A David McVicar production practically guarantees creativity and excitement and this maverick director’s 2006 Royal Opera Figaro magnificently fulfills the bill. While it’s just this Figaro has several innovations – updating the time to 1830s France, some men in top hats, servants all around (like in his Manon, eavesdropping), a strong emphasis on sexuality and the Count’s violent nature – what truly makes the Figaro memorable is the synergy, the chemistry McVicar has brought out in the acting and vocalizing, and in the pit from conductor Anthony Pappano. This is simply the best of the half dozen DVDs I have seen of this masterpiece.
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McVicar has displayed how successful he is in this regard in his compelling Rigoletto and Manon (I haven’t seen his Magic Flute and Giulio Casare and I had mixed feelings about his Carmen) . Here too, the ensemble, the interrelationships between characters, the personalities of the protagonists are so strongly etched. This is the most theatrical, physical, earthy Figaro I have ever seen.
In his notes to the DVD, McVicar downplays performers’ emphasis in Figaro on “rococo charm,” but if not rococo, this production has no lack of charm when called for. And a Figaro without charm is not a complete Figaro. Conversely, McVicar’s sizable toughness and darkness are also appropriate, since the opera has many moments of seriousness, duplicity, unsuitable identity, confusion and hearts being broken.
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There are many moments to relish in this production, and McVicar’s rethink of distinct events is largely treasurable. The sarcasm between Susannah and Marcellina in Act one doesn’t drip it flies, it pours. Enjoyable! Their interaction at the ruin of Act 2 I’ve never seen more powerfully done. The servants overhearing a noble deal of the opera’s proceedings lends a most intriguing and spellbinding aspect to this exasperated day, a sense that the Count’s time, his control, his power, are coming to an demolish. So too do the very noticeable blemishes on the walls of the Count’s chamber, a fabulous touch as to the decay, the crumbling of his world.
Erwin Schrott is a dim and sensual Figaro, worthy and more rebellious when called for (Beaumarchais’ play was indeed revolutionary) than any other I have seen, and he sings beautifully. Miah Persson cuts a glowing swath and brings out all the charm and strength of Susanna. Gerald Finley is a infamous, dominating Count, his baritone richly fine (interestingly, he looks a lot like Schubert here) . Rinat Shaham’s Cherubino is utterly compelling with both a kittenish charm and a masculine presence. These four impart the stage yet interact superbly with the others.
The strong voiced Countess of Dorothea Roschmann has many heavenly moments although on occasion her declare can become stressed and turn hooty. Philip Langridge’s wildly creative and amusing Basillio practically steals the exhibit in Act 4, if his aria can ever do that (as the Witch in the Metropolitan Opera’s simulcast of Hansel and Gretel, he also brought a fabulous audacious and fun wickedness to that role) . Jonathan Veira’s order is pleasing and his wonderfully bulging eyes have to be seen in Bartolo’s Act 1 “la vendetta.”
Pappano brings out gargantuan does of vitality and warmth in the pit from his Royal Opera forces, bending generously to his singers wishes when needed and giving a masterful interpretation. He is an ideal match for McVicar’s creativity, his full-of-life production.
Act 4 is notoriously difficult to bring off totally, with characters in a garden supposedly being hidden and overhearing others without being seen. Few productions totally train this and McVicar’s doesn’t entirely either. A few leaves falling and some trees don’t set aside a garden when there are indoor items – tables, chairs, partitions, composed point to on stage. This takes away from plausibility. But Jonathan Haswell’s cameras do a wonderful deal to alleviate this pickle and form the interactions fairly secretive and compelling. The Jean-Pierre Ponnell/Karl Bohm film, not actually a very suited Figaro, nonetheless has the best Act 4 scenery wise, with a chubby garden and appropriate hiding areas.
When I want to peruse a Figaro now, I will turn to this performance. My previous favorites (1994 Glyndebourne with Haitink, Finley (as Figaro), Fleming and Hagley, and 1994 Lyon with Paolo Olmi, Furlanetto, Szymtka and Watson) are kindly but this takes precedence, for its theatricality, vision and valid acting and ensemble.
One strength of this Covent Garden production is that it puts equal emphasis on acting, stage movement, and singing (which only works when the latter is of high quality which it is here) . Credit goes to David McVicar’s directing for successfully combining all these features. He even uses the overture to highlight the class distinctions of the characters, as servants go about doing their work (and comically avoiding their work) in perfect time to the find.
Erwin Schrott, as Figaro, has a rich and deep baritone declare that literally booms out, but is flexible enough for the lyric demands of Mozart. He combines this with ample acting. In fact, such is his focus on acting that he tends to inform his recitative. It sounds unfamiliar to the ear at first, but he has such a larger-than-life charismatic stage presence that, when combined with his gracious singing, the speaking simply becomes Schrott’s plot of making the role of Figaro his acquire.
Miah Persson (Susanna) possesses a delicate soprano scream, but she’s not a natural comedienne and doesn’t have a strong stage presence. The latter is only a spot because Susanna is the dramatic link to all the characters (another plan of saying that she’s really the star of the opera) . I idea Persson was not quite up to the task. Mozart gave Susanna only one stand-and-deliver aria: “Deh vieni.” Persson gives a beautifully nuanced performance of this graceful song of hope and longing. She deserves the close-up camerawork she’s given throughout the aria.
This is the second DVD featuring Dorothea Roschmann as The Countess (Salzburg’s 2006 being the other) . As always, her creamy soprano insist is rich and expressive. In particular, her “Porgi, amor” is performed with enormous pathos and is deeply bewitching.
Gerald Finley is salubrious as The Count, appropriately brutish and dense at the same time. His baritone snort has deepened and matured since he played Figaro in the Glyndebourne production from 1994. His inform harmonizes beautifully with Roschmann’s. Their work together in Act II is a highlight of the production.
The supporting cast is trustworthy, led by Rinat Shaham who sings Cherubino’s two arias with exuberance and the sweetness of youth.
The major drawback to this DVD is uneven sound quality. It must have resulted from the placement of the microphones around the stage. There are times in arias and ensemble pieces when voices predominate but then suddenly recede away and all you can hear is the orchestra. It’s very frustrating to listen to when this happens.
My accepted “Marriage of Figaro” on DVD remains the Theatre du Chatelet production conducted by John Eliot Gardiner, featuring Byrn Terfel as Figaro and Alison Hagley as Susanna. This is a matter of taste, but I purchase the more lighthearted advance of the Chatelet production, focusing as it does on the farcical nature of the location (erroneous identities, etc.) . This Covent Garden production focuses on the sexual tensions in the place, resulting to a ample extent from the characters’ class distinctions. For example, Susanna’s and Marcellina’s smart first act duet, “Via resti servita ” takes on a downright hostile tone in this production. I lift the hilarious “trash talking” version in the Chatelet production. (Alison Hagley remains my celebrated Susanna on DVD; she also plays the role in the Glyndebourne production from 1994 that features Gerald Finley as Figaro.)
I highly recommend this Covent Garden production and understand why many have given five stars to McVicar’s more serious interpretation of this expansive opera.
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