domenica 7 gennaio 2018

High Society Two Centuries Ago in Music and Vision 14 August




Ensemble
High Society Two Centuries Ago
GIUSEPPE PENNISI comments on
Rossini's 'La Pietra di Paragone' in Pesaro

The second production of the Rossini Opera Festival (ROF) 2017 is La Pietra di Paragone ('A Method for Comparison'), a melodramma giocosowith a libretto written by Luigi Romanelli for La Scala. The La Scala commission was very important for Gioachino Rossini, then twenty years old. He made a name for himself and attracted the attention of major impresarios in Rome and especially in Naples. The La Scala debut of La Pietra di Paragone was in 1820 and many performances followed until the mid-nineteenth century. Then, it disappeared from theatre programs until a revival in 1952; however, it had a limited number of performances. The main reason is that this melodramma giocoso is not a comic opera but a comedy with a lot of irony and sensuality.
From left to right: William Corrò as Fabrizio, Paulo Bordogna as Pacuvio, Marina Monzò as Fulvia, Gianluca Margheri as Asdrubale, Davide Luciano as Macrobio and Aurora Faggioli as Aspasia in Rossini's 'La Pietra di Paragone' in Pesaro. Photo © 2017 Studio Amati Bacciardi
From left to right: William Corrò as Fabrizio, Paulo Bordogna as Pacuvio, Marina Monzò as Fulvia, Gianluca Margheri as Asdrubale, Davide Luciano as Macrobio and Aurora Faggioli as Aspasia in Rossini's 'La Pietra di Paragone' in Pesaro. Photo © 2017 Studio Amati Bacciardi. Click on the image for higher resolution
Pier Luigi Pizzi understood this fully. He authored the stage directionsetsand costumes of the real revival at the ROF in 2002. The action was set in the last decades of the twentieth century. It revolves around a very richmiddle-aged bachelor, Count Asdrubale, who has decided to get married, and the three young widows who are courting him. In his palatial villa, with a swimming pool, and a small crowd of permanent guests — a real long-time friend, a pompous poet, a gossipy newspaperman and, of course, servants — the protagonist needs to develop a method to compare the real feelings for him of the three widows.
From left to right: Gianluca Margheri as Asdrubale, Aurora Faggioli as Aspasia, Davide Luciano as Macrobio, Aya Wakizono as Clarice and Maxim Mironov as Giocondo in Rossini's 'La Pietra di Paragone' in Pesaro. Photo © 2017 Studio Amati Bacciardi
From left to right: Gianluca Margheri as Asdrubale, Aurora Faggioli as Aspasia, Davide Luciano as Macrobio, Aya Wakizono as Clarice and Maxim Mironov as Giocondo in Rossini's 'La Pietra di Paragone' in Pesaro. Photo © 2017 Studio Amati Bacciardi. Click on the image for higher resolution
The two acts are parallel and symmetric: in the first act, Asdrubale seduces Clarice, the woman in love with him through a disguise; in the second act, after a misunderstanding, she seduces him. It may seem like the plot of a movie such as High Society or How to Marry a Millionaire. After the 2002 revival, La Pietra di Paragone has been seen and heard in many theatres in Europe and the USA.
From left to right: Aya Wakizono as Clarice, Marina Monzò as Fulvia, Aurora Faggioli as Aspasia, Paulo Bordogna as Pacuvio and Davide Luciano as Macrobio in Rossini's 'La Pietra di Paragone' in Pesaro. Photo © 2017 Studio Amati Bacciardi
From left to right: Aya Wakizono as Clarice, Marina Monzò as Fulvia, Aurora Faggioli as Aspasia, Paulo Bordogna as Pacuvio and Davide Luciano as Macrobio in Rossini's 'La Pietra di Paragone' in Pesaro. Photo © 2017 Studio Amati Bacciardi. Click on the image for higher resolution
The production opened in Pesaro on 11 August 2017. It is not merely a revival of the 2002 performances. I was in the opening night audience. Pier Luigi Pizzi (now eighty-seven years old) made several changes in order to take account of the different shape and size of the stage. Reportedly, he lent some of his own personal furniture to the ROF to embellish the villa which is the main element of the set.
Aya Wakizono as Clarice in Rossini's 'La Pietra di Paragone' in Pesaro. Photo © 2017 Studio Amati Bacciardi
Aya Wakizono as Clarice in Rossini's 'La Pietra di Paragone' in Pesaro.
Photo © 2017 Studio Amati Bacciardi. Click on the image for higher resolution
Daniele Rustioni conducted the RAI orchestra with vivacity and sensuality. Giovanni Farina led the choir of the Teatro Ventidio Basso of Ascoli Piceno. The cast was excellent: the singers young and attractive, and good actors too. They were able to sing while diving in the swimming pool. There were some quite well known opera singers — Gianluca Margheri, Paolo Bordogna and Maxim Mironov — and some less known, trained in the Pesaro Rossini Academy — Aurora Faggioli and Marina Monzò. The real revelation was Aya Wakizono, a mezzo with a velvet voice, perfect phrasing and a seductive coloratura.
Aya Wakizono as Clarice and Gianluca Margheri as Asdrubale in Rossini's 'La Pietra di Paragone' in Pesaro. Photo © 2017 Studio Amati Bacciardi
Aya Wakizono as Clarice and Gianluca Margheri as Asdrubale in Rossini's 'La Pietra di Paragone' in Pesaro.
Photo © 2017 Studio Amati Bacciardi. Click on the image for higher resolution
There were ovations at the curtain calls, during which Pizzi jogged to the stage to join the rest of the company.
Copyright © 14 August 2017 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy
 << M&V home       Concert reviews        Siege of Corinth >>

'Elgar and Chivalry' by Robert Anderson - available now from Elgar.org



Nessun commento: