spread out a blanket on one of the hay mountains and is catching some sun while she reads. The farm workers straggle in for their mid-afternoon break and make themselves comfortable as the action begins. The second scene shifts to a country road with a rustic trattoria to one side and rich fields in the background. Dulcamara arrives in a huge van whose sides open up to reveal an impressive ‘laboratory’ storeroom and to provide a platform for his sales operation. People arrive on bicycles and electric scooters. In the second act boards laid across bales of hay provide the platform for the wedding celebration. The beautiful sky and the fields that form the background depict the gradual transition from sunny afternoon to romantic evening and night. Within this framework the action is played out with meticulous attention to character detail and accurate rendering of the implications of the text. Paul Groves’ Nemorino is a boyish, burly fellow, sunburned and clearly capable of handling those bales of hay, while Heidi Grant Murphy, though clearly the boss, is dressed in a well-worn sun dress and mingles easily with her employees. It is clear that she and Nemorino have been buddies since childhood and that her resistance to his trying to change their companionship to something more adult is mixed with big-sisterly affection. At times their arguments seem more like sibling tiffs than anything else. Laurent Naouri’s Belcore is an almost plausible rival for Adina’s affections, while Ambrogio Maestri, today’s reigning Falstaff, is a totally human pitchman trying to make a living by putting on a good, entertaining show for his customers. When his ‘elixir’ actually seems to work he is ecstatic, and when Adina shows him some real, human sex appeal, he is enrapturedBtheir second act scene is totally enchanting, as are all of the scenes which depict the gradually blossoming the mutual attraction between Adina and Nemorino. When they finally embrace the audience spontaneously applaudsBand so did I while watching the video!
Edward Gardner conducts this performance with warmth and sensitivity. Laurent Pelly’s imaginative, witty and loving production, ideally cast with fine singer/actors, with beautifully realistic settings by Chantal Thomas and thoroughly realistic costumes (designed by the director himself) is a richly humorous and moving realization of Donizetti’s masterpiece, the finest I have ever seen. A must-see!
Eschwé: Netrebko, Villazon, Nucci, D’Arcangelo (Wiener Staatsoper) (‘Schenk’, 2005) (Virgin Classics, 2:10:00)
Nemorino has been a signature role for Rolando Villazon and he stars in no less than three different productions that have been released on DVD. This April, 2005 Vienna performance is the earliest (by a few months) and the most satisfying of the three. It features sets and costumes designed in 1980 by Jürgen Rose and the production is identified as “after an original production by Otto Schenk.” There is no indication that the legendary Viennese actor/director had a hand in the revival or ever worked with the soloists, but nevertheless the production has the kind of clear and tasteful staging we would associate with Schenk and is one of the most appealing of the available DVD versions. A major contribution to this appeal is the chemistry between Villazon and his Adina, Anna Netrebko, and the fine support from Leo Nucci as an aging Belcore and Idelbrando d’Arcangelo, who is a youthful and charismatic Dulcamara. Netrebko and Villazon not only sing the roles eloquently but they also sensitively trace the developing relationship between Adina and Nemorino, culminating in a final scene which is genuinely moving and satisfying. Along the way they both demonstrate a flair for comedy. Netrebko mixes flirtatiousness with flashes of tenderness, while Villazon draws on his lifelong devotion to the films of Charlie Chaplin with a mixture of imaginative physical humor and pathos, which is totally delightful. One of the many highlights is during a scene with Netrebko in which he has nervously been picking up apples and then tries to cover his embarrassment by juggling three of them so brilliantly that when he elegantly catches the last one at the end of a musical phrase, the audience breaks into applause. His ‘Una furtiva lagrima’ is memorably sung and succeeds in capturing Nemorino’s joy at the prospect of finally winning his love without falling into the common trap of making it a downbeat aria. (The audience won’t stop applauding and, to my surprise, he finally repeats the aria, something I would not have expected at the Staatsoper.) In every way this is a memorable evening of entertaining and moving opera.
