Verdi's Macbeth in Palermo in Music and Vision 29 January 2017

Verdi's 'Macbeth' in Palermo,
reviewed by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

In a review of a Robert Wilson production of Verdi's Macbeth in Bologna a few years ago ('Unsex me here', 10 February 2013) , I reminded readers that few opera stage directors or conductors take into account that these are the key verses to understand that Shakespeare's shortest tragedy is based only on the lust for power:

Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty!

These Shakespearean verses were clearly in her mind when Emma Dante (a well known Italian stage director) designed a new production of Macbeth for the inauguration of the Palermo 'Massimo' 2017 opera season. The opera is a co-production with Turin Teatro Region and the Macerata Summer Sferisterio Festival but will also go to the Edinburgh Festival, and most likely to other theatres. I was in the audience on the opening night [21 January 2017].
The renunciation of sex by the Royal couple ('Royal' for a quite a short period) is emphasized by the witches who, on the contrary, are always pregnant because fauns copulate with them all the time. The 1856 version of the opera — Verdi composed three different versions over a twenty year period — incorporates two ballets which become orgies with a variety of sexual positions. At the Italian premiere of Die Gezeichneten by Franz Schreker in Palermo in 2010 ('Seething with Evil', 17 April 2010), there was an effort to tame the most explicit moments. Emma Dante is not shy.

A scene from Emma Dante's 'Macbeth'. Photo © 2017 Franco Lannino. Click on the image for higher resolution

In the witches' scenes, the stage went really wild, and the audience was enthralled, as shown by their accolades. Of course, there is also power: the simple stylized stage set alternates red with dark; props are gold to represent the Royal Palace and the Crown of Scotland.

Emma Dante and Gabriele Ferro. Photo © 2016 Rosellina Garbo. Click on the image for higher resolution

I was less keen on the musical part. Rightly, Roger Park calls the score 'a magnificent work'. The conductor, Gabriele Ferro, was punctual and correct but should have injected more vigor and should have encouraged the dark colors Verdi asked for in his correspondence with librettist Francesco Maria Piave, whose verses, according to the composer, were too bland for the music he had in mind.
Regretfully, protagonist Luca Salsi had bad flu, just on the opening night, and Giuseppe Altomare replaced him. Altomare is an honest baritone but lacks the acting and the devilish nuances required for a serial killer.

Giuseppe Altomare in the title role of Verdi's 'Macbeth' in Palermo. Click on the image for higher resolution

The other serial killer, the Lady, was Anna Pirozzi, a dramatic soprano. The role is for an amphibious soprano who could reach the heights of register, descend to a contralto register and have a good coloratura. Anna Pirozzi was good but her coloratura was weak.

Anna Pirozzi as Lady Macbeth with Giuseppe Altomare in the title role of Verdi's 'Macbeth' in Palermo. Photo © 2017 Franco Lannino. Click on the image for higher resolution

There were two excellent young voices: a twenty-five year old tenor, Nanuel Pieratteli, as Malcom, and a baritone in his early thirties, Marko Mimica, as Bancquo. Their future careers are both worth following.
In short, this was a very good evening.

Copyright © 29 January 2017 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy