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DELIGHTFUL
ITALIAN GIRL IN LA CORUÑA,
SPAIN |
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L'ITALIANA IN ALGERI
Drama Giocoso in Two Acts (1813) by
Mustafa...................Ildar Abdrazakov Performance of
Saturday, June 1, 2002 LA CORUÑA, SPAIN - An opera buffa like L’Italiana in Algeri requires, not only specific vocal qualities from its interpreters, such as agility and flexibility, but also acting gifts. The humor, the lightness, the contagious energy of Rossini’s score should be reflected in the voices and body movements of all the singers. Luckily, that is exactly what happened at the beginning of June (1st and 3rd to be precise) at the Mozart Festival which took place in the capital of the Spanish province of Galicia: La Coruña. The success of both performances and the audience’s enthusiastic reception can thus be explained by the talent of the participating singers as well as by the imaginative and hilarious staging by Pier Luigi Pizzi, who was also responsible for the sets and costumes.
Simplicity is the word which best describes the sets by Pier Luigi Pizzi. It sometimes rhymes with poverty and lack of financial resources, but, in this case, simplicity proved to be both efficient and versatile. Columns and screens adorned with geometric, stylized, Moorish motifs formed the basic stage decoration. As a result, through minor scenic changes, the stage could portray the room where Elvira took her Turkish baths with her slave surrounded by a cloud of steam and eunuchs, as well as Mustafà’s audience room and the port where Isabella’s ship docked. In deep contrast with the frugality of means employed in the stage design, the costumes surprised us by their variety and richness of color. We remember with special fondness Ewa Podles’ costumes, which transformed her into a most seductive Italian woman. Forced to choose between a young, slender, top-model-like Elvira and a more mature and heavy Isabella, it would be highly unlikely especially nowadays that Mustafà would have opted for the Italian Podles. However, everything changes when one puts Elvira in simple, boring clothes and, on the other hand, dresses Isabella in the most flashy, feathery and glittery of red gowns. And if one adds to Isabella the assurance, the presence, the panache with which Podles walks on stage, there is no doubt whatsoever that Mustafà can only fall in love with the Italian lady. As far as the stage direction is concerned, it was as excellent as the costumes design, because it captured the humor embedded in the music and libretto of Rossini’s opera. Therefore, it was not surprising to hear sincere laughter frequently interrupting the performance. Particularly amusing and memorable were the impalement threats Mustafà ordered or the ridiculous little jumps Argel’s Bey would give whenever happy and satisfied. Let us not forget the skillful handling of the whip by Isabella who subdued guards and eunuchs through sheer violence, while using cunning seduction to conquer Mustafà. Vocally and dramatically, the great disappointment of the evening was Rockwell Blake’s Lindoro. No one can deny the quality of Blake’s technique, so obviously shown in the fluidity of the legato, the correctness of the diction and the perfection of the coloratura. Nonetheless, Rockwell Blake’s voice has a quite disagreeable tone - squally, thin, acid, monochromatic, not to mention its smallness -. As a result, there was a severe lack of dynamic contrasts in Blake’s singing, as well as an absence of varied vocal inflexions. He wasn’t a very distinguished actor either. Perhaps due to his particular vocal placement, Blake went through the entire opera with the same artificial grin, no matter what situation he was in. It should be noted, however, that Rockwell Blake received warm applause from the audience who clearly would not have agreed with our comments. Ildar Abdrazakov was simply delightful on stage: a true basso buffo. He offered us a petulant and arrogant Mustafà who was, nonetheless, gullible enough to be fooled by Isabella’s seduction maneuvers into the most humorous and ridiculous situations, namely his promotion ritual to Pappataci. The one who eats and utters no word that is what Pappataci literally means stuffed himself with pizza, while watching Isabella fleeing his Court with Lindoro. Moreover, Abdrazakov’s full, resonant and dark voice was flexible enough to overcome with confidence the technical difficulties of Rossini’s score. And he still had energy left to spice things up with imaginative diction. Equally excellent in the acting department were Carlos López’s Haly and José Julián Frontal’s Tadeo without whom many comical moments would lose their effectiveness.
We deliberately left the best for last: Ewa Podles’ Isabella. The Polish contralto owns a truly miraculous voice. Its low notes surprise us by their volume and almost baritonal sound, while the high notes, despite the natural thickness of the voice, shine brightly as flashes of light. In spite of her voice’s weight, Podles dances with ease through the most difficult coloratura and the only mishap we might point out would be a not always consistent execution of trills. Although her voice itself would suffice to leave us dumbfounded, there is much more to Podles than pure vocal resources. Her rendering of Isabella was as expressive as one would wish for. In order not to talk endlessly, let us restrict ourselves to the cabaletta of “Cruda sorte! Amor tiranno!”, which contains innumerable examples of Podles’ artistry. To the phrase “Di coraggio è tempo adesso” Podles gave impressive determination. Later, through subtle tone color variations, the Polish contralto distinguished “dolci” from “ruvidi” and “flemma” from “foco”, applying a most adequate portamento in “un sguardo languido”. Besides acting with her voice, Ewa Podles also made Isabella live through movement: fierce and dominating while subduing guards, eunuchs and Taddeo with her whip, but also smart and ingenious when conquering Mustafà through her beauty. And, finally, sincere, passionate and tender whenever near her beloved Lindoro. Indeed an exceptional performance by a singer who needs only to step on the stage to capture our full attention. A few final words to acknowledge the competence of the chorus and orchestra brilliantly conducted by maestro Alberto Zedda.
Nuno Miguel Marques is a Classical Voice correspondent in Lisbon, Portugal.
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