Critiques de productions passés
3They even manage somewhat to navigate the impossible scene in Act 2 when all three main characters are in bed together, Isolier dressed up as Adèle, the deceived Count Ory passionately embracing him, Adèle hiding in Isolier’s arms. The scene is not exactly believable, but it’s pretty funny. Rossini recycled most of Il viaggio a Reims’ music for this farce, adding an unusually short and unimpressive overture, a couple of charming duets, and a sensational trio for the three-in-the-bed scene. It is astonishing how Rossini manages to write spectacular music for the silliest of situations. This scene (worthy of panto) requires the whole toolbox of an experienced singer: legato, precision, control, coloratura, perfect intonation and (most of all) elegance. How you sing with elegance when you are pretending to be in bed with all the wrong people and everybody is guffawing in the audience is beyond me, but the trio of principals in Zurich did precisely that, and it was great.
Der wollüstige Graf Ory will von der kriegsbedingten Abwesenheit vieler Ehemänner im Land profitieren, verkleidet sich als Eremit und als Nonne, um sich so an die Frauen, welche ein Keuschheitsgelübde abgelegt haben, heranzumachen, wird aber immer wieder enttarnt und muss schliesslich von dannen ziehen, ohne zum Ziel gelangt zu sein.
The vocal cast was of a good level. One must not look for the most interesting interpreters in Pietro, entrusted to Roberto de Candia's sure craft, or in Francisco Brito's Carlo, a correct but slightly bland tenor. Here the scene was stolen by the acting effervescence and the remarkable vocal presence of Marco Filippo Romano, a basso buffo who sang the exhilarating role of Ser Cuccupis, the local magistrate. Even the other basso, Tommaso Barea, was a very effective performer as the usurer Firman-Trombest, while Marcello Nardis gave voice to the character of Hondediski, a prototype for L'elisir's Belcore. Among the female performers, it was not the slender, though agile, voice of Nina Solodovnikova (Annetta) that excited, but Loriana Castellano and Paola Gardina, as Caterina and Madama Fritz respectively, to whom Donizetti devotes two masterful pages right at the end of the opera: to the Tsarina the aria “Pace una volta, e calma” with a noble Mozartian tempo, and to the innkeeper a scene with rondo “In questo estremo amplesso” of huge theatrical effect. In both numbers the two singers demonstrated expressive qualities and vocal preciousness that have given an extra dimension to their characters. For the staging of this rare title, Francesco Micheli, artistic director of the festival, summoned the Roman collective Ondadurto Teatro (Marco Paciotti and Lorenzo Pasquali), a company known for its interdisciplinary shows, ranging from nouveau cirque to physical theatre, from dance to gesture. On their debut in the world of opera, their juvenile zeal was appreciated. However it led sometimes to the excesses of a horror vacui (mimes, trapeze artists, video projections) which were often intrusive. In the scenery and in the costumes, the geometric and colourful elements of Russian abstract (Kandinsky and above all Malevič) were recognised, forcefully adapted to a story set in Peter the Great's Russia. The rigidity of the unusual costumes designed by K.B. Project did not restrict the freedom of the characters, but underlined their overall schematic pattern.
