Review: JERUSALEM di Verdi all'Opéra Royal de Wallonie

Review: JERUSALEM by Verdi at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, for the first time in Liège, directed by Speranza Scappucci, with Roberto Scandiuzzi.

By Natalia Di Bartolo © dibartolocritic

The attentive ear of the melomaniac claims to get an idea of the orchestral conducting of a work already at the opening attack and in the first bars. AND’ as for the voices: it is enough for the singers to open their mouths and he believes he can immediately frame the vocality and range of this. But it is not a law or an assumption of infallibility. AND’ only experience and the true melomaniac also has the modesty to admit that, while listening, evaluating the complex, one can change his mind.

And’ what happened to Liège, the March 23, 2017 for the staging of the rare Jérusalem by Giuseppe Verdi al Teatro dell'Opéra Royal de Wallonie, first performance of the opera in this theatre.

At the start of the beginning, probably due to listening accustomed to Verdi's warlike sonorities, the impression was of a certain weakness of the direction. Wanting to be honest to the end, however, there is, in fact, even a hint of bias towards the "conductors" of the orchestra. Do you follow the Crusca? No! Here the "director" remains masculine, without failing, as a woman to a woman, to respect the fairer sex in any way. Only a matter of purely Italian semantic principle, given that the word "directress" is associated with the severe figure of a school director, perhaps even with a moustache, more than that of a Master on the podium.

Points of view from other times? Perhaps…But, returning to the initial attack, the impression regarding the Director Speranza Scappucci it was, at first glance, not entirely positive: the presumption of the melomaniac meant that the length of a work like the one proposed was also thought in perspective. Would he have kept the director in charge and the listener listening throughout the long evening?

Very serious error, resulting in a public "Mea culpa!" in this seat. The melomaniac (feminine admitted in the article, noun of two genders) that he writes this time was wrong. And she was wrong for one simple main reason: she didn't consider which Verdi was that.

And’ an apparently non-Verdian Verdi, who, young, al debut on November 26, 1847 at the Opéra de Paris of her Jérusalem, opera in four acts, su libretto by A. Royer and G. Vaëz, revision of I Lombardi alla prima Crusade, has been able to "sell" very well both to Ricordi and to the French public. A Verdi whose mimicry and ability to change and adapt in texture and orchestration are astonishing. Nothing to do with the Lombards, as one might expect: here we are in France, in every sense.

This is why conductor Scappucci began like this, with a softness that was not a lack of attitude: not the warlike Verdi of the Lombards, but a Verdi manipulated in the French style by Verdi's own skilled hands. A music of a poignant beauty, sung in a language that is not usual for her, a Verdi who reaches such heights of sonority of inscrutable beauty only in the French version of his masterpiece: Il don Carlos. Divino don Carlos, in which the Lacrymosa at the death of Rodrigo, later inserted in the Requiem Mass, alone arouses sublime emotions.

Well done, then, Maestro Scappucci: chapeau!, in the French way, to a young woman who really knows how to hold the orchestra in her hand and knows what she wants and how she wants it.

La bella Liège orchestra he thus got to know and put into practice his times and dynamics, Italian yes, but correctly adapted to the French spirit expressed by Verdi. Therefore not warlike, therefore not squared, but soft and elastic, ready to become snappy and martial at the right moment, supported by excellent teachers in the pit and excellent singers on stage. In this regard, the conductor Scappucci also has a good rod in the direction and support of the performers: a pillar, this young blonde and strong-willed on the podium.

And the parts for the performers aren't easy. A texture that includes a dramatic soprano with easy agility and a tenor with high notes. A sort of hovering of Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti in a music that sometimes recalls and summarizes them and that captures from beginning to end, in which masterpiece pieces are set, such as the choir "O gentleman from the native roof", which becomes "Ô mon Dieu, ta parole est donc vane", very well performed by the Belgian theater team under the direction of Pierre Iodice. And danceables of great musical and visual breadth.

A dramatic soprano of agility, therefore the Helen by Elaine Alvarez, who faced the arduous part assigned to her with the courage of a lioness. Although with some stretch in the treble, she has tried to render Verdi's agility in French with appropriate voice and wit. She is effective, however, also in duets, together with the tenor Marc Lahoin the part of Gaston.

Laho, who played at home, had been first chorister in the Belgian theater team and he too faced a decorously score that would have made anyone's head spin. An incredible ups and downs, for which one continues to think that Verdi did not love singers too much or, in any case, really demanded the best voices in the world for his operas.

And what better voice in the world for Roger, incestuous uncle and penitent hermit, of that of the great Robert Scandiuzzi? In a varied role that requires credibility also as an actor, the resonators of the lower Treviso area have donated unthinkable colors. His vocal and scenic authority gave the production an edge. His serious, deep and very personal are magnificent.

The other interpreters were also good, who acted as a corollary to the protagonists: Il Count of Toulouse by Ivan Thirion, Raymond by Pietro Picone and all the others, in an intricate and certainly humanly rough plot, seasoned with so much wonderful music that three hours and more of the show have flown by in a breath.

Great show that of Liège, in one new co-production by the Opèra Royal de Wallonie-Liège with the Regio di Torino, in which certainly the Directoras well as theater director, Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera, in a skilful and well-structured stage direction, has well placed its ambitions.

Simple and linear scene by Jean-Guy Lecat, beautifully lit by Franco Marri, splendid i costumes by Fernand Ruiz, especially cared for. A sumptuous production of a high standard which speaks in favor of this Belgian theater with a great tradition.

Great evening of great music and great theatre.