Bellini's LA SONNAMBULA at the Wiener Staatsoper in Vienna —
Review by Neco Verbis ©dibartolocritic —
Vienna, 13 January 2017
Going around and around theaters all my life, the Sleepwalker by Vincenzo Bellini it has always been a puzzle for me: never found the right production. Not only because it often drips with molasses to the point of becoming unbearable, but above all because between the first scene of the first act and Amina's finale in the second scene of the second act there is precious music, but one often finds oneself bored, due to lack of attitude directorial and voices.
I have always wondered, therefore, when I would find a Sonnambula that was neither sugary nor above all boring in the central part. At that time, on January 13, 2017, not that a Vienna was exactly the right one, but it was finally close.
Snappy, dry, the director Guillermo Garcia Calvo he churned out a square Bellini, very clean, free of smudges, never before heard so stainless and so lyrical in this masterpiece, never saccharine, never over the top. With the orchestral staff of the Viennese theater adequate for the opera and always perfect, the sounds were lively, the dynamics perhaps a little’ too linear, but effective. In short, the young Calvo, also of the Viennese school, is a great conductor. Bellini emerged as if refreshed by a breath of capable youth, even if it was a little lacking’ of that particular aura that should surround its performance and Donizetti loomed, glancing from time to time between the pages of the score.
On the other hand, on stage, a little’ too much volume was detrimental to the ensemble, even though it gave the cast precious pearls, especially in some concertatos, all to be applauded.
Daniela Fally-Amina, making his debut in the role in this production, a little’ sweetish at the beginning, it has a very respectable ring and it is fully unsheathed. Despite a certain Teutonic rigidity in the high zone and above all in the high notes, however, she gave an interpretation of the protagonist's figure which had adequate development in the dramatic part and proved impeccable in the very famous "Ah non credea mirarti", more than in the cabaletta finale, curse and delight of all the sopranos who have faced and face this part.
For its part, Juan Diego Florez – Elvino, just that day in the middle of his birthday celebration, he has super high notes, we know it, he certainly has them, but he also has a strong propensity for everything that doesn't always help him to communicate with his partner, despite his equally proud ring. He outlined a well-groomed Elvino, but a little’ over the top, risking overshadowing the soprano in some duets. The accuracy of the modulation is a choice, as well as a technique that Florez knows very well, and should be used appropriately. Voice and legate on which everything has now been written, stentorian blare, accentuated protagonism, fans in delirium.
More baritone than bass, Count Rodolfo by Luca Pisaroni on his debut in the role, he showed a good bond, but some inadequacy in the timbre and some too much excitement, fomented by the direction, for a character who is usually shown to us as elderly and peaceful, perhaps a preview of an Escamillo who would suit him very well, also for physicality.
Italian Bel Canto did not shine in the Lisa of the Russian Maria Nazarova, of the Viennese school, who, fresh from her debut in the role in Munich and with a coloratura suited more to en travesti parts than to Bellini, has restlessly crafted a voice which could instead, if well managed, be of importance in its genre: the biggest flaw the setting of the attacks from the bottom with relative portamento to the tone is evident, noted in particular in “De’ happy wishes to you, I am grateful", in the sixth scene of the second act. We hope that the very young singer (born in 1988) will adapt to a role for which she seems to have not yet reached sufficient maturity.
For once, the figure of the mother is in the foreground, the miller Teresa by Rosie Never. Secondary characters satisfactory, Chorus a little’ too strong too and with some slippage, but still adequate for the great theater to which it belongs.
With regard to the directed by Marco Arturo Marelli, which set everything in a vaguely 1930s hotel in the Swiss Alps, given that the hotel in the work actually exists, so be it; but Amina who appears at the beginning dressed as a maid and then wears the wedding dress on stage, behind an improvised screen, leaves a little’ a bitter taste in the mouth, given that, ultimately, this direction has not too seriously misrepresented, fortunately, the spirit of the places and events in which the story takes place, even in an almost timeless transposition. The direction was not helped by the scene by Marelli himself, of very vague coherence between external and internal, from its lights Come on costumes impersonal and banal of Dagmar Niefind .
But the staging, ultimately, remained secondary to the musical quality of the show and therefore did not harm the whole too much, also avoiding the overblown effect bucolic postcard from the mountains which is often given to us.
Endless applause, the Florez fans fierce and screaming, but all the spectators enthusiastic about the evening, flowers thrown and a lot of Happy Birthday sung by the audience for the tenor on the stage.
A decidedly continental Bellini evening in Vienna, a bit’ away in terms of atmosphere, but pleasant overall: a luxury that is often denied to us even in Bellini's places.
Neco Verbis © dibartolocritic
PHOTOS © Vienna State Opera / Michael Pöhn