Muus: Esposito, Machado, Marrucci, Schrott (Arena Sferisterio Macerata, Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana) (Marconi, 2002) (TDK, 2:16:00)
The cover photo on the DVD case is not promising. It shows an immensely wide 5000 spectator outdoor seating area backed by a gigantic wall of audience boxes, while the booklet notes describe a stage that is nearly 50 feet deep and more than 130 feet wide, backed by a towering stone wall. (The arena was originally built in the 1820’s for a handball game which was widely popular at the time.) When the lights go down, the scenic area is dominated by a huge red box which fills the middle third of the stage. The conductor enters through the center aisle of the auditorium, takes his bow from the front of the stage and turns to face the box, which slowly splits in two and glides off to the sides, revealing the orchestra on steeply wooden risers. He then moves upstage to the podium and the music begins. The risers, the rear wall of the space and the clothing of the orchestra members are all in blue and there is an entrance in the back wall at the top of a center aisle through the orchestra. Otherwise there is no scenery and the chorus gradually enters with some props over the long stretch from the sides of this cinerama-scaled stage. The center aisle leading to the opening in the back wall is used for many of the soloists’ entrances and some parts of their scenes are played on landings in the midst of the orchestra.
Amazingly this challenging space has been used to create a highly original and entertaining version of Donizetti’s rather intimate opera! The informal but appropriate costumes are largely in off-white and the long treks required to reach the sides of the stage have been minimized by having the offstage chorus members grouped in unobtrusive informal social groups to the sides of the playing area, maintaining the sense of an inhabited region without intruding on the more private scenes involving the principals. Simple, minimal furniture and props are brought on and off by the singers as needed and the only more elaborate unit is a fanciful carriage for Dulcamara, drawn by a large cutout of a horse. Only the quack’s red frock coat and top hat bring an appropriately foreign touch of color into the scenes.
The staging within this framework is straightforward but frankly acknowledges the surroundings, with the singers frequently interacting with the orchestra members and especially the conductor. At one point a soloist even stands on top of the grand piano the conductor is using to accompany the recitatives! In a sense it is a kind of modern metatheatre, a performance that is in part about performing Donizetti’s opera in an unusual space. This idea of theatre about theatre reaches its climax in the final scene when Adina’s long, elaborate cadenza at the end of the scene when she and Nemorino finally get together keeps going on and on, and Nemorino good-naturedly steps aside and listens admiringly, finally even sitting down to enjoy it!
Valeria Esposito is a mature but beautiful Adina and her coloratura with its ravishing, floated high phrases, is a delight to hear. Acquiles Machado is a chubby, mobile Nemorino with a fine, if somewhat monochromatic, voice and he is an appealing comic actor. Enrico Marrucci is rather bland as Belcore, but Erwin Schrott’s Dulcamara is a young, easily flustered but hard-working and rather sexy huckster and ladies’ man who sings splendidly.
While the production has to sacrifice some of the warm character detail of Donizetti’s score it still manages to catch some of the poignancy of the story and never overplays the comic elements. It is a unique and refreshing approach to the opera in an unlikely but ultimately appealing space. Recommended.
Pidò: Gheorghiu, Alagna, Scaltriti, Alaimo (Opéra National de Lyon) (Dunlop, 1996) (Decca, 2:05:00)
This performance, featuring Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna, was recorded in September, 1996, just a few months after their storybook marriage had made them opera’s new ‘golden couple.’ The chemistry between them is obvious, but the production is much more than just a star vehicle. Frank Dunlop’s staging, which sets the opera in the 1930’s, takes an unusually realistic approach to an often overplayed opera and is a genuine delight throughout. The attractive settings by Roberto Plate and the costumes by Emmanuel Pedruzzi and Jacques Schmidt create charming rural scenes, which really serve the plausibility of the story, as does the stage direction. From the moment the curtain opens we see chorus members who are dressed like farm workers in the midst of a plausible rustic environment, while Adina’s becoming riding habit clearly sets her off as the boss–and her ever-present riding crop immediately establishes one aspect of her character. Nemorino, who has been out hunting, arrives a bit later on a bicycle and at one point tries to present a pair of recently shot geese to Adina as a present, much to her disgust. Later the scene shifts quickly from the farm to a town square which has operating businesses and a sidewalk café. Dulcamara arrives in a gold-painted roadster pulling a combination trailer/merchandise display room and with an entourage of assistants to peddle his wares, accompanied by Mrs. Dulcamara, who is the power behind the operation. Later, as Nemorino is trying to impress Adina with his indifference, they are sitting at separate sidewalk tables waiting to be served. The production throughout maintains this sense of reality within which the familiar action unfolds.
