Rigoletto, Sydney Opera House, Thursday 26 June 2014
Rigoletto - Giorgio Caoduro
Gilda - Emma Matthews
Duke - Gianluca Terranova
Maddalena - Sian Pendry
Giovanna - Domenica Matthews
Sparafucile - David Parkin
Monterone - Gennadi Dubinski
Conductor - Renato Palumbo
Director - Roger Hodgman
Set and costumes - Richard Roberts
Lighting - Matt Scott
Dear Colleagues,
This performance occurred in the wake of huge publicity over the sacking
of the season’s
Desdemona Tamar Iveri for appalling homophobic comments on her internet
page. A form of facebook ‘fission’ developed culminating in the company terminating
the soprano’s
contract. One only hopes that she was
not paid out. As with politicians and
other professionals one’s past comments can become serious baggage, especially when they reveal
serious ignorance, prejudice or malice.
The singer claimed that the comments were made by her much younger
husband who is a devout Christian (which does not say much for his form of
Christianity). Whether his or hers, the
harbouring of such sour and unacceptable views about gay people is inconsistent
with a career in opera (or any other calling I would have thought, including or
especially the priesthood).
It seems extraordinary that despite Rigoletto being very popular and
following an opera “drought” of several months, that there were still empty
seats in all reserves for this splendid opening night. And price would not seem to be a factor as
there were dozens of empty D reserves seats valued at less than $50 each - most
with slightly restricted views, but ideal for students or first-timers. However, this is the state of affairs in many
opera houses across the world and must be due to several factors, including a
general economic down-turn. Several
long-running opera companies have gone backwards of late (NYCO, San Diego, for
instance).
Emma Matthews played Gilda, as in 2010.
While she is a wonderful artist, this is not her ideal role which
requires more vocal heft in my view. Yet
she performed creditably under a conductor who made serious demands regarding
tempo and a direction which required her to be very physical.
Mr Terranova as the Duke of Mantua started out strongly with ‘Questa o quella’ which sounded youthful and frivolous, as
befits its words. The tenor’s stocky frame and facial expressiveness are
reminiscent of representations of the young Caruso with an almost square head
on top of a square upper body. He sang a
fine ‘Ella mi fu rapita’ but then, like most tenors, he omitted the
(unwritten) high note in the cabaletta Possente amor mi chiama. His ‘La donna e mobile’ was superb.
Mr Caoduro has a unique baritone voice, almost with a tenor quality and
a wide beat. He uses every traditional
dramatic device and a few new ones to present a perfect wronged father and the
victim of the plot’s
curse.
As deliverer of that curse the Monterone of Gennadi Dubiniski was
under-powered and woolly. He had an
uneven gravel-like quality to his voice and I wonder why the opera company use
him so often. By contrast Mr Parkin sang
Sparafucile brilliantly with one of his lowest notes close to the Guinness Book
of Records for length. Other supporting
roles and the chorus were all excellent.
The new production is based on two adjacent stage revolves. These move the action from palace to dingy
back lane to the jester’s garden allowing seamless scene changes. One had the feeling that the director ordered
one or two too many ‘cranks’ of the revolves yet the concept works well
overall.
There was a clever and almost revolutionary lighting design which had
everything from stroboscopic flashes for the thunder storm to audio-coordinated
highlight-haze spotlighting in the finale.
The projection of an enlarged shadow for Rigoletto in the final act was
brilliant and highly effective in amplifying the text in which he says that
killing the duke has made him feel strong and important for once in his
life.
The set was mostly black glossy mock-marble walls while the chorus were
all dressed in shades of bright red. The
initial house curtain was black highlighted with crimson to great effect. It still surprises me when directors try to
put singers on stage during introductory orchestral and have them mime out bits
and pieces from the opera. The original
collaborators went to some trouble to present a dramatic work which has stood
the test of time, starting the action at a certain point. I find it is not only inane and empty but
also an insult to the orchestra which gets few enough chances to shine and take
the limelight in opera. Another bad
habit of this company is to join acts together to save money on overtime. This time we had the ludicrous situation
dramatically where Rigoletto says to his daughter “Has time not made you weary
of him” only minutes after she has exited the Duke’s bedroom in Act II. It also puts extraordinary vocal demands on
an already demanding work. The singers’ unions (if such exist) should be crying foul
or even suing in my view, especially for the company abandoning the practice of
two rest days between major roles.
Maestro Renato Palumbo took many rubato liberties but each was done with
purpose and these contrasted with long sections of strict time, sometimes
particularly slow, other times fast. He
certain put his stamp on the score with the fastest Corteggiani, vil razza
I have ever heard and yet other pieces were slow. I think that the off-stage band in Act I may
have been dispensed with - these are tough times and as long as it was not
replaced with a recording I think we should understand. The orchestra received a huge and well
deserved ovation.
All in all a marvellous addition to the company’s repertoire and worth a visit for anyone in
Sydney. Also worthy of telecasting and
one hopes this is in the works.
Comments by Andrew Byrne ..
Andrew's blog http://ajbtravels.blogspot.com/
