patrikpen: A Rich Musical Season in Music abd Vision 11 Agosto

A Rich Musical Season

Summer opera in Rome,
heard by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

In spite of the economic and financial crisis (badly affecting the performing arts), this summer Rome has had a rather rich musical season. The two major symphony orchestras were on tour [A Long Way to Go, 18 July 2013] but quite a few guest orchestras played in the Parco della Musica (the main symphonic music center) as well as in Roman monuments. Their programs were largely targeted at tourists, as were those of a few semi-professional opera companies working mainly in the courtyards of our Renaissance and Baroque Palaces. I do not think that these activities would be of interest to an international readership like that of M&V.

On the other hand, Rome's main opera house, the Teatro dell'Opera, developed an interesting summer program both in the main theatre itself and in the open air Bath of Caracalla. It started with Purcell's Dido and Aeneas [Dramatic Effect, 16 June 2013] and continued with a few operas and many concerts. For this review, I selected a revised production of the 2011 staging of Nabucco because it will be performed for the last three nights at the Salzburg Festival at the end of August and beginning of September, and three twentieth century works entrusted to the same stage director, the internationally known Pier Luigi Pizzi.

The revisions in the 2011 staging of Nabucco [Simple and Effective, 15 March 2011] were concerned mostly with the music; although the conductor (Riccardo Muti), the stage director (Jean-Paul Scarpitta) and the costume designer (Maurizio Millenotti) were the same, most of the vocal cast was different. I attended the 23 July 2013 performance. The opera seemed quite different from that heard in 2011 as well as from the main Muti recording of the work (with the Florence and La Scala orchestra and chorus). In short, the main difference was that this Nabucco on its way to Salzburg sounded more like a bel canto opera than a traditional national popular grand melodrama. A bel canto opera is most likely what Verdi worked on in 1843, under the influence of Donizetti and Bellini; at that time, he was quite distant from the national unification movement. As a matter of fact, it wasn't until well into the twentieth century that Nabucco was given a national unification slant.

In the title role, there was Luca Salsi with considerable bel canto experience. Francesco Meli and Sonia Ganassi, two singers coming from bel canto, were the young lovers. Tatiana Serjan, as the devious Abigaille, is a good amphibious soprano able to descend to a very low, almost an alto, register as well as show impressive coloratura. Riccardo Zanellato completed the group of main singers. Muti gave a lot of emphasis to the dynamic role of the chorus (also because Nabucco's orchestration is rather straightforward). Indeed, under the direction of Roberto Gabbiani, Rome's Teatro dell'Opera chorus was the real protagonist. The theatre was jam packed -- as happens anytime Muti is in the pit -- and ovations followed the end of the performance.

From left to right: Sonia Ganassi as Fenena, Luca Salsi as Nabucco, Tatiana Serjan as Abigaille and Luca Dall'Amica as the High Priest in Teatro dell'Opera di Roma's 'Nabucco'. Photo © 2013 Silvia Lelli. Click on the image for higher resolution

Let us now go to the three pieces entrusted to Pier Luigi Pizzi's staging. They were performed in the huge Bath of Caracalla Summer theatre -- so large as to require amplification. The 'trilogy' could be considered an experiment because, even though the three works are very different, they were all set in the late nineteen thirties in Fascist Italy (with little relevance to the librettos) and use very similar stage sets and costumes -- all rigorously in elegant 'black-and-white'. I saw and heard the double bill Cielo e Terra by Nino Rota (a ballet broadly based on the well-known novel and movie The Leopard) and Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana on 2 July, and Puccini's Tosca on 2 August 2013.

The whole concept is quite attractive (and economical). It worked quite well in the double bill due to the same sunny Sicilian atmosphere, the skills of the two main dancers (Alessio Carbone and Alessandra Amato) in Cielo e Terra, the very powerful Kamen Chanev (as Turiddu) and the effective Anna Pirozzi (Santuzza) and Elena Zilio (Mamma Lucia) in Cavalleria Rusticana.

It did not work so well in Tosca which was, however, an opportunity to hear the best soprano now available for the title role, the Austrian Martina Serafin -- comparable with Callas and Tebaldi for extension of register and ability to act. Even though the others (including the conductor) were not up to her level, maybe because of the amplification, the audience was still enthusiastic.