Mozart´s "The Marriage of Figaro" ("Le Nozze di Figaro") is quite simply the best operatic comedy ever written, with the possible exception of Verdi´s "Falstaff". Although the opera has been frequently performed in recent years (Buenos Aires Lírica, Juventus Lyrica, Argentino) the Colón last presented it in 2002 with middling results. So it was high time for a revival at our principal opera house. One astonishing fact: our city first heard it only in 1928.
Another curious fact: the current administration decided that it is a "long" opera and so started at 8 p.m instead of the habitual 8,30. I see no reason for this, even if the generally cut Basilio aria was included, to my mind a pity, for it is second-rate Mozart in a context of total wondrous quality. Fortunately the Marcellina aria remained cut. I won´t write now about this "folle journée" imagined audaciously by Beaumarchais and converted into a marvellous libretto by Da Ponte , and with Mozart´s most inspired music. So let´s go immediately to the results of this revival. The good news: there was a first-rate cast and a very appreciable conductor. The bad news: again we were stuck, as so many times in recent seasons, with a wrong production. I saw the Sunday performance.
Ladies first. Maija Kovalevska is a tall beautiful Lettish soprano with a ten year career; her debut here as the Countess was a definite plus. The voice is fresh and beautiful with ample volume and she handles it with refinement. However, with her gestures she didn´t transmit the sadness felt by this character. Russian soprano Julia Novikova (debut) has a smaller voice but her singing is true and very musical, and she gave us a sweet Susanna. Serena Malfi, who did "La Cenerentola" at the Colón last year, was a charming and spontaneous Cherubino, sung cleanly and with fine timbre.
There was a lot of expectation about the return of the Uruguayan bass-baritone Erwin Schrott. He made a spectacular local debut as a stentoreous Monterone in "Rigoletto" (1997) and then came back as a good Colline in "La Boheme" (1999). Now he is famous as the Mozartian Figaro and Don Giovanni and a mediatic figure as Anna Netrebko´s husband. Well, he is certainly impressive: a powerful voice, a flexible talent as an actor and a definite presence. Interesting the way he delivers the recitatives according to their narrative sense, sometimes resorting to a half-sung-half-spoken discourse. We met Mathias Hausmann as a convincing Danilo in Lehár´s "The Merry Widow" two years ago. Tall and personable, his firm, solid voice well used, he offered a first-rate portrayal of the Count.
The smaller parts were all well taken. Guadalupe Barrientos was a spot-on Marcellina, vocally and as a character, and Luis Gaeta, who used to be an admirable Count twenty years ago, now took on Bartolo, done as a sly old man with a very humorous touch; a bit weak on the low tones, he was quite firm in the rest of the register. Sergio Spina was an atypical Basilio, generally sung by a light tenor, for he is an incisive character tenor; he transmitted the malevolence of the part and sang accurately the part, comprising his aria. Gabriel Centeno was in the picture as Don Curzio, the notary. Oriana Favaro was a touching Barbarina in her sensitive "arietta" and the Two Maids were nicely sung by Jaquelina Livieri and Cecilia Pastawski. Finally, Emiliano Bulacios was a well-delineated Antonio, the gardener.
One of the few saving graces last year of that colossal fiasco, the "Colón Ring", was conductor Roberto Paternostro. From Wagner to Mozart is a long step, but he showed he knows the style and is in firm control of the orchestra and the singers. The speeds ("tempi") were orthodox and logical, and the well-playing orchestra sounded smooth and in tune. The recitatives were played with imagination by César Bustamante. The small choral contribution was nicely done under Miguel Martínez.
And now to the dark side, the production. First strange thing: why two producers (Davide Livermore and Alfonso Antoniozzi)? Almost always we make do with just one, even in a group such as La Fura dels Baus. Livermore also did the stage design; lighting:Vladi Spigarolo; costumes:Mariana Fracasso; video: D-Wok. All local debut.
The general view: 1) again the plague of unit sets. It passably works for the first three acts but fails miserably in the fourth, the Garden, where we are supposed to accept couples in black substituting for trees! 2) A completely enigmatic thing: the overture should be only heard but not here: we see an old woman in an armchair and several men in black carrying suitcases pass by; the woman reappears in the final scene and at one point Barbarina is costumed similarly and looks at her, who seems to die: are we supposed to consider that she is Barbarina grown old and reminiscing the whole "journée"?
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