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Mozart: Le Nozze Di Figaro / Pappano, Schrott, Persson, Finley (2006) [Blu-ray]

Conductor: Antonio Pappano | Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Label: Opus Arte

Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian

Genre: Opera

In David McVicar’s spellbinding production of Le nozze di Figaro the break-down of the relationship between Finley’s suave, dashingly self-absorbed Count and Röschmann’s passionately dignified Countess lies at the heart of the opera. The struggle to rekindle their love contrasts tragic-comically with the sexy ease between a feisty Figaro (Erwin Schrott) and a sassy Susanna (Miah Persson) is starkly absent, and the tenacious spark that remains between Marcellina (Graciela Araya) and Bartolo (Jonathan Veira). Antonio Pappano conducts (and accompanies the recitatives) with invigorating wit and emotional depth, allowing the ensemble to capture the moments of dramatic tension to perfection and engaging fully with the rhythm of an already classic production, captured in High Definition video and surround sound.

Reviewing the DVD version of this performance, Lynn René Bayley called it “fabulous,” and claimed that “if not definitive, [it is] at least a touchstone against which all future performances can be judged” (32:1). In his companion review in the same issue, Barry Brenesal was slightly less giddy, pointing to a number of flaws but nonetheless concluding with high praise: while “not everything works,” he said, “more than enough does to invest this Le nozze with a distinctive energy and a level of interaction beyond most DVD versions.” I’m more in Brenesal’s camp here—this is an exceptional release, but it doesn’t quite erase the very considerable competition.

Virtues first. While this cast may not quite knock out Böhm’s all-star assemblage (Freni, Te Kanawa, Ewing, Prey, and Fischer-Dieskau), it’s as solid, from top to bottom, as any group of singers you’re realistically likely to assemble today. Miah Persson, whose radiant Zerlina was a highpoint in Mackerras’s Don Giovanni (33:2), is even more impressive here, where her voice is equally lustrous and dexterous, and where there’s even more opportunity to demonstrate psychological nuance. As but one example, try her act III duet with the Count, where she just manages to hide (from him, although not from us) her palpable disgust (especially when he kisses her) under a veneer of flirtation. Until now, my favorite modern Susanna has been Alison Hagley, but Persson is just as winning.

Finley is a magnificent foil. From the beginning, he seems a more intellectual Count than most, a man of learning driven less by animal lust than by a kind of intellectual challenge and love of life. At first, I wondered: was I listening to this Figaro through the experience of Finley as Figaro (on the Haitink DVD) and as Robert Oppenheimer in Adams’s Doctor Atomic (33:2)? Perhaps I was. But the opening of act III—where the Count, in glasses, studies a mechanical contraption that screams out Enlightenment and Scientific Progress—shows that stage director David McVicar, too, was thinking of Almaviva in similar terms. He’s a surprisingly sympathetic character, one who seems truly transformed (although for how long?) in the final minutes.

Brenesal found Röschmann a bit too uncontrolled as the Countess, but I rather like the variety of moods she expresses: less youthful, perhaps, than Annette Dash on Jacobs’ DVD, she nonetheless does remind us (as the regal Te Kanawa, for all her virtues, does not) that Rosina is not yet the Marschallin, but is rather an inexperienced post-teen still learning how to become a great lady. Schrott’s Figaro is immensely attractive, and Shaham is a bundle of nerves as Cherubino; the minor singers are first-rate, too. Brenesal complained that the old guard folks were treated as caricatures—I, in contrast, found them less slapsticky and more vocally attractive than is usually the case. Figaro depends, of course, more on ensembles than on arias—and the voices fit together exceptionally well, whether in the blend of Susanna and the Countess toward the end of act III or in the balance of the largest scenes.

The staging is generally first-rate. Yes, having two doors into Susanna and Figaro’s bedroom makes hash of the plot complications in act I; and—like so many other directors—McVicar has to abandon his impressively detailed realism (down to cracks in the plaster) in act IV, where, even so, it’s just as hard as usual to figure out why neither Figaro nor the Count can see what’s going on. (Generally speaking, the more abstract the production, the less silly the final act seems.) The performers are all skilled actors—and McVicar has drawn the best from them.

So what keeps this Figaro from first place? Well, perhaps I’ve been swayed by the period-performance crowd, but Pappano’s conducting—“witty,” “spry,” and “sensitive to his singers” as Brenesal rightly claims it is—still seems just a bit too deliberate to me. It’s not really a matter of tempo by the clock (although Gardiner’s DVD is generally quicker); but the string-dominated sonority, the lack of acid in the winds, the slightly burnished articulation, and the sweetness of the phrasing all serve to suck up energy, particularly in the last act—where the inclusion of both Marcellina’s and Bartolo’s arias only adds to the sense that this Figaro is simply taking too long to wind up.

So my first choices remain: Jacobs’ SACD for an audio Figaro, Gardiner’s DVD (with Terfel, Hagley, and Gilfrey in excellent form) for a video version, and Böhm’s DVD as a supplement. Still, those who opt for this version will have little to complain about—especially on Blu-ray, where technical matters are, quite simply, spectacular.

FANFARE: Peter J. Rabinowitz

Cast:

Figaro – Erwin Schrott

Susanna – Miah Persson

Count Almaviva – Gerald Finley

Countess Almaviva – Dorothea Röschmann

Marcellina – Graciela Araya

Barbarina – Ana James

Cherubino – Rinat Shaham

The Royal Opera Chorus

The Royal Opera House Orchestra

Antonio Pappano, conductor

David McVicar, stage director

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, 10, 13 and 17 February 2006.

Awards & Accolades:

'BEST OF THE YEAR' 2008 - Opera News (January 2009)

BEST DVD OF THE YEAR The Metropolitan Opera (January 2009)DVD OF THE YEAR 2008 Classic FM Gramophone Awards (September 2008)

Plus

The Magic of Mozart: Interviews with Antonio Pappano, David McVicar and principal cast.

Cast gallery and illustrated synopsis.

Works on This Recording:

1. Le nozze di Figaro, K 492 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Performer: Graciela Araya (Mezzo Soprano), Rinat Shaham (Soprano), Ana James (Soprano),

Dorothea Röschmann (Soprano), Miah Persson (Soprano), Gerald Finley (Baritone),

Erwin Schrott (Bass Baritone)

Conductor: Antonio Pappano

Orchestra/Ensemble: Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra, Royal Opera House Covent Garden Chorus

Period: Classical

Written: 1786; Vienna, Austria

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Rating:
2.5 out of 5 by Book123