The characters and action are so well motivated that the occasional slapstick bits seem out of place, mainly some Keystone Cop routines with Belcore’s inept soldiers, but overall the production is refreshingly tasteful and allows the characters to emerge and engage us.
Within this framework, Gheorghiu and Alagna make a charming couple whose awkward but ultimately successful courtship shows a clear progression from Nemorino’s overeager ineptitude and Adina’s somewhat snobbish aloofness to a gradually growing genuine affection. Both singers are fine actors and in their youthful vocal prime, they do full justice to the music, although I wish Alagna wouldn’t sing forte all the time. Simone Alaimo is a rich-voiced and delightfully henpecked Dulcamara and Roberto Scaltriti, a tall, very handsome, and very vain Belcore is a refreshing change from the usual comic martinet interpretation. Conductor Evelino Pidò brings tremendous vitality to the score, though some of his very fast tempos in the rapid fire ensembles stretch even these singers to the limit. (The production makes use of the critical edition with further revisions based on the original manuscript.) Overall this is a thoroughly enjoyable and fresh production that really catches the humor and the poignancy of the piece. Recommended.
PAVAROTTI AT THE MET (TWICE)
Rescigno: Blegen, Pavarotti, Ellis, Bruscantini (Metropolitan Opera) (N. Merrill, 1981) (Decca, 2:12:00)
Levine: Battle, Pavarotti, Pons, Dara (Metropolitan Opera) (John Copley, 1991) (DG, 2:08:00)
Nathaniel Merrill’s attractive production of L’Elisir d’Amore with designs by Robert O’Hearn held its place at the Metropolitan Opera for more than a quarter century before it was replaced with a new staging by John Copley in 1991. Luciano Pavarotti sang Nemorino, one of his most popular roles, in numerous performances of both productions beginning in 1981 and both stagings were televised and are now available on DVD. He clearly enjoyed playing the shy, lovelorn but loveable peasant boy and brought considerable charm to the role as well as that golden voice.
Both of the DVD versions have strong supporting casts and are well recorded, but the earlier version does much better justice to Donizetti’s perennial favorite. The Merrill production is visually a treat without going overboard and its comic elements are warm-hearted without being overplayed. Even the most notable feature of the staging, Dulcamara’s arrival in a hot-air balloon, seems plausible in context and isn’t milked. Judith Blegen is a straightforward Adina and sings with fine tone while Brent Ellis (Belcore) and Sesto Bruscantini (Dulcamara) provide vivid and tasteful comic support. Bruscantini’s crisp articulation of the patter is a particular delight. Pavarotti sings the marathon role with warm tone but somewhat unvaried dynamics and although his comic technique is a bit self-conscious he is still genuinely funny and appealing in one of his best roles. Nicola Rescigno conducts idiomatically and supportively.
