Customer Reviews

Verdi - I Vespri Siciliani / Merritt, Studer, Furlanetto, Zancanaro, Musinu, Banditelli, Gavazzi, Muti, La Scala Opera

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

 

 

I've been living in Asia for many years and I somehow missed hearing of Cheryl Studer. A few years back a friend played a cut from this DVD for me- Studer's singing of "Merce, diletti amiche," and I was hooked. What incredible singing- the voice radiant, the coloratura nearly flawless, the diction clear and clean.(Compare her singing with the very strange sounds that Martina Arroyo made in this aria in the 1974 recording with Levine). Studer's singing throughout just makes you glad to be alive.

Muti's conducting is also another reason to treasure this disc.The music is so beautiful and he approaches the score with delicacy and energy at the same time.The ballet is wonderful evidence of how fine his conducting is. Some have complained that this dance episode is too long but I can't hear it often enough.

For me Chris Merritt is the one fly in the ointment. I find his singing dry and colorless; but, at the same time, you sense that he is giving his all for Muti and this gorgeous music.(Domingo for Levine, in his early prime, is golden voiced). The rest of the cast and the staging are very fine.

I'm not a judge of sound but the transfer sounds great to me (better than the EMI disc). And it is very reasonably priced. Not to be missed, especially by Verdi lovers.

This is one Verdi role Merritt can handle beautifully. He and Zancanaro work beautifully together and both sound wonderful.

This is a pretty tuneful opera for such a macabre story. Rarely doe it have a soprano who can get thru the bolero beautifully and this is no exception. But Studer does as well as most.

As usual I fast forward thru the ballets......but thats just me. It would take the Bolshoi to keep me on play.

My goal in viewing/listening to opera is to keep in touch with Italian language and get in touch with Italian opera culture in preparation for an upcoming trip. Someone with rudimentary Italian (io) could easily understand (without subtitles, but following the libretto and referring to the synopsis) this production of "I Vespri Siciliani" because it had communicative staging and costuming, decent (Furlanetto) to superior (Zancanoro) acting, and numerous closeups of the interactions of the main characters. One example of make-it-accessible stagecraft: The costumes of the male Sicilian chorus were probably historically inaccurate but expressive of place and station, showing the locals in clear contrast to the occupying French. I fast-forwarded through the (overly-long, not very interesting) ballet in Act III but was otherwise fully engaged throughout. Like other La Scala productions I've seen that were filmed by RAI TV, a first-rate theatrical performance made into a top-class home viewing experience.

This old (1990) and thoroughly old-fashioned production truly is Verdi as Verdi should be done. The orchestra in black, elegant Riccardo Muti in white tie and satin lapels, traditional sets, almost no milling around on stage by the chorus, no hint of nudity, no singers lying on the floor or leaning into the walls for their arias, huge voices and gorgeous costumes ... Or perhaps it should be gorgeous voices and huge costumes, to accommodate the lovers Arrigo and Elena ... singers standing stage front, feet planted foursquare, arms extended to expand the rib cage, projecting gorgeously even to the cheap seats in 'paradise'!

"Squillo" is a technical opera term for the 'ringing' quality of the trained voice that allow it to project over thick orchestration. You'll hear astounding squillo from all three principal male singers in this production, most thrillingly from tenor Chris Merritt (Arrigo) in the later acts. That clarion quality is less obvious in the voices of baritones and basses, but both Giorgio Zancanaro (the French Governor, Guy de Montfort) and Ferruccio Furlanetto (the rebel leader Giovanni Procida) offer conservatory-perfect demonstrations of how squillo is different from mere volume. Both of them make even their most piano asides pierce through the orchestral textures. Furlanetto is unsurpassable in his dark role as the relentless patriot. Cheryl Struder (the Duchess Elena) sings with consummate taste and lovely timbre, but she's out-matched by the three males at times, and that's the only musical weakness in this resoundingly musical production.

