In the shadow of the Escurial
In the shadow of the Escurial
David McVicar directs Don Carlo in Frankfurt (****½) [live]
David McVicar is a genuine actor's director, a director who knows how to elicit the best from his actors, but he doesn't always show it. I rarely saw his theatrical instincts at work in New York, but I did see them in Glyndebourne and Covent Garden. What conditions must be met for him to throw his talent fully into the scales? I can only guess. The production currently running in Frankfurt dates back to 2007 and is already in its seventh revival. She is super-conventional but without toe-curling moments. She is textually faithful, very efficient in telling the action, but also enormously predictable and without flashes of the genius of the renowned actor's director. In theater, predictability is a problem but not a sin. The production team has clearly been more concerned with the pursuit of authenticity (period costumes by Brigitte Reiffenstuel) than with visual imagination. It seems Frankfurt warmed up the production to test its brand new GMD, Thomas Guggeis, on his affinity for the great nineteenth-century repertoire. Musically, it was a feast from a to z !
Nice to hear the Modena version again, which has been somewhat underplayed in recent years in favor of the original, French version from Paris. Of the three common versions, the Milanese version in 4 acts immediately declassifies itself. After all, with the deletion of the preliminary scene in Fontainebleau, not only do 81 pages of inspired music disappear but the action becomes incomprehensible. The exposition of Don Carlo's love dream disturbed by political reality is necessary to understand his relationship with his "mother" and also why the infant runs through the three-hour opera, "glacé d'horreur" and a bit adolescent. After all, the piece is not just about collusion and the tensions between church and state.
In the Modena version, the stunning lacrimosa of the fourth act is lost but there is one trump card over the Paris version: the granite final chords, one of the most overwhelming finales in the entire opera literature. And Thomas Guggeis makes them sound like the alpha and omega of Carlo Quinto's ghost. It is the apotheosis of three hours of music-making on the cutting edge: loud when possible and particularly when necessary; always in dynamic balance with the soloist ensemble, a balance spread across all instrument groups. It is an exemplary execution of Verdi's score that can be heard in Frankfurt.
Robert Jones' unitary set of gray brick walls and stairs is oppressive but also monotonous. Indeed, the "chanson de voile" and the autodafe, so different in atmosphere, are taking place in the same space. A curtain spans half the stage to give Filippo's surroundings for his grand monologue the appearance of a private room. A trellis descending from the stage tower simulates Carlo's prison. The autodafe shows a procession of heretics and the supply of piles of books to be burned. A king-sized cross in the depths catches fire. It could hardly be more conventional! Twice the director deviates from the text: he makes the autodafe reverberate in the presence of the court and not in the presence of the people, and in the finale he makes Carlo go down in a sword fight with Filippo's henchmen. No one rescues the darkly romantic hero from the hands of his executioners. The utopian ending expires.
The only character who is free from conflict is the Inquisitor, who insists that people do not matter as individuals and whose only goal is increasing the power of the Inquisition. The conflicts experienced by the other characters are the subject of great duets, all of them are thrilling.
Otar Jorjikia as Don Carlo is a true spinto tenor, slightly coloured with a baritonal timbre. Only slight mannerisms betray that he is not Italian. Andreas Bauer Kanabas, is the stalwart of the house when it comes to bass parts. Natural authority fits him like a glove. The timbre is beautiful, the phrasing intelligent, the dynamic control total. And he can project his magnificent instrument with great aplomb into the auditorium. He knows exactly what he is singing and lets each syllable do its devastating work. His "Ella giammai m'amo" was a real highlight. Impressive. Perfect. Magisterial. It is for this kind of performer that one goes to the opera. Bauer was more expressive and beautiful in timbre than his rival among the fa clefs, Grand Inquisitor Simon Lim. Domen Krizaj as Rodrigo possesses a splendid baritone which he carries with natural noblesse. Phrasing and sense of style resulted in obvious personal highlights in "O mio Carlo" and in "O Carlo, ascolta."
No problems of vibrato or of awkward register transitions with the ladies. Magdalena Hinderdobler as Elisabetta you could wish for a slightly warmer, broader voice but "Tu che le vanità" she sings with all the necessary dramatic emphasis. Dshamilja Kaiser as Eboli does not strike me as a true mezzo but the coloratures of the "chanson de voile" worked very well for her and "O don fatale" she managed to give a fulminant dramatic glow. Bianca Andrew was a playful Tebaldo with a surprisingly clear voice.
The question remains, when will we get to see the real David McVicar at work again? Perhaps during his work on The Ring in Milan?