In contrast, John Copley’s 1991 production is overdone in every way. Robert O’Hearn’s lovely, pastoral designs have been replaced by overblown, gaudily colored sets and costumes more suited to a circus than to Donizetti’s warm-hearted comedy. Everything has become oversized (including, alas, the leading tenor) and any sense of a charming country scene has become more of a Hollywood version of ‘country.’ James Levine’s conducting brings plenty of vitality and polish to the score and the supporting singers are all fine vocalists, but they are rather lost in all the glitz and busy stage business. Kathleen Battle (Adina) and Enzo Dara (Dulcamara) give it their best and have some effective moments, while Juan Pons (Belcore) sings resonantly but impersonally and is stolid figure on stage. Pavarotti still brings that splendid voice to the role, if with slightly more effort than ten years earlier, but he is less agile than before so that the staging seems to be designed to let the action swirl around him while he moves as little as possible. Worst of all, his costume is so glaringly gaudy and tent-like that even standing still he visually upstages everyone else. His interpretation is largely unchanged from 1981, but it now seems very mechanical and routined. The production as a whole also seems designed to be about the legendary tenor above all else; it opens with a title scrim which fades through to Pavarotti all alone downstage center and only gradually reveals the rest of the stage and the cast. Even that hideous costume seems intended to make sure that you never overlook the great man.
The 1981 performance is a fine version of the opera and a good showcase for Pavarotti’s great talent. The 1991 version is not recommended.
WORTH SEEING, BUT WITH SOME RESERVATIONS
Heras-Casado: Persson, Villazon, Trekel, D’Arcangelo (Baden-Baden, Balthasar-Neumann Chorus and Ensemble) (Villazon, 2012) (DG, 2:16:00)
Rolando Villazon’s dual activity as singer and stage director dates from 2012, after his return to singing following a period of vocal difficulties. This Elisir was his second directing project, following a Werther the previous year in Lyon, and his first time singing in his own production. In contrast with the relatively conservative productions in Vienna and Barcelona, his Elisir is decidedly non-traditional. He sets the opera in a 1940’s film studio where a ‘spaghetti western’ is being shot. Adina is the film star lead in the movie while Dulcamara doubles as the Native American patent medicine huckster and the director of the film. Nemorino is a minor extra, a clueless Mexican who confuses his real-life obsession with the leading lady with the film story, and keeps barging into the film takes. Parts of the Elisir plot are played out in the Wild West film scenes while other portions are ‘real life’ moments during breaks in the filming, in which the actors play along with Nemorino’s delusion. In the end his final intervention in the filming wins the movie star’s heart and the ending of the film is changed appropriately. The scenes when the film is being shot are identified by scratchy, sepia film clips which the blend into the shooting action and at the end of the production’s curtain call, the final 6-minute sepia edit of the film is shown on the front curtain of the stage.
Although the concept is rather forced and very complicated, it is relatively clear in its presentation and there are a number of very entertaining scenes, many of them totally removed from the action of Donizetti’s opera, including a group of four jailbirds in striped prison garb who make repeated, inept attempts to escape. A major distraction is the decision to set the filming in the 1940’s, since the single camera and lack of microphones makes it look more like a scene from the silent film eraBand the scratchy film clips and final showing have no voice track, only orchestral accompaniment. A further jarring note comes from some ethnic stereotypes, particularly Villazon’s simple-minded Mexican Nemorino and an extra who is always onstage standing like a cigar store Indian who says ‘how’ from time to time. (During the opera’s final scene, he ‘forgets’ his line so the entire orchestra stands up and shouts ‘how!’
The music itself is well-performed, particularly by the period instrument orchestra under the talented young conductor, Pablo Heras-Casado. Miah Persson handles the split personality of the cowgirl heroine and film diva effectively and sings beautifully and Ildebrando d’Arcangelo clearly has a ball doubling as the Native American Dulcamara and the director of the film. Roman Trekel looks fine as the Belcore/film actor but is dry of voice for the music.
An enjoyable documentary traces the rehearsal process and suggests that Villazon has considerable talent as a director, even if this production is to some extent too much of a pretty good thing.
