Set designer Ezio Frigerio and costumer Franca Squarciapino have designed a gorgeous, traditional, plush Forza for Florence’s May Festival (originally for the Zurich opera), much like we might have seen 30 or 50 or 70 years ago. Set about 100 years after the original setting (which places it near Italian unification), the Spanish flavor is palpable. The Marquis of Calatrava’s home is elegant; Padre Guardiano’s monastery has a ravishing, huge mosaic of Christ as backdrop; the battlefield is, well, a battlefield; and Leonora’s hermitage is properly lonely. Nicolas Joël’s direction is nothing to rave about, and the singers are not particularly good actors and actresses: this is a very hand-to-heart, hand-to-forehead, Preziozilla-on-table production.
It presents four leads who almost make it as true, excellent Verdians, but even semi-old-timers (i.e., those who recall Price, Caballé, Bergonzi, Corelli, Merrill, Guelfi, Milnes) will note that each misses by just enough to disappoint. Violetta Urmana’s voice is a beauty–big, round, easily produced and expressive–and she sings intelligently off the text. But though she sings at different dynamic levels, she cannot float a true pianissimo line and winds up being more admirable than moving, more soprano than Leonora.
Marcello Giordani, in his best voice as Alvaro, walks onto the stage during the Prologue and sings with such matter-of-factness that he actually seems bored. And he’s like that throughout; he manages all of the music well (the performance is uncut) but creates no character other than generic-Italian-tenor. And as long as I’m carping, I must add that his voice is a bit light for the part.
Somewhat better is Carlo Guelfi as Carlo, who has a true Verdi baritone, a fine legato, and better acting skills than his colleagues. In addition, his anger is palpable–he actually seems “in” his character. Roberto Scandiuzzi’s Guardiano is admirable–sincere, reverent, flavorful–with Melitone (a good Bruno De Simone) comforting to Leonora. The Preziozilla of Julia Gertseva is terrible.
Zubin Mehta must take the blame for some of the lethargy that blooms forth from this show. His tempos in the prologue, after Alvaro enters, rather than being impetuous and urgent, are pokey and introspective, and throughout there is a lack of urgency that stops the opera’s tense moments from having any effect. The orchestra and chorus play and sing very well. Subtitles are provided in all major European languages, the picture is excellent, and there are plenty of tracks–27 on the first DVD and 32 on the second.
The competition is scant. A 1958 performance in black and white from San Carlo, Naples, starring Tebaldi and Corelli, is simply sensational vocally (and you immediately forget the tackiness of the production)–but it doesn’t seem to be available lately. If you can find it, it’s a first choice. Otherwise, Leontyne Price at the Met in 1985, though late in her career, is still worthy (though with a noisy Giuseppe Giacomini as Alvaro, a small-scale Leo Nucci as Carlo, and a lazy Bonaldo Giaiotti as Guardiano). But this present one is somewhat of a dud.
