Don Carlo's pictures from the ROH

Recent performances of Nicolas Hytner's Don Carlo at the Royal Opera House. The production premiered in June 2008 and this new run featured Jonas Kaufmann as Don Carlo and Simon Keenlyside as Posa. All photographs - Catherine Ashmore

Don Carlo, Scala opening night '08

Don Carlo, G.Verdi 4-act Italian version
Teatro alla Scala, Dec.7 - Jan.15

Don Carlo - Stuart Neill
Filippo II - Ferruccio Furlanetto
Rodrigo - Dalibor Jenis
Il grande Inquisitor - Anatolij Kotscherga
Elisabeth de Valois - Fiorenza Cedolins
Princess Eboli - Dolora Zajick

Daniele Gatti conducting the orchestra and chorus of Il Teatro alla Scala
Staging and sets - Stéphane Braunschweig  

Review of the Dec.7 live Arte broadcast

 

This new production of Don Carlo at la Scala is indeed an incredibly accurate statement as to the current state of this Opera House: mediocre cast, mediocre staging and mediocre crowd. Welcome to Milan!

The only true vibrant and inspiring elements of this run were Ferruccio Furlanetto and the conduction of Daniele Gatti - who was booed during the performance because the loggione and the audience in general decided he was guilty of replacing tenor Giuseppe Filianoti the day before the premiere. Apparently that's against the étiquette in Milan (but what isn't in this town I wonder).

Daniele Gatti's view on Don Carlo is very personal, and the colors displayed by the orchestra create a global atmosphere that transcend personal taste and provide a coherent complement to Braunschweig's staging.

I may not agree with all the choices Gatti made, but his conduction was brilliant on several occasions - specifically the duet between Rodrigo and Don Carlo in Act I (although the singing and unison were nightmarish) and the second half of Act III (from the aria of Rodrigo visiting Carlo in jail). On the other hand, the tempi were off for Elisabeth's aria in Act IV and at the end of the opera.

Overall, the conduction of Gatti emphasizes the naive aspect of the score, offering a childish reading (especially when it comes to Don Carlo) that is echoing to Braunschweig's staging.

The only thing that doesn't work at all in that theme is Stuart Neill's timbre. His voice lacks the clarity necessary to make the concept work (truth be told, I don't think Don Carlo should be anything but a tenore lirico). The fact that he was preferred to Filianoti was probably a very tough decision to make, considering the cohesion of the production.

Stuart Neill as Don Carlo

 

The staging of Stéphane Braunschweig (a director that followed Lissner to Milan when he was hired) is, to me, the biggest flaw of this production. It's obvious he spent a lot of time designing the sets and thinking about their visual impact (his lines are indeed perfect, and his perspectives impeccable). He also focused on the spacial division of the stage - the upper background representing the past, when everybody was a happy, carefree child; the front of the stage being the present, tense and threatening.

These two elements are the only ideas Braunschweig projected on stage. Everything else is bland, apathic and desperately lacking any kind of statement from the director. My main critic though is Braunschweig's lack of any kind of actor's direction.

He has obviously not been given the best acting cast, but his absence in that department is what ultimately produced this utterly boring performance (imagine static singers with no gesture like in the 1950s productions and you'll have a pretty good idea of what Braunschweig allowed on stage). This casual approach is unforgivable (especially since he's a theater-turned-opera director) and completely ruins the performance, stripping it of any kind of emotion and life.

There's nothing either in the exploration of the characters - and then, you start realizing there's nothing original anywhere. Act II is basically a showcase of tawdry costumes (the costumes of the Graham Vick's production in Paris were beyond comparison) that ends up with a beautiful yet meaningless red lightning; "Ella giammai m'amo" in Act III is as empty as the stage of the Konwitschny's production with cliché lights (sorrow = blue atmosphere), and the dichotomy between the past and present situations is using the same tricks as Knowitschny did in the "Eboli dream" sequence. All and all, nothing new, only recycled ideas from others. That's what I call directing.

The autodafe scene in Act III

The singers

 With no help from the director, the acting part was a disaster for everybody except Ferruccio Furlanetto (who is relying exclusively but very successfully on his own charisma).