Benini: Siurina, Auty, Daza, Di Pasquale (Glyndebourne Festival, London Philharmonic Orchestra) (Arden, 2009) (Opus Arte, 2:06:00)
Annabel Arden’s attractive staging of L’elisir d’amore, first performed in 2007 and recorded here in its 2009 revival has been a perennial favorite at the Glyndebourne Festival. Arden sets the story in the mid-20th Century, identified mainly through the costuming, and in a clearly rural setting. The single set shows a paved courtyard in front of a farm building, a plan, which allows for a very solid setting but ignores the variety of locations specified in the score. Everyone is dressed in simple house dresses and work clothes, with black uniforms for the soldiers, and everything looks fresh from the laundry throughoutBworking conditions on Adina’s farm must be very sanitary. Adina is a businesslike young boss whose flirtatious and rather freewheeling nature is established during the orchestral prelude when she returns from a successful hunting expedition, takes off her shirt, and washes up at the pump, ignoring the stares of the workers who have gathered around the courtyard. The crowds are handled fluidly by the director, with some individual touches such as the somewhat inebriated state of everyone after the abortive wedding party.
Musically the performance is very fine, with particularly attractive singing from soprano Ekaterina Siurina as Adina and tenor Peter Auty as Nemorino, and solid support from Alfredo Daza as Belcore and Luciano Di Pasquale as Dulcamara. Other than an irritatingly grotesque mime assistant to Dulcamara, the action is clearly and fluidly presented and the comic moments tastefully executed, but there is an overall reserve about the performances that doesn’t do justice to the more poignant moments of Donizetti’s opera. Both the comedy and the drama are rather muted in a production, which is pleasingly entertaining but in the end lacks the emotional appeal this opera can exert.
RECORDINGS OF HISTORICAL INTEREST
Gavazzeni: Scotto, Bergonzi, Taddei, Cava (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino) (Quarantotti De Filippo, 1967) (Hardy Classic Video, B & W, 2:10:00)
Although Renata Scotto and Carlo Bergonzi made a good team as Adina and Nemorino, this live performance from Florence is the only available video document of their work in the roles. (Bergonzi’s Nemorino can be heard on CD in a Metropolitan Opera broadcast issued by Sony.) Although the musical approach here is decidedly old school, with long-held high notes and other musical freedom, their work is also quite beautiful and enjoyable. Unfortunately the production has little to offer otherwise. Although it was originally intended that its stage director should be the great Italian actor/director/playwright, Eduardo de Filippo, his illness before rehearsals caused the staging to be handed over to his future wife. The result is a production that looks more like a concert in costume than a piece of musical theatre. The chorus is regularly huddled together at the back of the stage while the soloists are usually lined up across the front and sing facing the audience. The singers individually characterize their roles with some charm, particularly Scotto as a flirtatious Adina, but only in the final duet do she and Bergonzi interact dramatically. The other principal roles are also well sung and Carlo Cava’s Dulcamara is played without the usual mugging, while Giuseppe Taddei’s Belcore is a brilliantly played and sung martinet though he seems to have wandered in from a production in a very different style.
The video quality is contrasty but passable, though the camera work is rather haphazard. Worst of all, the sound quality is all over the map with voices popping on and off mike, patches which sound like they are from a different audio recording entirely, and strange pseudo-stereo effects from the artificial ‘Dolby Digital Stereo’, ‘Dolby Surround’ and ‘dts’ audio tracks. Scotto and Bergonzi are worth seeing and hearing, but as a viewing experience the video is no pleasure.
Erede: Noni, Tagliavini, L Porta, Montarsolo (NHK SO, Tokyo) (Nofri, 1959) (VAI, B &W, 1:47:00)
Given the limited video and audio quality of this TV recording (Kinescope?), the interest here is in the three leading singers, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Alda Noni and Paolo Montarsolo. Tagliavini’s attractive, lyrical tenor made him a popular star in Italy and he often appeared on such American radio programs as the Bell Telephone Hour. He is quite charming as a bumbling Nemorino and sings beautifully when he isn’t hanging on to high notes excessively. His big aria is beautifully sung, downstage center to the audience, and he bows endlessly as the Japanese audience gives him an ovation. Alda Noni was a versatile light soprano whose roles included Zerbinetta in a Salzburg Festival production of Ariadne auf Naxos as well as the ‘ina’s’, including her down-to-earth and appealing Adina here. Bass Paolo Montarsolo (Dulcamara) was only ten years into his 48 year singing career and already a master of the great comic roles which he played at all the great opera houses. He was a fine singer as well as a delightfully commanding stage figure with a rubber face and a mastery of high-speed patter, all of which are on tap here. These guest Italian singers are supported by the Japanese NHK Symphony and an impressively stylish chorus, drawn from several local choral organizations. The staging is a bit rough and ready but above average for this sort of package. The black and white video is fuzzy, the camera work is awkward, but the sound is passable for the period. There are embedded Japanese subtitles but the English titles are overlaid in yellow and are fully legible. For my generation there is a nostalgic appeal of seeing these favorites of my youth on screen but for younger viewers the interest is purely historical.
