Orchestral Nuances in Music and Vision April 21

Orchestral Nuances
Thanks to a sparkling 'Barber of Seville',
GIUSEPPE PENNISI rediscovers
the beauty of Rossini's orchestration

Il Barbiere di Siviglia is the only Rossini opera which has always been on stage, even during the Romanticism and Verismo periods when most of his productions had disappeared from the theatres of Europe and North America. The libretto is a lot of fun and the music sparkles like good, earthy red Lambrusco wine, whereas Paisiello's earlier Barbiere is sentimental and slightly melancholic. The Rossini opera is not merely slapstick. It is more subtle than it superficially appears to be. Dramatically and musically, Il Barbiere contrasts two parallel but quite distinct worlds: that of Figaro -- efficient, quick, someone who calls a spade a spade -- and that of all the other characters, all left behind, fearful and yielding, verbose and bombastic. Even the good-looking and wealthy Almaviva is plaintive, although imbued with music of the highest elegance right from the beginning. But a mathematician or an economist would tell you from the start of the opera that according to game theory, the wits of Figaro and of Rosina would defeat all the others.
For several decades, however, Barbiere was presented in a severely modified form: Rosina was sung by a light lyric soprano rather than by a mezzo or, even better, a coloratura alto (a rather rare bird, especially before the Baroque revival); the bravura aria for the tenor 'Cessa di più resistere' was just eliminated from the finale; and several other modifications were made to simplify and schematize the score. Vittorio Gui's detailed work on the original source materials for his 1942 revival in Florence did much to root out the worst mistreatments and adaptations that tradition had imposed on the opera; since the publication of Alberto Zedda's critical edition, Rossini's original text and score have been restored to general circulation, but the tradition of treating Barbiere as vulgar rump or an impersonal farce for slapsticks and marionettes rather than a comedy of character has not entirely vanished. An exemplary production was provided by Abbado and Ponnelle in 1968 at Salzburg and La Scala; it toured several continents. Also Zurich has recently offered excellent unabridged productions, featuring Cecilia Bartoli.

Ketevan Kemoklidze as Rosina and Bruno Praticò as Bartolo in Act I of Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' in Parma. Photo © 2011 Roberto Ricci. Click on the image for higher resolution
However, the subtleties of both the libretto and the score were not at all taken into account in the two productions of Il Barbiere di Siviglia staged at the Rossini Opera Festival (ROF) in Pesaro. The ROF is, for Rossini lovers, equivalent to the Bayreuth Festival for Wagnerians. The 1992 production had, as its main set, the Bologna Archiginnasio (a classroom for anatomy lessons in one of the most ancient European universities). The 2005 production was staged in Bartolo's house, looking like a prison. There can be little fun and even less subtlety in an anatomy classroom or in a jail. Thus, even excellent singing was largely in vain. A new ROF philological Barbiere is expected next August. It will presented in a concert version; staging seems to scare the producers.
This does mean that in Italy good productions are wanting. For instance a 2005 production by the Fiesole School of Music was revived by a number of Provincial theatres (Jesi, Fermo, Udine and Ravenna) in 2009; the production was signed by Damiano Michelietto (then very young, now an enfant prodige collecting rewards on the European scene). It requires, on stage, only some twenty chairs, twelve umbrellas, a wooden staircase and a few balloons. The overture is in a second (or third class) compartment of a local train. The opera is a Fellini circus: Figaro is dressed like a fox, Basilio like a snake, Bartolo like a dog, and Rosina is a preppy Ivy League Yankee. The pace of the show is swift; there are plenty of gags worthy of the Marx Brothers, and a lot of laughs from the audience. Another top class low cost production was staged recently in Palermo and reviewed in Music & Vision on 25 September 2010: again a young stage director, Francesco Micheli, a young conductor, Michele Mariotti, and a young cast of singers offered us a fresh and modern Barbiere. I would love to see it in other Italian and foreign theatres: a real top bargain.

