|
This is perhaps the most bizarre production of Verdi's Un ballo in maschera I've ever seen, but a peculiar setting and second-rate singing are easily forgotten when the Leipzig Gewandhaus is in the pit and Riccardo Chailly is in charge of them.
Between them, orchestra and conductor revitalise this amazing score, which emerges as the most interesting of Verdi's middle period. Where James Levine bolsters his singers' massive egos in the DVD from the Met on Deutsche Grammophon, Chailly brings out huge contrasts of colour in EuroArts' new version from the Leipzig Opera. When Riccardo responds to Ulrica's curse, the music suddenly becomes light; frivolous waltzes are played beneath the lovers' anxious duet in the last scene. Throughout, Verdi changes the light switch on and off, and Chailly emphasises this more strongly than most other interpreters on record.
I must confess that Ermanno Olmi's production and Arnaldo Pomodoro's designs are quite beyond my comprehension. Apparently the settings are meant to hark back to the aesthetics of the Bauhaus, but they remind me more of an Oriental style of theatre – Japanese kabuki for instance (which seems popular at the moment, if Amsterdam's Ring Cycle is anything to go by). I can see no justification for this approach, nor does it illuminate the highly situated historical drama in the slightest. Why is Ulrica dressed like a hedgehog? This character is meant to be an evocation of the devil, but instead we get a tribute to The Animals of Farthing Wood.
Musically, none of the singers is outstanding but most are just about adequate. Chiara Taigi mercifully eschews the histrionics of Aprile Milo in the Met's DVD, but has a hard edge to her voice as Amelia. Massimiliano Pisapia produces some lyrical phrases as Riccardo, but lacks the gravitas that the character really requires, and sometimes he lacks heft.
Franco Vassallo rises to the occasion during his 'Eri tu' and in general is a fine Renato, though less psychologically interesting than either of the recent Covent Garden exponents of the role. Somehow Anna Maria Chiuri manages to overcome her porcupine costume to produce some gleaming low notes as Ulrica, though in the end her appearance undermines her strong musical values. Eun Yee You is a passable Oscar, if a little shrill at times, while some of the best singing comes from the Leipzig Chorus.
It really is worth buying this DVD for the conducting of Chailly, which is always revelatory, but beware the controversial staging.
 |
more 