Fiorenza Cedolins and Ferruccio Furlanetto

 

Dolora Zajick's Eboli was vocally fine, Fiorenza Cedolins doesn't bring enough emotions to her singing and Anatolij Kotscherga lacks stage presence (and should really articulate). Dalibor Jenis as Rodrigo has a good technique and a beautiful timbre, but his good singing isn't enough to compensate for his non-existent acting skills (I wonder how much better he can act with a decent coach).

Stuart Neill and Dalibor Jenis

 

Stuart Neill is nothing but a poor Don Carlo. He doesn't move at all (unless the implant in his brain is remotely activated by Braunschweig thus starting a jerky and absurd movement), showcases absolutely no emotion (neither vocally nor physically), is unfit for the role (both vocally and physically, again) and has problems with his tempi.

Thank God for Ferruccio Furlanetto.  


Conclusion

All and all, the revival of Vick's Don Carlo in Paris last June was a much better experience for me than this mediocre Scala production. The cast, the sets, the direction and the costumes were better in Paris. Furlanetto was as good as in Paris, but the conduction of Gatti is obviously on a whole different level than Currentzis's.

Ferrucio Furnaletto's Filippo II

Paris, Opéra Bastille
July 6, 2008
4-act Italian version (Milan 1884)

First of all, the conductor: Teodor Currentzis, 36, should have been more humble in the Ligne 8 (the Opéra de Paris magazine, pages scanned at the end of this post).

According to him, nobody strictly follows the score when conducting this opera, nobody except him that is. Like a true Lohengrin on his white swan, he intends to show us, the ignorant and uneducated audience, how Verdi's music really sounds like. Well, his conduction fell terribly flat in regard to that pretentious statement, and the naive Currentzis should understand no amount of grandiose gestures and sweat can overcome a mediocre view on the score. He was rewarded with some well-deserved booing at the end of the performance, and should really focus on the music instead of constantly moving like a crazy person.

Photo Agathe Poupeney

Both Yvonne Naef (Eboli) and Tamar Iveri (Elisabetta) were not at ease; Naef missed almost all of the high notes and was not into character at all (not frivolous and naive enough, too dark and almost Wagnerian); Iveri was not audible unless she was singing alone and without too many instruments, but she redeemed herself in her last scene where she sang beautifully.

Photo Agathe Poupeney

It's the second time I see Dmitri Hvrostovsky (Marchese di Posa) in a few months (last time was in April in the Met's Ballo in Maschera).
It's the second time I'm disappointed by him.
He also had vocal problems in Paris, not as numerous as in NY (which is almost impossible), but at the end of long sentences, his breath was so short he had that ugly sound of someone clearly out of options.
His stage presence was disappointing as well. His Posa was cold as ice, stiff as a board and emotionless. Not at all what you'd expect for this character. As a result, the exquisite duet between him and Don Carlo was a failure, all because of Hvrostovsky (who had his fan club in the auditorium on this Sunday afternoon, as some people clapped when he appeared on stage and was still silent at this time).

Stefano Secco as Don Carlo however was a very good surprise indeed. His singing was full of life and emotions, and his acting was quite convincing, especially his facial expressions.
He was really worthy of compliments and I never thought he would be so successful in this role.

Mikhail Petrenko (Il Grande Inquisitore, left, opposite James Morris as Filippo II on the picture above) was not very spectacular, nor was he awful. Average is the only word I can think of.

The real star of the cast for me was Ferrucio Furlanetto (Filippo II). His "Ella giammai m'ammo" was exquisite and the highlight of this performance, and overall his singing and stage presence were superb.
He is currently, I think, the best Filippo II in the world (Intermezzo may agree, Mostly Opera won't).

Photo Christian Leiber

Graham Vick's production from 1998 has a beautiful and powerful set that hasn't aged a bit, but suffers from a lack of originality in the costumes and is too static and too manichaean to fully explore the characters of Carlo and Filippo II (the autodafe scene - picture below- is the perfect example of it).

Photo Agathe Poupeney

Numerous pictures of this run of Don Carlo by Agathe Poupeney can be seen there.








