Another in my occasional series of opera reviews. I really ought to speed up the process or else it will take me twenty years to get through my existing collection, let alone anything I may acquire in the future.
In my defence I will say that I have been studying this rather carefully. About a month or so ago, I commented elsewhere on the internet that I didn't really 'get' Don Carlo(s), even though intellectually I could think of dozen reasons why I ought.
Since then I have played the DVD three times and the CD-set probably ten times
I can honestly say I am now totally smitten with this opera, and it has catapulted into my top ten.
I would say that in just about every aspect the CD is so vastly superior to the DVD as to be almost embarrassing. The DVD has the advantage of having the visuals, which of course helps in following the story. There is nothing intrinsically interesting or wonderful about the production - it's safe and traditional, allowing the singers to stand and deliver. It has a certain car-crash quality as you observe voice after voice collapse.
I would even say that the tenor on the CD is exponentially better than the tenor on the DVD. I would say that on the CD he is quite possibly at the best he is in my entire record collection, whereas on the DVD, although he is one of the few saving graces, he isn't at his best. To be honest, he doesn't even look that great (relatively speaking...).
Both versions are the Five Act 'Modena' version, although the DVD has an expanded Fontainebleu scene. It was written in French with Five Acts (1867), and then reduced to four for the Italian premiere (1884), with Act 1 being restored in 1886. But just to confuse matters, the liner notes for the Met DVD manages to describe the five acts as three.
This is based on the play by Schiller. There is little evidence that this has any great historical accuracy, being more a reflection of Schiller's Enlightenment ideas, which were largely shared by Verdi. There is no hint that in fact that the real Carlo was weak-minded and deranged, a result of inbreeding.
It has a compelling storyline and strong, believable characters.
It is difficult to find within the entire opera any music that is less than beautiful. Watching some of the DVD with Jimmy, he observed that it is difficult to listen to the orchestra with Domingo commanding the stage. But that is absolutely what one must do. I would be hard pushed to identify any Verdi opera with such superb orchestra writing. I'm tempted to say, this is Verdi demonstrating that anything Wagner can do, he can do better. I have this unnecessary battle in my head over who is better, but then I remember that there doesn't have to be a 'better'. Different, just different.
Whilst I was listening and watching, I kept jotting down notes about arias and duets, terzettas etc which were my special favourites. But the list just grew and grew, so I have decided not to reproduce it here. And, as I say, it's not just the singing, although on the CD, that is of an exceptionally high standard. Domingo and Caballé are incandescent. Verrett is excellent. Sherrill Milnes is never my favourite baritone; in this is above average (although he does benefit from comparison from Quilico, who is simply dreadful with no redeeming features whatsoever on the DVD). It would be interesting to hear a truly gorgeous baritone in this role. Raimondi is also excellent. On the DVD, Ghiaurov is one of the strengths, and has a commanding, imposing, imperial demeanour. However, I just happen to prefer Raimondi's voice. Freni suffers poorly in comparison to Caballé, really quite squawky at times. Bumbry looks amazing in the DVD, but Verrett's singing is better. Eboli is probably the most compelling character in the opera, a total bitch
I did spend a bit of time wondering whether there was something amiss with the audio tracking on the DVD, but concluded there wasn't. However, I did wonder whether there might have been something amiss in the house that day, because there's something about the sound of all of the singers, and also the orchestra that makes me feel it was very dry. At times - most notably during the auto-da-fé - the Met orchestra sounds like a Palm Court orchestra meets an oom-pah band.
My entire favourite bit of the entire opera is Act II Scene 1, in the cloisters of the monastery of San Giusto. My 'live' commentary was
Oh my god, this is fucking fantastic - right from the opening brass notes of the prelude through the monks' chorus, almost plainchanty but with rich orchestra. And that bell ringing, just exquisite perfection. The scene ends with an amazing duet - Dio, che nellálma infondere amor - between Carlo & Posa, a brother duet to Si, pel ciel marmorea giuro! (Otello), perhaps less ballsy, but more tuneful, set against the reprise of the monks chorus, with the recurrence of that great brass tune. Its most definitely a rewind-replay track. This has suddenly become one of my most favourite scenes in opera; a contender perhaps for a Desert Island twenty minutes.
