Customer Reviews

Verdi - I Vespri Siciliani / Dunn, Luchetti, Giaiotti, Nucci, Chailly, Bologna Opera

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

 

 

It's true that this opera is a lot of stand and sing with little action, but the singing was excellent! Susan Dunn's aria in Act IV, where as Elena she forgives Arrigo, brought down the house. It was so beautiful. The applause went on and on. And she only got better. Veriano Luchetti was fantastic as Arrigo. Leo Nucci as Monforte was his usual competent self. The ensemble numbers were wonderful also.

I've seen the other Vespri with Chris Merritt and Cheryl Studer and this one is definitely as good or better.

This opera doesn't have any action. The leading characters and chorus sing about things happening, but you don't see them. There is little stage movement on the three video productions I have of this opera and the same was true of the two performances I saw of Vespri at the Metropolitan. Consequently you need six terrifc singers to bring this work to life. For me, this opera doesn't take off until the father/son duet in Act Three. From that moment to the end of Act Five, Verdi's music catches fire and never stops. The Teatro Alla Scala DVD has the best cast (now at a budget price) - Studer, Merritt, Zancanaro and Furlanetto with Riccardo Muti giving the music a run for its money. Unfortunately the production iself is silly, pointless and boring. Those are not good ingredients for an opera you have to look at for three hours. The Bologna DVD has the better production, if at times laughable. Their production looks like the hanging gardens of Babylon. There couldn't have been a potted plant left in Bologna that wasn't on that stage! They also have curtains opening and closing for no apparent reason. The downside in this DVD is the weak cast including Dunn, Luchetti, Giaioti and Nucci with Conductor Chailly failing to inspire his singers. Susan Dunn is down right boring. She looks like she doesn't want to be there and promising herself she will never sing this roll again. I hope she kept her promise. I've seen this artist in other operas and she was first rate. Vespri simply wasn't a fit for her. The best overall production is still the Met's which unfortunately is not available on DVD. I have the laser disc (remember them?) copy which is still my top pick whenever I need a Vespri fix.

I Vespri Siciliani must me Verdi's most underrated masterpiece. Most people are put off by the fact that it has 5 acts, therefore they conclude that it must be incredibly long. It is long but not as long as some people may fear as most of the acts are under half an hour each. The total length of the DVD in question is 171 minutes, just under 3 hours, including titles at the beginning, applauses and curtain calls between the acts and at the end. The opera contains Verdi's most powerful overture and a number of very elegant arias, duets and ensembles for the principals.

Now for the actual performance in question. All the principals are in fine voice and portray their roles convincingly. Nobody is truly outstanding, but all are way above average and if one is to judge from the applause they get individually, they are well admired by the audience. The work is given complete, without the famous act III ballet. This may be Verdi's best ballet by far, but I find it rather long (about half an hour) and it seems to cut the action dead for all that time. If you really want the ballet, then the DVD from La Scala is the one to have.

The two main problems with the production are, first the conductor, Riccardo Chally. He conducts with slow and sloppy tempos that seem to take away all the urgency from the drama. Just compare him to Riccardo Muti on the other DVD of the same opera, from La Scala. He produces a much tighter and far more dramatic reading of the score. On an audio CD, try the "EMI Testament" live performance from Florence of 1951. Erich Kleiber is conducting, giving the work its full dramatic and musical potential that Verdi intended. It also has the advantage of having Maria Callas as Elena and Boris Christoff as Procida, portrayals of these roles that have been unequalled since.

The second main problem is the Producer Luca Ronconi. Although the performance is blessed with the most lavish sets and costumes, it is sometimes overdone. I do not think Palermo in Sicily has lush tropical vegetation, and as another reviewer pointed out cactuses were introduced in Europe from America long after 1282. Nevertheless it is wonderful to watch. The costumes are plausible for the time of the actual Sicilian Vespers, near the end of the 13th century (reed Stephen Runciman's wonderful account of what happened, in his book by the same name). The problem with Ronconi is that the singers seem to be totally on their own, with no stage directions at all. They just appear, stand still, sing their aria, or duet and go out again. The highly dramatic ending of the opera is visually such a flop, that although the audience have been passionately applauding at the end of every number, sometimes too often, there is a very lukewarm applause at the end of the performance, with the audience having been let down from the anticipated spectacle of the Sicilian uprising against the French. An enormous pity for what would otherwise have been a very pleasant performance, worthy of 5 stars but I can only award it 4 stars and still feel rather generous.

The obvious alternative DVD for this opera is the one from La Scala with Riccardo Muti. My biggest objection to that is that it is set during the time of the Napoleonic wars. Why? What does this achieve? The Sicilian Vespers are an actual historical event and happened in 1282, not at any other time in history. To make my point, there have been many films made about the sinking of the "Titanic", all very different and with various fictitious stories attached to the actual event. All of them place the event just before the First World War, in 1912 and never at any other time in history, as that would have made the story absurd. Why then not apply the same logic to an opera based on a historical event? It is unfortunate that we have to put up with mediocre operatic producers, who when they run out of new ideas, in order to make their mark, they start tampering with the essence of the work itself.

I must agree with the reviwer who said this was a stand and sing opera. Actually it's more of a park and belt-it- out opera. I didn't think any of the singers were really trying to give any life to the drama. The worst was the da Procida of Bonaldo Giaiotti. He opened his mouth and belted and belted - whatever it was he just stood and belted; no inflection, no change of emotion just third rate Italian belt-it-out. This was true for the rest of the cast as well but to a lesser degree. Susan Dunn sang well but as if she were giving a recital. She didn't move two yards throughout the opera and absolutely no emotional changes. I have seen this opera at the Met and at Lyric Chicago and it was exciting. How could they make it so dull.

The setting was the nicest thing about this production. Lots of verdant splendor. Beautiful! But one small error. They show cacti growing in Sicily in the 13th century. Cacti are native only to the new world and were only brought to the Mediterranean in the 17th century and later.

Probably the worst performance of an opera in my large collection. What a waste of all those beautiful plants!