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Gramophone, March 25, 2024 |
Mark Pullinger
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Ponchielli: La Gioconda, Salzburger Osterfestspiele, ab 23.3.2024
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La Gioconda at Salzburg Easter Festival |
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Oliver Mears turns La Gioconda into a tale of abuse at the Salzburg
Easter Festival
Amilcare Ponchielli’s La Gioconda is an
opera it’s easy to scoff at: unlikely coincidences, disguises and fake
poisons pile on top of each other at every turn in a tale of lust and
vengeance in the middle of which pops up perky ballet The Dance of the
Hours, forever associated in the minds of many of us with hippos in tutus in
Disney’s animated classic Fantasia.
To his immense credit, Oliver
Mears takes it deadly seriously, using the prelude and the ballet music to
present a backstory where we learn about an abusive relationship between
Gioconda (a ballad singer) and Barnaba (an Inquisition spy). After the death
of her father, the girl is prostituted out by her mother (La Cieca – the
Blind Woman – turning a metaphorical blind eye). The lascivious Barnaba
lures Gioconda with candyfloss and makes her slip on a sparkling golden
dress.
At the climax of the ballet – in which the title character
takes on three dancer incarnations – diva Anna Netrebko (Gioconda) hands her
ballerina double a dagger and urges her to knife her male dance suitors
before stabbing Alvise, another patriarchal figure, in solidarity with his
wronged wife, Laura, whose heads then appears upon a silver platter at the
banquet (a charade: she’s drugged, not dead).
Barnaba – one of the
most sinister baddies in all opera – stalks Gioconda, sours her relationship
with Enzo, bribes her for sex and kills her mother. But Mears offers a
dramatic plot twist; instead of stabbing herself to deny the lustful
Barnaba, she turns the dagger on her abuser. This powerful surprise ending
tops an excellent production that only has one misfire – a strange scene
where Gioconda undergoes electric shock therapy with Barnaba as the doctor.
I hope Mears thinks better of it before the production travels to London,
for yes, this is a co-production with The Royal Opera (where it’s never been
staged) and will arrive, possibly in the 2025-26 season.
The other
half of the Covent Garden leadership team – Sir Antonio Pappano – conducted
the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in a fiery reading
to bring Ponchielli’s brilliant score to life. Until last season, Pappano
had been their Music Director for 18 years and their close relationship
showed in an account brimming with detail and which really danced when it
needed to. His Santa Cecilia Chorus fulfilled their vital role with vigour
and style.
But it was largely the A-list cast that the Salzburg
glitterati turned out to see and they weren’t disappointed. Anna Netrebko
(Gioconda) and Jonas Kaufmann (Enzo) were both making their stage role
debuts. It’s five years since I heard Netrebko live (the pre-pandemic Tosca
at La Scala) and her soprano has darkened even more in its imperious lower
register, making Gioconda’s “Suicidio!” particularly compelling. She can
still spin golden top notes and fully entered into the drama. Kaufmann was a
shade more tentative, but made for a handsome Enzo, Gioconda’s lover who
drops her as soon as old flame Laura reappears in his life. Kaufmann sang
“Cielo e mar” ardently, at quite a swift tempo.
Luca Salsi’s dark
baritone was perfect for Barnaba, a sort of hybrid between Scarpia and Iago
(predating both). “O monumento” is Barnaba’s version of Iago’s Credo (Arrigo
Boito was the librettist for both operas) and Salsi injected it with venom.
Tariq Nazmi’s bass was too soft-grained for Alvise and he struggled once or
twice in the upper stretches of his aria where he resolves to kill his
unfaithful wife. Agnieszka Rehlis sang La Cieca with lush tone, while
Ève-Maud Hubeaux was terrific as Laura, her plum-tinted mezzo as purple as
her gown.
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