ANDREA CHÉNIER in Reggio Emilia – Review by William Fratti – In addition to La forza del destino, the flagship production of the Emilian theaters is the work of Giordano.
In addition to La forza del destino, the other leading production of the Emilian theaters is Andrea Chénier by Umberto Giordano.
March 1, 2019 –
The title role is played by a good Martin Muehle, to whose listening one is initially amazed, as he has a glazed and particularly pleasant timbre that recalls the great tenors of the past. The beautiful color is enriched by soaring high notes, but one gets the impression that it is always hesitant, as if it were uncertain and walking on eggshells, with the result that it is not exactly expressive.
Saioa Hernandez sports a velvety vocality and a homogeneous singing line, excellently corrected for the inaccuracies previously heard, even if she was a bit stoned in the first bars. Her Maddalena is very good even if not memorable, certainly needing a more eloquent phrasing and more decisive chromatisms.
Claudio Sgura's Carlo Gérard is excellent, brilliant and ringing in his emission, dramatic in his accent, passionate in his expressiveness, authoritative in his interpretation. It couldn't be done better, it could only be done differently.
The breezy Bersi by Nozomi Kato, the full-bodied Madelon by Antonella Colaianni and the frivolous Contessa by Shay Bloch are particularly successful.
Stefano Marchisio's Roucher, Alex Martini's Fléville/Tinville and Alfonso Zambuto's Incredible are also very effective, as well as Fellipe Oliveira's suitable sans-culotte Mathieu, Roberto Carli's Abbot, Stefano Cescatti's Schmidt and Maestro di Casa/Dumas by Luca Marcheselli.
The Terre Verdiane Opera Chorus prepared by Stefano Colò was excellent.
Well done the Emilia-Romagna Regional Orchestra conducted by Aldo Sisillo, a little confusing, a little messy, a little chaotic, but all in all not guilty of serious damages.
Nicola Berloffa, who was liked in La Wally and satisfied in Les contes d'Hoffmann, while he had made a disaster in The Merry Widow and Un ballo in maschera, here remains in a banal provincialism that arouses neither interest nor annoyance, but passes rather unnoticed. The tableaux, with scenes by Justin Arienti, costumes by Edoardo Russo and lights by Valerio Tiberi, are quite pleasant in the first and third acts, but not very focused in the second and fourth. The symbols of the revolution are all there, but certain boogers in antithesis with the libretto could have been avoided, as well as the many gaps could be filled, but unfortunately this is a trait d'union of Berloffa's shows.
William Fratti
PHOTOS © Rolando Paolo Guerzoni