JULIUS CAESAR IN EGYPT by Händel at the Teatro alla Scala - Review

JULIUS CAESAR IN EGYPT by Händel at the Teatro alla Scala – Review by William Fratti, Marco Faverzani and Fabienne Winkler – The usual annual appointment with the Baroque is renewed –

With the famous Julius Caesar in Egypt by Georg Friedrich Händel, performed here with different cuts in order to lighten the monumental and mammoth drama for music, the usual annual Scala appointment with Baroque is renewed on 25 October 2019.

The Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala plays historical instruments with a clean and particularly pleasant, very precise sound, thanks also to the skill of M. Giovanni Antonini who conducts alternating vigor and panache in the livelier sections, with impalpable poetry in the more lyrical and pathetic.

Robert Carsen's show is constructed like a cinematographic story and through a skilful use of the proscenium, where the da capos often occur, the gap between the scenes is avoided and thus a certain fluency and cohesion is maintained in the story, made of dynamic realism. The setting in a contemporary military context, with effective sets and costumes by Gideon Davey, often deals with the intense theme of the struggle for political and economic power with light and humorous tones. The Hollywood and ballet references are excellent. The choreography by Rebecca Howell is excellent, even if overall they appear a bit sparse and it would have been preferable to have a few more movements. The realistic lighting design by Robert Carsen and Peter Van Praet was also very positive.

In the title role, Bejun Mehta's performance is exemplary, offering a performance of the highest level thanks to masterful control of the vehicle and good sound projection. Grainy agility, intensity of phrasing, especially in the beautiful third act aria, pride in the accent.

He is joined by the charming Cleopatra by Danielle De Niese who, although endowed with a beautiful stage presence and a rather important vocal instrument, does not possess the subtleties necessary for the repertoire, especially in the pathetic pages, as well as having slightly strident high notes.

Christophe Dumaux's Ptolemy is excellent, despite a certain lack of homogeneity between the centers and the low notes, skilfully perfidious in the characterization of the tyrant antagonist.

The very elegant Cornelia of the incomparable Sara Mingardo is masterful, delicate, painful, but at the same time proud and proud. She accompanies the refined Sesto by Philippe Jaroussky who lavishly uses very fine yarns, resulting better in the pathetic rather than the dramatic. The duets between Mingardo and Jaroussky are of an astonishing grace, also due to the amalgam that is created between the two timbres, dark that of the contralto, light and bright that of the countertenor.