Further reading (all reviews are in French except for the original IHT review):

- Review of ForumOpera (June 16 performance)
- Review of ResMusica (June 16 performance)
- Review of ConcertClassic (June 26 performance)
- Review of Anaclase (July 4 performance)
- Review of the IHT from the original production in 1998

Konwitschny's Don Carlos at the Liceu

Don Carlos
Opéra en 5 actes de Giuseppe Verdi (original version)
Livret de Joseph Méry et Camille du Locle (en français)

Production of Peter Konwitschny
Wiener Staatsoper / Liceu
Premiere in Hamburg in 2001
Premiere in Vienna on Oct.18 2004 (DVD available)
Premiere in Barcelona on Jan.27 2007 (review of the broadcast)
Last performances in Vienna on June 19, 24 and 28, 2008


Don Carlos - Franco Farina
Elisabeth - Adrianne Pieczonka
Princesse Eboli - Sonia Ganassi
Philipe II - Giacomo Prestia
Rodrigue, marquis de Posa - Carlos Alvarez
Le Grand Inquisiteur - Eric Halvarson

Conductor - Maurizio Benini



I. The staging

This was a very controversial production from the beginning, and I do understand why. While the motives of Peter Konwitschny are often appropriate, the aesthetics is rather disconcerting and preposterous.

Eboli's dream (Vienna 2004)

It was indeed a good idea - as this production is build on the integral 5 act version of the opera, including a 20 minute ballet (mandatory for the creation in 1867 in Paris) -, to use the time to a fantasy scene entitled "Eboli's dream" of the perfect suburban life she could have had with Carlos. But Suburbia and XVIth century aren't related in any way, and as Konwitschny chose costumes inspired from the XVIth century for the entire opera, the dream of Ebony ends up being totally awkward. The anachronism just didn't work at all for me (especially this one, where the audience is suddenly submerged into this burlesque movie from the 1960s).

The auto-da-fé scene was the highlight of this production and yet again, I couldn't make the switch from the XVIth to the XXIth-media frenzy century. What definitely didn't help was Carlos wearing a XVIth century dagger under his XXIth century tuxedo.

The moves the singers had to perform were also too exaggerated and I don't like it when the Opera House turns into a circus and the singers into clowns. I really don't.
It's the ultimate pleonasm if you think of it: "look at me, I'm singing I'm miserable because I'm trapped in that relationship, I'm feeling it but in case you still haven't noticed, with the music and all, I'm showing you with wide mimic gestures Konwitschny dug out from old Marcel Marceau's tapes".
It's very condescendent to the audience and I can't really see beyond that.

The set on that production is non-existent, for the most part, and it gets utterly boring in the last two acts. The light designer must have been desperate for something to do in that production, I'm afraid he either died of desolation or boredom, as Konwitschny had no interest whatsoever in that department.



II. The cast

Adrianne Pieczonka

Lots of disappointments there.
Franco Farina was awful as usual (this tenor I especially don't like), with awful high notes and awful diction (see by yourselves how he ruins the most beautiful aria of this opera, the duet with Rodrigue in Act 2, "Dieu, tu semas dans nos âmes"); Giacomo Prestia (Philippe II) abuses of vibratos in hopes nobody notices he can't sing in French; Sonia Ganassi (Eboli) was musically weak but managed a good acting performance (especially in Act 4); Adrianne Pieczonka was vocally the best of the cast but her acting skills are limited to one facial expression; Carlos Alvarez lacked something as Rodrigue - authenticity I suspect, and the stage directions obviously didn't help.




III. The music

Another huge disappointment there.
The reading Maurizio Benini has of that piece seems to be that, since Don Carlos is so long it's bound to be boring, the best thing to do is to rush the musicians, speed things up - and be done with it. The problem with that assumption is that it doesn't reveal the beauty of the score at all, as he used no nuance, lacked finesse and passion. His conduction was flat and linear yet extremely speedy (very disturbing indeed).

I'll stick to my DVD conducted by Pappano with Alagna, Hampson and Van Dam.




Further readings:

- A piece (in French) written by Jaime Estapà including the historical discrepancies of the opera
- Michael Milenski (in English)