Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor
Liceu, Barcelona, November/December 2006
Photographs by
Antoni Bofill, courtesy of the Liceu, Barcelona.
Cast
and production (this was one of three casts)
Lucia
- Edita Gruberova
Edgardo
- Josep Bros
Raimondo
- Giacomo Prestia
Arturo
- Vicente Ombuena
Alisa
- Mireia Pintó
Normanno
- Josep Fadó
Conductor
- Josep
Caballé-Domenech
Director
- Robert Carsen
Stage
design and costumes - Richard Hudson
Lighting
- Jürgen Hoffmann
***
It is possibly
rather ungallant to point out that Edita Gruberova is now 60 but the
recognition that her illustrious career must be coming to a close spurred us into
making a trip to the Liceu in Barcelona
where she was part of a triple cast Lucia
di Lammermoor. Unfortunately, she had had to miss her first few performances
due to illness and so her first
appearance was on December 1, 2006.
The production, which originated at Zurich
Opera, was directed by Robert Carson and must have been a nightmare to rehearse
with triple casts (Ciofi and Cantarero were the other sopranos) and the main
member of one of the casts absent but only very rarely did one sense any degree
of hesitation in a highly fluent and dramatic rendering. The period was modernish and suggested the
time of the Russian revolution, with grey uniforms predominating except for
Edgardo, an appropriate setting of great
political uncertainty, if one does not push it too far; it being difficult to
envisage Lenin or Stalin being impressed by a suitable marriage.
The design, by Richard
Hudson, framed the stage in a lop-sided archway that ran from near the front of
the stage to halfway back. The back of
this archway was sometimes completely closed off with either a solid wall or a
grill and sometimes the archway was extended even further back to a door. On Lucia’s first appearance, the solid back
wall had a small window that she tried to peer through. Only on two occasions,
on Edgardo and Lucia’s initial meeting and at the end of the opera was the back
opened up to show blue sky. The overall
effect was very claustrophobic as befitted the story.
Gruberova
started out a little hesitantly, perhaps mindful that Barcelona
might resent being stood up, but the storm of applause following her opening
aria must have reassured her and the performance continued to gain in authority
with some wonderful singing, eventually rewarded with a lengthy ovation.
Perhaps the trills were not up to her absolute best and the tone not quite as
sumptuous and once or twice, there was a suspicion that the knees were less
forgiving of age than the vocal chords but this is carping at what was a
stupendous performance.
Gruberova is a singer
who comes over much more tellingly on the stage than in CD or DVD recordings.
Although in a role that she must be able to sing in her sleep, she gave
concentrated attention to every note and gesture, never appearing just to coast. This dedication came through not only in the
usual big scenes, but in the less showy ones such as the scene where Enrico
(Anthony Michaels-Moore) gives her the forged letter to convince her that
Edgardo will not return. Michael-Moore’s
performance here was in a different league even from his excellent Covent
Garden one of a few years ago. Looking guilty and shifty by turns,
his bullying culminated in a violent slap. Gruberova responded with a
marvellously deadened tone on reading the letter and few could have failed to
be moved by her final despairing cry as she pushed against the imprisoning
walls.
Josep Bros, a
local Barcelona boy, was an ardent
and musical Edgardo and Giacomo Prestia a physically and vocally imposing
Raimondo. The conductor Josep
Caballé-Domenech drew some fine playing from the orchestra but could have
injected a little more variation of pace.
R.
Burdekin, December 1, 2006
Enrico
(Anthony Michaels-Moore) with Raimondo (Giacomo Prestia) and
chorus
|
Lucia
(Edita Gruberova) waiting for Edgardo
|
Lucia
and Edgardo (Josep Bros)
|
Enrico
greets Arturo
|
Lucia
|
The
final scene with Edgardo, Raimondo and chorus with
a ghostly Lucia
|
|