By Louise
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aka3KCx847A
Available until: 21st October 2020
There isn’t much time to watch this, but it is a really
enjoyable performance of an opera which is very well-known but which I think
I’ve only seen once.
It is a really lovely production and because it’s filmed, we
have the opportunity to see the set up close and it’s beautiful. Hugh De Ana is
the director, set designer and costume designer for the production and that’s
not a surprise as the set and costumes go so well together. The set is full of
beautiful greys and dark blues and that is echoed in the singers’ clothes. The
beautiful colours show the romance and love in the story, but the set is full
of angles and shadows which show how difficult it is for the three central
characters in particular.
There are some horrible things in the plot, but Verd’s music is so gorgeous, it keeps the focus on the love story rather than on the bad things that happen. Conductor Rico Saccani and the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra bring out every bit of emotion in the score.
Maria Agresta and Carlo Ventre are a passionate Leonora and
Mancico and their voices blend really well together. Count di Luna can be seen
as the bad guy who comes between them, but Marco Caria didn’t seem evil at all
– his love for Leonora feels just as real as Manrico’s, but because she loved
Manrico, di Luna never has a chance. It’s very sad, but it’s nice to have a
story where the heroine knows which man she wants instead of being torn between
them. I think stories like that are quite unusual now, but there are a lot of
really great examples of this in opera.
Azucena is the closest to being a true villain, but
considering what she accidentally did, it’s really not surprising if she’s
struggling psychologically and the fact she brought up Manrico so well shows
she does have a kind side. But at the same time, Marianne Cornetti makes her
into quite a scary character. I think anyone who didn’t know the plot would be
really worried about what she might do.
The singers in smaller roles did really well too and WANG
Jing (it’s written like that in the cast list) made me wish Ines had a larger
role as she is really lovely. The China NCPA Chorus are really good too,
especially in the Anvil Chorus. It is a little bit sad that in a Beijing opera
company, only the singers in smaller roles are Chinese, but it is natural that
they want to bring in international stars and it’s possible the Chinese singers
had more opportunities in other operas.
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