More Powerful

'Carmen' in Bizet's original version,
reviewed by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

The last opera of Teatro dell'Opera's Winter and Spring season in Rome was Georges Bizet's Carmen, one of the most frequently performed operas all over the world. Almost in parallel, the Summer Season was starting at the open air Baths of Caracalla also with Carmen, but as seen by the Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio, an ethnic musical group from several countries; it had successfully premiered its own very specific personal adaptation of Bizet's masterpiece at a Lyon festival.

Let us focus on the Teatro dell'Opera Carmen which I saw and heard on its 18 June 2014 opening night. I've reviewed the opera several times for Music and Vision; most recently when it was selected for La Scala's 2009 season start (see 'A False Start', 7 December 2009) and for an unpretentious but enthralling Catania production ('The Turning Point', 18 January 2012). Thus in this review, I focus on the production itself and assume that the readers are familiar with the background of such a well-known opera.

Musically, the production includes orchestral accompaniments for the recitatives composed by the well-known but rather modest musician Ernest Giraud for the 1875 Vienna performances; it is fair to remember that in the contract with Vienna Opera, Bizet had endeavored to compose music for the recitatives but died before writing them. The Giraud version is generally performed and it is a must when dealing with an international cast not fully mastering French. The Rome production does away with the softening and the embellishments of the Giraud orchestration (for Vienna the good man adapted the score too). Instead, with Bizet's rather rough original orchestration (as in this production), the music drama is more powerful. The musical direction (by French conductor Emmanuel Villaume) is as close as possible to that originally conceived by Bizet before his premature death. Villaume, the Teatro dell'Opera orchestra and the chorus (directed by Roberto Gabiani) as well as the children's chorus (directed by José Maria Sciuto) and the soloists show that Bizet was at the peak of his inventive power and bestowed such a melodic, harmonic and orchestral richness on this score that every number seems to be shaped to perfection. The production does not offer the rather conventional reading of Carmen as a precursor of verismo. Instead, the musical direction shows that expressionism has a tribute to pay to Carmen — a point to stress about this specific production.

Two internationally known stars had been announced as main singers: Anita Rachvelishvili (who interpreted the title role with Daniel Barenboim in the pit in 2009 at La Scala's season opening night) and Alexsandr Antonenko (who sang Otello with Riccardo Muti in the pit, in Salzburg, Rome and elsewhere). They cancelled. All the better. In 2009, I had expressed doubts about Anita Rachvelishvili in the title role. Alexsandr Antonenko is a magnificent Otello, but the part of Don José requires different vocal skills; more shading in the singing (especially in phrasing), a velvet timbre, a texture such as to easily reach B natural and descend gently to a lower register. They were replaced by two excellent young singers (and actors): Clémentine Margaine and Dmytro Popov, both perfect in their respective roles and with spotless French. They well deserved their open stage applause during the performance and ovations at the end. Eleonora Buratto as Micaela and Kyle Ketelsen (Escamillo) were also quite effective. All the other numerous soloists were of a good standard.

The production by Emilio Sagi (with sets by Daniel Bianco and costumes by Renata Schussheim) came from the Municipal Theatre of Santiago del Chile where it was premiered in 2012: a single set with painted drops and projections. It was conceived for export to other theatres; it places good emphasis on acting. The audience loved it.