NOT RECOMMENDED
De Marchi: Dalla Benetta, Hernández, Esposito, Salerno (Bergamo donizetti Festival) (Pizzech, 2007) (Dynamic, 2:12:00)
Musically this 2007 production is a bit rough at times but generally competent and the voices, if not exceptional, are reasonably attractive. The staging, however, is a theatrical hodgepodge. The permanent setting creates a rear section, which is populated throughout with distracting and non-essential crowd activity, even when the most intimate and private action is taking place in the downstage area. Dulcamara’s troupe is a band of crude comedians in grotesque costumes who are cavorting in the background regularly once they arrive. There is no ‘gilded coach’ for the quack; nondescript cases are carried in and the ‘Doctor’ turns out to be inside one of them. From the time he appears, in clown makeup and costume he is a constant busybody, flitting around the stage and meddling in everything that goes on. The staging of the principals has them pacing constantly and at random from one side of the stage to the other, apparently to avoid any suggestion of ‘stand and sing.’ As Adina and Nemorino, Silvia Dalla Benetta and Raùl Hernández look good but are physically and musically expressionless and without chemistryBdull as dishwater. As a result they are constantly overshadowed by the nonsensical business going on behind and around them. The set is attractive but dramatically uninteresting. Other than Dulcamara’s band of grotesques, the costumes are reasonably plausible for the updated setting. For a production supposedly celebrating the composer in his native town, it is a major disappointment, to say the least. Not recommended.
Callegari: Bayo, Villazon, Chaignaud, Praticò (Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona) (Gas, 2005) (Virgin Classics, 2:20:00)
Just two months after appearing as Nemorino in Vienna (discussed above) Rolando Villazon took part in a totally different staging of the opera in Barcelona. This version by director Mario Gas moved the action into the 1930’s and set the entire action in a single setting representing the town square. Here Nemorino operates a news and magazine shop and is the one who supplied Adina with the Tristan story she reads to the crowd at a sidewalk café. (In this production he obviously is not illiterate, as he aggressively asserts to Belcore at the suggestion he sign the recruiting papers with an X.) Dulcamara arrives on a motorcycle and Belcore’s soldiers are in uniforms similar to Mussolini’s Blackshirts. As a small businessman Villazon’s characterization is more subdued, with less physical comedy than in Vienna, but he still captures Nemorino’s mixture of comic ineptitude and pathos. As in Vienna, he encores his aria.
The production has a number of attractive directorial touches, but they are often achieved by ignoring the text, including the opening chorus about finding relief from the sun under a tree and in the cooling breezes from the river, neither of which is seen on stage. The set works well for the town square scenes and for the wedding celebration but darkness falls so early that Adina’s decision to delay the wedding until the ‘evening’ is reported when it is already night.
Maria Bayo is a pleasant Adina, but is somewhat worn vocally and challenged by the coloratura passages. Her new hairdo for the wedding makes it look like she has aged at least 20 years since the afternoon. Jean-Luc Chaignaud is a handsome, graying Belcore but Bruno Praticò is a harsh-voiced and rather charmless Dulcamara. At the end of the performance the bows go on eternally and include a reprise of Dulcamara’s final solo and the chorus, with Dulcamara out in the audience while the spectators clap rhythmically. Overall the production is adequate but rather uninvolving and Villazon is seen to better advantage in his other two versions.
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