I Vespri Siciliani was composed first with a French libretto and staged in Paris in 1855. When it was 'translated' into Italian for staging in Parma, ironically the setting was also translated, to Portugal, for political reasons. This La Scala production uses elements of both scores, keeping the extended ballet sequences from the French opera but using the Italian libretto. The pair of dancers who enliven the visuals of the third act are Carla Fracci and Wayne Eagling. Canadian-born, California-raised Eagling is 100% Italian 'bella figura', with a kind of grace that's the physical equivalent of a singer's squillo.

To my ears, I Vespri Sicilano is one of Verdi's finest musical achievements, alongside Simon Boccanegra (of 1857) and Ballo in Maschera (of 1859). I can't imagine why it's not produced far more often.

Just a thought about those "traditional' sets and costumes: the historical event known as The Sicilian Vespers occurred in 1282! It was a rebellion against the Angevin French King Charles the First!! But this staging uses uniforms, gowns, and peasant frocks of the 19th C, perhaps of the Napoleonic era. And I'm fairly sure that such costuming would have been what Verdi and his dramaturges expected. So "anachronism" was part of the traditional staging all along? Would it be any more anachronistic to stage a music-drama depicting an uprising in 1282 in the garb of Chechens or Libyans in 2011?

This is an excellent DVD musically. The only fault I can find with it is a fault common to many DVDs of operas; some of the leading singers look much older than their rolls. In the opera house this is not a problem because you cannot see the singers closely enough to notice, but in movies, TV, and DVD closups this obvious age problem detracts from the overall effect. Since in operas, I consider the music to be the most important part, if I must choose between excellent singing and looking the part,I would choose excellent singing every time. Therefore, I give this DVD 5 stars.

This is "Grand" Opera of the grandest style. Written by Verdi for the Grand Paris Opera house. It is truly a pageant of the history of a people seeking freedom from a tyrant ruler. Filled with idealism, drama and high human emotions all in grand, soaring melodies with Verdi at his operatic best. I have loved this work since I first heard it with Arroyo and Levine in the 70s and later with Susan Dunn and Ricardo Chailly. Both good productions but no match for this present recording. The setting is 13th century Sicily now governed by an agent of the French King of Naples. The governor (Montfort) is cruel and repressive and well acted and sung by Zancanaro. He has as hostage Elena whose brother was murdered by the French and is sung by Cheryl Studer. The hero Henri who turns out to be Montfort's son is sung by Chris Merritt. The conductor is Riccardo Muti at his best and grandest. This is probably the only complete recording that includes the full ballet music and none of the usual cuts for the singers. We can thank Muti for this. The music here carries the drama which is just as well as both Merritt and Studer are superb singers of their parts but are rather stout individuals so stage action is best kept to a minimum. And soar they do. They are a good match for each other and their singing is glorious. Both have clear large voices that can handel the challenge of the difficult Verdi line. Some ten years later they would again appear together with Muti in a superb William Tell of Rossini. The ballet is at the end of Act 3 and titled The Four Seasons. The prima is Carla Fracci; both she and the corps are excellent in a truly satisfying ballet full of beauty and happiness. I'm really thrilled to have it included in an otherwise cruel, bloody strife filled opera. I highly recommend this album.

The first act was a drag. The beginning of Act 2 was wonderful (Zancanaro's opening aria which was warm and beautiful got great applause), then the score wilted. But from Act 3 right up to the shocker of an ending, the whole thing was absolutely beautiful. Everyone sang wonderfully. The plot had enough devices to keep it interesting. I don't like ballet, but I enjoyed this one, the dancing was clever (but what did it mean?) and the music was beautiful and fun by turns. One note. Merritt's character in particular, but all the rebels in general seemed obsessed with a death wish! I want to die, would that I could die, it is better to die than to... Good grief! If they'd all had their way, the opera wouldn't have lasted 10 minutes, just a stage littered with contented corpses. And (sigh) why must everyone suffer so in a Verdi opera? I quibble. It's just old fashioned melodrama. I highly recommend this, first and second acts notwithstanding.