Claudio Monteverdi
L'Orfeo
Favola in Musica
DVD
La Musica Montserrat Figueras
Orfeo Furio Zanasi
Euridice Arianna Savall
Messaggiera Sara Mingardo
Speranza Cecile van de Sant
Caronte Antonio Abete
Proserpina Adriana Fernandez
Plutone Daniele Carnovich
Apollo Fulvio Bettini
Ninfa Mercedes Hernandez
Pastores Gerd Tuerk
Francesc Garrigosa
Carlo Mena
Ivan Garcia
La Capella Reial de Catalunya
Le Concert des Nations
Stage director Gilbert Deflo
Designer William Orlandi
Choreography Anna Casas
Musical Director Jordi Savall
Recorded in the Gran Teatro del Liceu, Barcelona, Spain
On 31 January 2002
BBC Opus Arte OA 0842 D
Running time: approx. 140'
The DVD format seems to have been made to record opera. With the clarity
of picture and quality of sound, as well as the ability to select
several sound options (stereo or surround) and subtitle into any one of
four languages (English, French, German or Spanish) the format does
produce an experience as close as possible to being at the live
performance, without actually being there. This DVD is a good example of
how the format can be exploited to achieve just this end, and achieves a
balance of factors that make it one of the opera release highlights of
the year.
The musical performance is as one would expect from the consummate Jordi
Savall. The soloists are consistently first rate, the playing of Les
concerts des Nations is exciting and flawless and the chorus sings with
the usual precision and wide range of colour that we have come to expect
of La Capella Reial de Catalunya. Positioned in front of the proscenium
arch on either side of the band the chorus take no part in the drama on
stage, although costumed as shepherds, but musically they are better
able to fill the auditorium with the lovely polyphony of Monteverdi's
madrigalesque chorus writing. The action on stage during choruses is
transferred to a group of very fine dancers, costumed in flowing robes,
who range from solemn, through vigorously energetic to the outright
camp, but all done with consummate style.
Furio Zanasi is a fine Orfeo, statuesque of person and agile of voice,
and he carries the enormous burden of this principal role with ease. But
the vocal highlights of the performance come from some of the smaller
parts. Daniele Carnovich, one of the most stupendous basses on the
continent today, makes a suitably austere Plutone, king of the
underworld. The other bass role, the very low part of Caronte, the
ferryman on the River Styx, whose task it is to transport souls from the
land of the living to the underworld of Hades, is sung from behind a
marvellously gruesome mask by Antonio Abete. In the first act Orfeo has
comparatively little to do, the principal vocal parts being the four
Shepherds (Pastores) who sing as soloists, in duets and as an ensemble.
Dramatically their roles are of static interest, but musically they are
first rate. The absolute vocal highlight of the performance however, is
the singing of Sara Mingardo in the role of Messaggiera. This is Sylvia,
Euidice's companion, whose unhappy fate is to break the news of
Euridice's death to Orfeo. Entering through the audience in the
auditorium and singing her opening lament from in front of the
orchestra, right in the midst of the audience, her communication with
that audience is remarkable, and the level and intensity of her
(minimalist) acting catches just the right atmosphere of the role. This
is most impressive and the ecstatic audience reaction on her curtain
call (more vigorous even than that for Orfeo) shows how the live
audience appreciated her.
The major musical star of the performance is, as ever, Jordi Savall, who
makes his own dramatic entrance during the opening toccata for the
trumpets. Dressed as Monteverdi, in white collars and voluminous black
gown, he sweeps through the audience closely followed by the camera,
arriving at the orchestra pit as the trumpets give way to the whole
orchestra for the repeat of the toccata. It is marvellous showmanship,
so simple, and stunningly effective.
If there is a gripe about this DVD it is that cast biographies are
omitted, both from the booklet and from the disc itself, although the
disc includes a 'cast gallery'; a somewhat pointless series of photos of
each major character with their name beside the photo. It is pointless
as we have just seen, or are just about to see, these same people in the
same costumes, moving around during the performance. A missed
opportunity to include some biographical information, especially given
the family connections in this performance, with Savall's wife, the
marvellous Montserrat Figueras singing the role of La Musica, and their
daughter Arianna Savall, singing Euridice.
The other extra feature on the disc is an illuminating talk by the Stage
director, the Dutchman Gilbert Deflo about his conception for the
production. The staging is a combination of modern minimalism and
baroque exuberance. The most dramatic feature is a vast mirrored curtain
over the front of the stage, in which the whole auditorium is reflected.
The idea came from the famous Hall of Mirrors in the Ducal Palace at
Mantua, where the opera was first performed. As a device it is simple
and effective, bringing to the fore issues surrounding the use of
mythology as a reflection of the vices and virtues of the human
condition, and of opera itself as a reflection of the artistic world
inhabited by both the creators of the opera and the contemporary
audience who view the opera. Thus the audience in the auditorium is able
at various points in the opera to see themselves reflected in the
mirrored curtain, through which they then move,
Alice-in-wonderland-like, into the magic world of the opera, where
singing is the natural form of communication and the fields of arcadia
are populated by free-loving nymphs, shepherds, deities and demi-gods.
It is an odd world, but this stage design puts the conventions of
baroque opera into a context that makes them seem logical in the context
of a production viewed by a modern audience.
Apart from the lack of biographies, this DVD is a fabulous evening's
entertainment, at well below the price of an opera circle ticket. This
is one of the most recommendable releases of recent times. Go and add
this to the collection.
(c) Peter Wells 2003
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