Verdi: Il Trovatore -- Royal Opera House [DVD] [2002]

The end result is uneven, though, in spite of the stunning Moshinsky production for The Royal Opera, a significant improvement over his previous Australian effort which has been variously broadcast over world television and seen in many countries. The main problem lies with Cura's Manrico, caught here in a problematic evening none the less the loud cheering and applause at the end courtain calls; visually he certainly looks the part. I can't say whether he's going through recurrent vocal problems or if this was an isolated incident, but what we have here is a very wobbly vocal production that to me marred an otherwise wonderful night at the opera (London, 3rd May 2002), where with "tricks of the trade" Cura tried, sometimes more successfully than others, to conceal the fact that his vocal instrument was in substandard condition; alarm lights up for the listener from the very "Deserto sulla terra" moment. Top honours are shared by Hvorostovsky and Naef, in their respective roles of the Count and Azucena. The siberian's is one of the most effective impersonations of the Count I've ever seen, acted with utter conviction and bravado, sung with impeccable and effectively nuanced vocal production, velvety when it calls for, full voiced when pertinent; no wonder then that "Il balen del tuo sorriso" brings the house down -I'd add that young italian baritones aspiring to tackle the rôle ought well study this portrayal-. Nor less can we say about the Azucena, the part chosen by Naef to show her proficiency at the ROH for the first time. Looking perhaps youngish for the part, especially in her scenes when she shares the stage with Cura, her powerful mezzo voice soars majestically over the Covent Garden stage, bringing memories of earlier, italian famous exponents of the part. Villarroel's voice is perhaps not strong enough for Leonora but she in the end acquits herself quite successfully, not a great Leonora perhaps but satisfactory all round none the less; her pianissimi are exquisite. The Ferrando equals Cura in wobbliness, the Inés seems cool and detached. The chorus and orchestra are in top form, Rizzi's tempi in the fast side, sometimes unnecessarily so, or maybe uncalled for (I went back to Carlo Maria Giulini's essay on the subject of this work's suggested tempi, originally marked by Verdi himself on his score, which the illustrious Italian conductor studied closely whilst preparing his excellent audio-only recording made in Rome some 20 years ago for DG; the essay is published in the booklet that accompanies it and is recommended reading for those who own the album).

In sum: peaks and valleys, but an all-round satisfactory experience, well directed for television by Brian Large and very well recorded, sound-wise, like most BBC Opus Arte releases I've come across. If you happen to live in a city which is a major opera centre, you may well experience the work live and in a similarly good -or even better- performance sometime or the other, with even perhaps at least some of these same singers and thereby doing without this album perfectly well. But if, like most of us, you don't, you won't go wrong by ordering this DVD, which for a fraction of the price of a decent seat at the Metropolitan Opera or the Chicago Lyric Opera -and certainly at Covent Garden, where the performance was recorded and good tickets go over the £PRICE barrier-, renders all round satisfaction, with the caveats referred to above.

Veronica Villaroel's Leonora too was very good. Her acting and singing were blended very nicely. Yvonne Naef's Azucena was also good, but I thought she lacked the bite of Simionato's or Cossotto's interpretation of the vengeful gypsy.

I would have to say that Dmitri Hvorostovsky was the star here. This seemed for me to be a Trovatore with the Trovatore. Cura's wobbly voice was too much of a instrution for me enjoy the opera fully. The fact that he acted and sang like a brute and not like a passionate poet, as I see Manrico, may be the fault of the director of the production. The production was OK, but I'd would much prefer a traditional setting for this opera. But on the other hand were the sets and costumes consistant and better than other production of opera nowadays.

Carlo Rizzi's conducting was crisp and exciting. Overall is this performance good, if you can accept Manrico to be a wobbly brute. The picture on this DVD is very good with it's 16:9 image. The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound too is good, but it would be even better if the producers of the DVD would do the same as DG and added a DTS track. But it is very good nonetheless.

What kept distracting me was the staging. First of all, it looks like late 19th century, making Leonora's Tale D'Amor (a night with an unmarked shield came, etc) quite improbable. Ferrando has a shaved head and looks too young to remember the events of the old days passed. Now, for the ugly:
1. When Azucena is captured, the "warriors" nearly rape (!) her onstage. This is inappropriate for Verdi's delicate music. Neither does the scene when Leonora and Manrico are in some sort of hay stack.
2. The strange sabre dueling (the producers made a big fuss about it) does not add any value. The "fighters" looked like made-up ballet dancers of some sort, they're wearing leather trappings more appropriate for a cult dance club.
3. During Anvil chorus, I surely did not see any anvils. 4. Finally, when telling her hounting tale, Azucena is supposed to be pointing at a fire, or a place where there was a fire. Needless to say, nothing of the kind is at sight.
Throughout the whole performance I kept wishing for a traditional (yes) staging, so that it would be more believable.
I suggest getting this DVD for the great singing, most notably the wonderfully done Miserere and Il Balen. Carlo Rizzi does a splendid job, although a bit too brisk at some moments.
The DVD itself has a pretty good quality, but the packet does not list the supporting characters, which is a shame because they give exciting performances.