DEMETRIO AND POLIBIO at the Rossini Opera Festival – Review by William Fratti – The first opera composed by Gioachino Rossini was not the first to be performed.
The first opera composed by Gioachino Rossini was not the first to be performed. We had to wait until 1812, the year in which six of the precocious composer's works were staged, to witness the premiere of Demetrio e Polibio.
Long believed to be the work of an adolescent, recent sources most presumably indicate it as the work of an eighteen-year-old. Apart from this, there is no autograph from the time and, while some numbers are certainly attributable to Rossini and others to Mombelli, the remainder may even have been borrowed from other authors. The review of the sources, edited by Daniele Carnini, is therefore not to be taken as definitive and the road towards the critical edition still seems uphill.
On the occasion of the Fortieth Festival, on 18 August 2019, it was decided to re-propose Davide Livermore's 2010 production, whose direction was skilfully taken up by Alessandra Premoli, with the sets and costumes of the Academy of Fine Arts of Urbino and the lights by Nicolas Bovey. The fascinating, captivating and modern show of the first time now loses much of its effectiveness, cannibalized in ideas and solutions by many other productions by Livermore himself, thus resulting in it always being the same old story.
Paolo Arrivabeni's direction is fully convincing – assisted by the responsible collaborator and continuous teacher Daniela Pellegrino – who does his utmost in a reading steeped in Rossini style, especially in the phrasing and accents. The Filarmonica Gioachino Rossini was also an excellent surprise, particularly in the symphony, even if some problems were heard in the brass during the course of the work. Excellent performance for clarinets and oboes. Very good also for the Choir of the Teatro della Fortuna M. Agostini directed by Mirca Rosciani.
Jessica Pratt is an excellent Lisinga and, in this part of a true dramatic soprano with very focused agility, she shows all the strengths and weaknesses that have distinguished her in recent years. As usual, her Rossini style is almost perfect, from the intention to the use of technique, especially in agility, all enriched by natural yarns. However, for some time now, she has been used to changing the position of certain notes while she is singing them, as if she had to look for the right one every time, giving an annoying fluctuating sense. Furthermore, in some passages, she appears a little dazed and her high notes, although mostly crystalline, are sometimes stretched.
Juan Francisco Gatell is a very good Demetrio, although it must be said that these are not his roles yet. An excellent Rossini interpreter, he does not yet possess the depth necessary to best perform the baritenor parts, although he notices a great improvement in this direction. However, his performance is of the highest level, technically flawless and with truly intense phrasing.
Cecilia Molinari, winner of the Rossini International Belcanto Competition in Wildbad, attended the Pesaro Academy in 2015 under the guidance of Alberto Zedda and since then has had an important international career, especially in the Rossini context. Of her Siveno we appreciate above all the style, the refinement and the homogeneity of the singing line, even though her expressiveness is not one of the most intriguing.
The equally young and promising Riccardo Fassi continues to demonstrate that he knows the meaning of bel canto very well and gives a very good performance in the role of Polibio, despite feeling a more modest Rossini intention than his colleagues, with less effective phrasing and accent.
William Fratti
PHOTOS Rossini Opera Festival