Verdi: La traviata - Salzburg Festival/Anna Netrebko/Carlo Rizzi (Deustche Grammophon)

The direction by Willy Decker is quite simply the worst I have seen in this opera, for which there is no excuse: how can you go wrong with such superb material?

Meanwhile, the musical performance is middling, with bland performances from two out of the three main singers and generally insensitive conducting from Carlo Rizzi.

Labelling it 'the opera event of 2005', Deutsche Grammophon is doing its best to promote this Traviata for its starry casting. But the modern production is simply woeful. Wolfgang Gussmann's set design remains essentially the same for the entire opera, a pale blue curved wall and an oversized clock face serving for intimate and public scenes alike.

Decker requires manic movement from his singers throughout the evening, who are nearly always out of breath as a result. A mindless Freudian slant to proceedings brings Alfredo back on to the stage for his normal off-stage lines in Violetta's Act 1 aria. Even worse is the fact that Violetta is present in Alfredo's Act 2 aria and his conversation with Annina, which she is patently not meant to witness. Dottore Grenvil appears as a silent figure in the first two acts as a representation of death always hanging around Violetta.

Thanks, we know she's dying. It would be nice, however, if she looked like it: never before have I seen such a healthy and energetic performance of opera's most famous consumptive than this by Anna Netrebko. It really doesn't work. A close microphone picks up all her loud breathing, and gives the impression that she is singing forte for most of the performance. Any subtlety that she may have brought to the music is lost, and what remains sounds effortful (in Sempre libera especially). There are some attractive aspects to her interpretation, and it's nice to have someone so young and beautiful playing Violetta, but between them Willy Decker and the Deutsche Grammophon engineers have served her ill.

Far more convincing is Rolando Villazón as Alfredo. Fervent singing, a golden tone and long phrasing make for one of the best accounts since Domingo, though he backs off the cabaletta of his aria somewhat. His handsome appearance completes his suitability for the role, and he is without doubt the sole reason for buying the DVD.

Though I enjoyed his performance on CD, Thomas Hampson's Giorgio Germont is far less compelling on DVD. His voice is not remotely Italianate, his phrasing odd, and in general his sleazy performance is ill-suited to the role. Compared to Renato Bruson's outstanding interpretation on Opus Arte's recent DVD, Hampson's whimpish Germont is a damp squid indeed.

The smaller roles are adequately sung and indifferently played. The Chorus of the Vienna State Opera is underpowered, but the real disappointment is the Vienna Philharmonic, who seem to think Italian music dull and boring. Carlo Rizzi's conducting is rigid – stiff as a board, in fact, and totally lacking in nuance. There is more to Verdi than pounding through tonic-dominant accompaniment figures.

Our heroine never emerges with the beauty with which Verdi imbued her, so the project can be said to have failed. One for the Villazón fans only: the rest of us should stick with Norah Amsellem on Opus Arte.

share Tweet