Ketevan Kemoklidze as Rosina and Luca Salsi as Figaro in Act I of Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' in Parma. Photo © 2011 Roberto Ricci. Click on the image for higher resolution
The recent Barbiere unveiled in Parma on 15 April 2011 -- this review is based on the opening performance -- has, in the two key roles (Almaviva and Rosina) the same singers as the Palermo production (Dmitry Korchak and Ketevan Kemoklidze). They have grown in the last seven months. Korchack takes the challenge of 'Cessa di più resistere', an impervious bravura aria with a constellation of high Cs before turning into a rondeau. The aria was re-introduced by Rockwell Blake in the seventies and now only a very few tenors dare to take it up. Kemoklidze has sharpened her Italian diction which has now reached a very high level; she is a good coloratura alto. Both of them received open stage accolades. The rest of the singers are proven professionals, real veterans of the respective roles: Luca Salsi (a witty Figaro) Bruno Praticò (a pompous Bartolo), Giovanni Furlanetto (a devious Basilio) and Natalian Roman (a sweet and wise Berta).
The stage direction, sets and costumes (Stefano Vizioli, Francesco Calcagnini and Annemarie Heinrich) are rather traditional; they originate from 'Ferrara Musica' where they were produced some ten years ago. Since then, they have been seen in several Italian opera houses; they are elegant but not innovative.

Andrea Battistoni conducting Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' in Parma. Photo © 2011 Roberto Ricci. Click on the image for higher resolution
The mastermind of the success is the musical director: Andrea Battistoni, twenty-four years old (Rossini's age when the opera was composed). He looks as if he were eighteen but has an excellent command of the orchestra. Like Michele Mariotti, he does not come from Muti or Abbado's assistants. Battistoni was trained under Zoltan Szabò in Hungary as well as Mickael Flancksman in Germany. He is a rising star in the European music firmament and will soon also appear on Tokyo's stages. Next year, he will conduct an opera at La Scala. He brings out the generally unheard beauties of Barbiere's orchestration. This is mightily important because many listeners and even opera critics have the impression that for Rossini, until La Donna del Lago in 1819, the orchestra was only a secondary tool to support the action and the singers.

Ketevan Kemoklidze as Rosina and Bruno Praticò as Bartolo in Act I of Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' in Parma. Photo © 2011 Roberto Ricci. Click on the image for higher resolution
Following Lord Derwent's phrase, this Barbiere is 'a nervous outburst of vitality' right from the word go, ie the overture (borrowed from previous Rossini operas such as Elisabetta Regina d'Inghilterra and Aureliano in Palmira) when one can sense Rossini's ear for vocal and instrumental timbres of a peculiar astringency and brilliance, his quick-witted word-setting, and his mastery of large musical forms with their often brilliant and explosive internal variation. Both Beethoven and Verdi loved Barbiere's orchestration and praised it, without one knowing each other's opinion. Nonetheless, in many productions the sophisticated orchestral work is often under-estimated. Battistoni sets it right. Also he gives a rather personal touch: from the orchestra to the singers this is a very sensual Barbiere, most likely because in 1816 Rossini had a complex ménage with Isabella Colbran and other women. To this end, right from the overture, Battistoni slows the tempos gently and delves into the orchestral nuances. Without ever forgetting, however, that the Barbiere wine is sparkling.

Andrea Battistoni conducting Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' in Parma. Photo © 2011 Roberto Ricci. Click on the image for higher resolution
The performance lasted nearly three and a half hours (including the intermission). The full house at Teatro Regio loved it. It can be seen live in nearly four hundred HD European movie houses on 26 April 2011 and on a few TV channels; for the details, please contact p.maier@teatroregioparma.org
Copyright © 21 April 2011 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy

GIOACCHINO ROSSINI
THE BARBER OF SEVILLE
PARMA
ITALY
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