Macbeth for me is Verdi's best early opera, with Luisa Miller and Ernani close behind. But I don't quite put it among his masterpieces. Any production of any of Verdi's operas are reason enough to view it, some don't work as well as they could've done and others are ones that I would willingly see again more than once. This Macbeth has enough to make it worth one viewing, but it could've been much better than it was. For an ideal production of the opera, look no further than the Cappuccilli/Verrett La Scala production.
This Macbeth has the musical values to redeem it, because they are very fine on the whole. The orchestral playing is exceptional, the power and dramatic intensity of the wonderful score are all there and it is played with musicality and commitment throughout. The chorus sing with a lot of vibrant colour and are very animated from a dramatic point of view, while young Teodor Currentzis' conducting is full of drive with evidence of beautifully shaped lines and nuance. The performances from the principals are also terrific.
Violeta Urmana's Lady Macbeth was the top draw, she sings with power as well as agility in a role that like Abaigaille(from Nabucco) is a potential voice killer, with her middle and lower registers well projected and her high notes avoiding being too shrill. And dramatically this is probably her best performance on DVD, she was always dependable but not always exciting but she is exciting here. Dimitris Tiliakos is similarly remarkable in the title role, his voice is not exactly large in size but he sings the music beautifully and acts his part with passion and intelligence. Ferruccio Furlanetto is noble and commanding as Banco, appropriately eerie also in the banquet scene. He's not at his absolute best vocally, but he still sings with richness, character and good expression.
The staging also has its moments, though on the whole it was uneven. It was interesting to have Lady Macbeth as a childless middle-aged woman. How she acts around everybody, her manipulation and hypocrisy only adds to the bloodcurdling quality that this character has already. The arrival of King Duncan was like an unscripted sketch and made the character more memorable than he usually is(decide for yourself if you like what the production does with him or not). Banco's murder was also genuinely shocking, violent and not clichéd in the least.
Sadly not all the performances work. Stefano Secco is not bad vocally as Macduff, it is a decent enough sound and not too strained but at the same time it is lacking in any ring or vocal expression. It is not bad just bland. He is not really the most involving of actors, and doesn't do anything to move me in his big Act 4 aria. He's not entirely to blame though considering that some of the worst staging of the production is in this scene. There is nothing scary or threatening about the assassins or the witches, for anybody unfamiliar with the opera they'd assume that the characters that are the source of any kind of tension are just anybody milling about in the crowd.
Not all the staging works either, the concept was good and well intended but not executed very clearly or imaginatively. Vieni T'Affretta is meant to be a private outpouring and should stay like it. This production is living proof of what could happen when an attempt to do it differently falls flat on its face. Tiliakos is made to react to Urmana in the most melodramatic of ways and it just came across as silly, Urmana deserves a lot of credit for staying in character and keeping a straight face. The idea of Banco and Fleance being present for the plotting of the former's murder could have been interesting but in the end was clumsily done and took away from the intensity and suspense that the build up to the murder should have. The chorus are animated and committed but are often made to do stage business that comes across as an overly-goofy parody, La Patria Tradita was the worst, while the presence of the sobbing woman in the Concertato was pointless and distracting. Macduff's Act 4 aria should be moving, but the well-intended and unintentionally-funny-in-execution staging of it left me cold regrettably.
It is not a very visually appealing production either. Macbeth is a dark opera, but to have the minimalist settings look stark and cardboard-like just made it cheap to look at. And why does almost every production I've seen of Macbeth have to have Lady Macbeth dressed so unflatteringly? Technically, it's poor also. There are one too many instances when the video directing and lip-synching is out of sync especially in the murder plot and the choruses, while the sound is sometimes distant and not very dynamic. To conclude, a mixed bag with the production faring musically than visually. 5/10 Bethany Cox
This Macbeth has the musical values to redeem it, because they are very fine on the whole. The orchestral playing is exceptional, the power and dramatic intensity of the wonderful score are all there and it is played with musicality and commitment throughout. The chorus sing with a lot of vibrant colour and are very animated from a dramatic point of view, while young Teodor Currentzis' conducting is full of drive with evidence of beautifully shaped lines and nuance. The performances from the principals are also terrific.
Violeta Urmana's Lady Macbeth was the top draw, she sings with power as well as agility in a role that like Abaigaille(from Nabucco) is a potential voice killer, with her middle and lower registers well projected and her high notes avoiding being too shrill. And dramatically this is probably her best performance on DVD, she was always dependable but not always exciting but she is exciting here. Dimitris Tiliakos is similarly remarkable in the title role, his voice is not exactly large in size but he sings the music beautifully and acts his part with passion and intelligence. Ferruccio Furlanetto is noble and commanding as Banco, appropriately eerie also in the banquet scene. He's not at his absolute best vocally, but he still sings with richness, character and good expression.
The staging also has its moments, though on the whole it was uneven. It was interesting to have Lady Macbeth as a childless middle-aged woman. How she acts around everybody, her manipulation and hypocrisy only adds to the bloodcurdling quality that this character has already. The arrival of King Duncan was like an unscripted sketch and made the character more memorable than he usually is(decide for yourself if you like what the production does with him or not). Banco's murder was also genuinely shocking, violent and not clichéd in the least.
Sadly not all the performances work. Stefano Secco is not bad vocally as Macduff, it is a decent enough sound and not too strained but at the same time it is lacking in any ring or vocal expression. It is not bad just bland. He is not really the most involving of actors, and doesn't do anything to move me in his big Act 4 aria. He's not entirely to blame though considering that some of the worst staging of the production is in this scene. There is nothing scary or threatening about the assassins or the witches, for anybody unfamiliar with the opera they'd assume that the characters that are the source of any kind of tension are just anybody milling about in the crowd.
Not all the staging works either, the concept was good and well intended but not executed very clearly or imaginatively. Vieni T'Affretta is meant to be a private outpouring and should stay like it. This production is living proof of what could happen when an attempt to do it differently falls flat on its face. Tiliakos is made to react to Urmana in the most melodramatic of ways and it just came across as silly, Urmana deserves a lot of credit for staying in character and keeping a straight face. The idea of Banco and Fleance being present for the plotting of the former's murder could have been interesting but in the end was clumsily done and took away from the intensity and suspense that the build up to the murder should have. The chorus are animated and committed but are often made to do stage business that comes across as an overly-goofy parody, La Patria Tradita was the worst, while the presence of the sobbing woman in the Concertato was pointless and distracting. Macduff's Act 4 aria should be moving, but the well-intended and unintentionally-funny-in-execution staging of it left me cold regrettably.
It is not a very visually appealing production either. Macbeth is a dark opera, but to have the minimalist settings look stark and cardboard-like just made it cheap to look at. And why does almost every production I've seen of Macbeth have to have Lady Macbeth dressed so unflatteringly? Technically, it's poor also. There are one too many instances when the video directing and lip-synching is out of sync especially in the murder plot and the choruses, while the sound is sometimes distant and not very dynamic. To conclude, a mixed bag with the production faring musically than visually. 5/10 Bethany Cox