The music from that duet recurs at various points throughout the opera, to remind us that Carlo and Posa have sworn to be blood-brothers. I suppose you could say this was Verdi's use of leitmotifs.
And then, in Act II Scene 2, I wrote
Oh. My. God. He's utterly gorgeous. And Montserrat Caballé is exquisite. Perduto ben, mio sol tesor is even more gorgeous, complete with (in the DVD) tenorial rolling on the ground...!
The auto da fé scene is something really quite special. Musically, it remembers snippets of Va pensiero (Nabucco) and foreshadows the Grand March from Aida - perhaps Don Carlo is a distillation of Verdis greatest hits ! Dramatically and musically it is utterly compelling, and probably the best bit of the DVD, with a cast of thousands.
Act 4 starts with the king in his study. Actually, musically, it begins with a cello solo, which is not quite as evocative as the use of celli in Otello, but an interesting way of doing a prelude. The cellos theme is later echoed by woodwind. The arrival of the Grand Inquisitor is impressive - again, listen to the orchestra, and see how it is dominated by scoring for the lower instruments. It's one of those operas where you really have to resist saying "I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition", because you know what they say about the Spanish Inquisition. Incidentally, Furlanetto on the DVD outsings Foiani on the CD.
The climax of that scene, a quartet between Fillippo, Elisabetta, Eboli and Rodrigo is gorgeous as written, but on the DVD is spoiled by the dreadful dreadful singing barking of Quilico and the indifferent shrieking of Freni. Then it leads into a fabulous aria for Eboli O don fatale. Superb in either version!
The next scene is Don Carlo in prison, but it really Posa's scene. It's fine on the CD, on the DVD it is absolutely dreadful, and while I endure Quilico almost amateurish performance I can have only two thoughts (other than get this over with asap): one is, how would this sound with a mellifluous baritone and two - doesn't Plácido always look so fetching in bondage?
As we move into the final act, I reflect that its prologue has been borrowed by Karl Jenkins. The Act contains a fabulous aria for Elizabetta, followed by fabulous duet for her and Carlo
Just as an observation on the libretto - the translation in the CD booklet is more literal to the Italian, and to my eyes, more beautiful than the quotidian English in the subtitles. I don't really understand why it's deemed necessary to dumb-down in this way, and I think it's a shame.
I realise it's iniquitous to compare a studio recording with a live TV broadcast, because in the studio there can be endless retakes, splices and engineering adjustments, and microphones are placed to optimise the sound, whereas with a live TV transmission, you are stuck with whatever comes out first time, and the microphones mustn't interrupt sight-lines. On the other hand, on TV, the singers are more likely to be in character, certainly in costume, performing in a logical order, and feeding off the house atmosphere and audience reaction.
The synopsis as provided by the Met. But this is one of those operas that people discuss and discuss and analyse. It can be viewed as a straightforward story - boy meets girl, boy loses girl...to his father (and has to call her Mother...), so goes off to fight with the rebels in Flanders, who are rebelling against the tyranny of the Spanish Monarchy. thrown into the linear narrative s plenty of scope for psychological dissection of the characters, issues about the Inquisition, and that uniquely vile form of torture and execution, the auto da fé - being burned alive. Add in the relationship between the Monarch and the Grand Inquisitor, the rôle of Church vs State, despair at the fact that Fillippo was so casually determined to kill his son. It is truly fascinating.
Jilly Cooper used it as backdrop to her novel Score...
Cast:
Don Carlo: Plácido Domingo
Elizabetta di Valois: Montserrat Caballé (CD), Mirella Freni (DVD)
Eboli: Shirley Verrett (CD), Grace Bumbry (DVD)
Rodrigo, Marchese di Posa: Sherrill Milnes (CD), Louis Quilico (DVD)
Fillippo II: Ruggero Raimondi (CD), Nicolai Ghiaurov (DVD)
Il Grande Inquisitore: Giovanni Foiani (CD), Ferruccio Furlanetto (DVD)
Guilini/Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (CD), Levine/Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (DVD)
