{"id":49370,"date":"2013-03-16T00:46:28","date_gmt":"2013-03-15T22:46:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gbopera.it\/?p=49370"},"modified":"2016-12-16T03:17:40","modified_gmt":"2016-12-16T02:17:40","slug":"francesca-da-rimini-at-the-met","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/francesca-da-rimini-at-the-met\/","title":{"rendered":"“Francesca da Rimini” at the Met"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City, Metropolitan Opera <\/em>
\n\u201cFRANCESCA DA RIMINI\u201d <\/strong>
\nOpera in four acts by Tito Ricordi, after the play by Gabriele d\u2019Annunzio, inspired by Dante\u2019s Inferno<\/em>.
\nScore by Riccardo Zandonai <\/strong>
\nFrancesca<\/em> EVA-MARIA WESTBROEK
\nPaolo<\/em> MARCELO GIORDANI
\nGiovanni, known as Gianciotto<\/em> MARK DELAVAN
\nMalatestino<\/em> ROBERT BRUBAKER
\nSamaritana<\/em> DINA KUZNETSOVA
\nSimonetto<\/em> JOHN MOORE
\nSmaragdi<\/em> GINGER COSTA-JACKSON
\nOstasio<\/em> PHILIP HORST
\nBerlingerio<\/em> STEPHEN GAERTNER
\nBiancofiore<\/em> DISELLA L\u00c0RUSD\u00d3TTIR
\nGarsenda <\/em>CAITLIN LYNCH
\nAltichiara <\/em>PATRICIA RISLEY
\nAdonella <\/em>MARY ANN McCORMICK
\nSer Toldo <\/em>KEITH JAMESON
\nAn Archer<\/em> HUGO VERA
\nA Prisoner<\/em> DUSTIN LUCAS
\nCello solo<\/em> JERRY GROSSMAN
\nOrchestra and Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera
\nConductor Marco Armiliato <\/strong>
\nChorus Master Donald Palumbo <\/strong>
\nProduction Piero Faggioni <\/strong>
\nStage Director David Kneuss <\/strong>
\nSets Ezio Frigerio <\/strong>
\nCostumes Franca Squarciapino <\/strong>
\nLighting Design Gil Wechsler <\/strong>
\nChoreographer Donald Mahler <\/strong>
\nNew York City, 9 March 2013
\n<\/em>
\nA program note for the Metropolitan Opera\u2019s revival of Zandonai\u2019s Francesca da Rimini<\/em> observes<\/strong> that \u201cWhen the current splendid production by Piero Faggioni premiered [at the Met] in 1984 \u2014 with Renata Scotto and Pl\u00e1cido Domingo heading the cast \u2014 it scored a major triumph, leading to a reconsideration of the work itself.\u201d That reconsideration was not significant enough, it seems, to warrant the opera\u2019s more frequent programming by this company: after only a handful of performances in the subsequent season, Francesca<\/em> wasn\u2019t seen on the Met stage again for nearly three decades, until last month.
\nThis opera has never caught on in the United States,<\/strong> but it is worthwhile, and the Met is to be commended for giving its audiences a rare opportunity to hear this music again. A few questions remain: why now? And why with this cast? And why has this revival been selected for HD simulcast (and subsequent DVD release), when the Met has already a perfectly good video from the 1984 performances, starring two of the world\u2019s greatest singers?\u00a0 It\u2019s unfair to measure the current stars, Eva-Maria Westbroek and Marcello Giordani, against Scotto and Domingo on artistic grounds, but even more unfair on commercial grounds. Who, exactly, is supposed to prefer the forthcoming DVD over the earlier one? Zandonai completists who must possess every single recording of the master\u2019s music \u2014 technology buffs who insist that superior camera work and sound quality override other artistic considerations?
\nNot long ago, Giordani might have seemed an ideal fit for the role of Paolo,<\/strong> but his singing in New York this season has been disappointing \u2014 particularly his assumption of the role of En\u00e9e in Berlioz\u2019s Les Troyens<\/em> at the Met last December. A decade ago, Giordani managed to sing the same composer\u2019s Benvenuto Cellini at the Met with excellent French diction and vocal power, though he lacked a degree of finesse. In December, he tried and failed to muscle his way through En\u00e9e, producing sounds that were loud but not at all lovely, and after a few performances he withdrew from the production, permanently retiring the role from his repertoire and paving the way for the successful Met debut of American tenor Bryan Hymel. (I attended two performances by Giordani, as well as Hymel\u2019s debut; Hymel also appeared in the HD simulcast and the forthcoming DVD release.)
\nExpectation therefore mingled with anxiety as Giordani\u2019s<\/strong> first major enagement since Troyens <\/em>\u2014 namely the opening of Francesca da Rimini<\/em> \u2014 approached. In the event, Paolo found the Sicilian tenor in somewhat improved vocal estate, without inspiring him to a musically coherent performance or a dramatically compelling portrayal. His Francesca, Dutch soprano Westbroek,<\/strong> is known to New York audiences primarily for her Sieglinde, and since Zandonai\u2019s score does reveal Wagnerian influences, it might be supposed that this extremely attractive artist would shine in this role. But this music really doesn\u2019t flatter her voice, and she proved unable to bring to it the colors and bite that Francesca requires.
\nFortunately, the rest of the cast delivered assured, flavorful performances. As the conflicted Gianciotto, the brutish husband who craves Francesca\u2019s love, American baritone Mark Delavan<\/strong> skillfully mingled force with feeling, and one found oneself surprisingly moved by him when his wife rejected him. As the treacherous teenager Malatestino, American tenor Robert Brubaker<\/strong> sliced through his upper registers with fearless ease and physical agility. And conductor Marco Armiliato<\/strong> paid close attention to Zandonai\u2019s inventive orchestrations, though he was most effective in the most bombastic passages, notably the siege in Act II.
\nEzio Frigerio<\/strong>\u2019s sets (stately halls and bristling battlements) and Franca Squarciapino<\/strong>\u2019s costumes (exquisite patterns inspired by Pre-Raphaelite painters) are even more impressive than one remembers them to have been three decades ago, especially under Gil Wechsler\u2019<\/strong>s gorgeous lighting designs. But Faggioni\u2019s staging, now under the direction of David Kneuss<\/strong>, relies on exaggerated gestures and movements that seem positively old-fashioned and unlikely to translate well either to the movie screen of the HD simulcast or to the home screen of the DVD purchaser. The cast seemed under-rehearsed during Paolo\u2019s attempted escape in Act IV, leading a spectator to wonder yet again what the Met hopes to gain by broadcasting and recording this Francesca<\/em>. Photo Marty Sohl\/ Metropolitan Opera<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York City, Metropolitan Opera \u201cFRANCESCA DA RIMINI\u201d Opera in four acts by Tito Ricordi, after the play […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":49351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7364,1690,5357,9354,5358,271,1067,2000,7363,812,7361,272,1526],"class_list":["post-49370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senza-categoria","tag-david-kneuss","tag-eva-maria-westbroek","tag-ezio-frigerio","tag-foreign-readers","tag-franca-squarciapino","tag-francesca-da-rimini","tag-marcello-giordani","tag-marco-armiliato","tag-mark-delevan","tag-metropolitan-opera","tag-piero-faggioni","tag-riccardo-zandonai","tag-robert-brubaker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}