Perfect Settings in Music and Vision 3 gennaio

Perfect Settings

New Year in Italy, by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

In Italy, like in many other countries, the Christmas / New Year season provides the opportunity for concerts, ballet and opera. In many towns the baroque churches are the perfect setting for instrumental and choral music. The opera houses normally give priority to ballet — a family entertainment. In this report, I focus only on four events to give the flavor of holiday music in Italy to Music & Vision readers, especially to those who may think of spending a few days between Christmas and New Year in this country in future years.

To begin with, the main international event: the New Year Concert at La Fenice in Venice. During the last eleven years, it has gradually become a competitor to the traditional New Year Musikverein Concert in Vienna. Normally, there is a five year waiting list for tickets to the New Year Musikverein Conzert. La Fenice is always sold out, but there are four performances starting on 30 December. Both Vienna and Venice are telecast live by the major networks. This short report refers to the 1 January 2014 morning performance at La Fenice.

New Year Concert 2013-14 at Teatro La Fenice in Venice with Carmen Giannattasio, Lawrence Brownlee and the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro La Fenice conducted by Diego Matheuz. Photo © 2014 Michele Crosera. Click on the image for higher resolution

Twenty-nine year old Diego Matheus held the baton firmly. In the first part of the concert, he conducted Beethoven's seventh symphony, handling the gradual rise from the melodic first movement to the triumphant allegro con brio in the fourth movement quite well. In the second part, Italian soprano Carmen Giannattasio and American tenor Lawrence Brownlee joined the chorus and the orchestra in a series of arias and duets from well-known operas. In the final number, even the enthusiastic audience joined the orchestra, chorus and singers in the 'toast scene' of La traviata: Libiam ne' lieti calici. Venice was under a gorgeous, yet cold, January sun. The audience was enthralled.

New Year Concert 2013-14 at Teatro La Fenice in Venice with, from left to right, Carmen Giannattasio, Lawrence Brownlee and Diego Matheuz, with members of the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro La Fenice. Photo © 2014 Michele Crosera. Click on the image for higher resolution

In Rome, the Teatro dell'Opera unveiled a new production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake to replace that seen almost every year from 2003 to 2011. This new production is on stage almost every night from 21 December 2003 until 16 January 2014. I was in the audience on 21 December. During the same period, there are other two productions of Swan Lake in the capital: one by a Russian company on a tour and the other by the Balletto di Roma, a local group. Swan Lake is generally thought to be a children's show; this is one of the determinants for its frequent performances during the holiday season. In my view, this is quite a wrong perception because it was composed during one of the worst periods of the composer's life: whilst he was attempting to conceal his sexual orientation with a marriage which was short and ended tragically. In the score, the juxtaposition between B flat-D-F and B-F sharp-C expresses not only the confrontation between good and evil but also the inner intimate torment of the composer. In this production with Maurice Bart as choreographer and set designer, the setting is brown and grey and the lake is under a dark sky. Protagonists Anna Tsyganova, Mikhail Kaniskin, Gaia Straccamore, Manuel Parruccini were quite good. The large number of dancers in minor roles and the corps de ballet were all effective, and conductor Andriy Yurkevich handled the tricky score well.

A scene from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2013 Francesco Squeglia. Click on the image for higher resolution

Tchaikovsky was in the program of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma's Christmas Concert on 22 December 2013. The concert was conducted by internationally known Francesco La Vecchia.

Francesco La Vecchia. Click on the image for higher resolution

It included Russian and Italian 'suggestions' between the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. In the first part, two rare compositions: Ottorino Respighi's Antiche Danze ed arie per liuto -- terza suite ['Ancient Airs and Dances for lute', Suite No 3, scored for string orchestra] and Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence. The second part consisted of Shostakovich's infrequently performed Ninth Symphony, generally named the 'classic symphony'. All were joyful compositions. There was a real burst of happiness in the encores — all from the Italian repertory.

Finally, it is worth mentioning the 19 December 2013 Christmas concert of the Accademia Filarmonica Romana because, following a fifty-three-year tradition, the Academy Chorus directed by Pablo Collino (now in his eighties) performed Christmas songs and anthems from various centuries.

Coro Accademia Filarmonica Romana with director Pablo Colino. Click on the image for higher resolution

The Chorus is made up of amateurs but has recorded a variety of CDs for Sony. One of the recordings sold 1,700,000 items. Monsignor Collino has been the Chapel Master of St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican for fifty years. They have an audience of fans and received well-deserved accolades.

Copyright © 3 January 2014 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy