Customer Reviews

Verdi - Otello / Atlantov, Cappuccilli, te Kanawa, Bevacqua, Rafanelli, Pesko, Verona Opera

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have only recently succumbed to purchasing operas on DVD. VHS appears to be going down the road of music cassettes - into oblivion. Deciding which recording of Verdi's tragic masterpiece, Otello, to pick was a hard one. There are older performances with Del Monaco and Vickers, and more recent ones, mostly featuring Domingo, great interpreters all whose CD versions I own. So, for the DVD I took a plunge into the unknown and picked Vladimir Atlantov, in a live outdoor performance in the Arena di Verona, in a ca. 1982 production, with Kiri Te Kanawa as Desdemona, and Piero Cappuccilli as Iago. An added gamble because the voices may be lost in the great outdoors, more spectacle than substance, with much of the intimate drama lost. You know, where the elephants outshine the principals in Aida, for example !

Not to worry. The voices are prominent, the orchestra and chorus of the Arena di Veroni (under Zoltan Pesko's direction) clear. Most satisfying is Atlantov's portrayal of the Venetian governor of Cyprus and his downward spiral from a national hero and doting husband to a suicidal maniac, driven by jealousy. Atlantov's performance is a much more complex, more thoughtful, and more subtle interpretation of the tormented man than those offered by Del Monaco, Vickers, and even Domingo. A most believable Otello.

Te Kanawha offers a beautiful voice, and presence, but not great drama. But, then, her role is surpisingly minor considering her importance in the plot ! Cappuccilli plays a wily Iago, insinuating, a fly in Otello's ear, but not the in-your-face evil genius (the Gobbi approach).

The staging is superb, with open spaces, simple sets, a massive chorus, and attractive period-ish costumes, but never in competition with the unfolding drama.

Even if you have other versions of Verdi's Otello, Atlantov's performance should not be missed.

I first heard Miss Te Kanawa when she made her unexpected debut at the Metropolitan Opera. In the case of Mr. Atlantov I heard him at the Met in Eugen Onegin with the visiting Bolshoi.
Now to hear them together in the same opera is heavenly and a feeling of a breath of fresh air.

Otello es una ópera cuyo papel protagónico requiere de una voz de tenor con características muy especiales, entre las cuales la potencia del instrumento vocal, el buen manejo de los tonos obscuros de la tessitura y el pathos con que se cante el papel resultan fundamentales. Es por ello que no cualquier tenor ha podido cantar Otello con éxito. Histórica es sin duda la interpretación de Ramón Vinay, con un Exultate que conmociona. Otros grandes sin duda han sido Del Monaco, Vickers y, más recientemente, Plácido Domingo. Sin duda, Atlantov entrega una muy buena versión del personaje, a la altura de los mejores. Especial mención merece la escena final, en la que junto con la maravillosa Kiri Te Kanawa brindan una escena en extremo emocionante. También Cappuccilli entrega un gran Iago, lleno de maldad e hipocresía. La orquesta logra bajo la dirección de Pesko una entrega muy adecuada de la partitura verdiana. No le adjudico las cinco estrellas sólo porque el audio, quizá por tratarse de una presentación al aire libre, no logra ser parejo.