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RECORDINGS
Video
BEETHOVEN: FIDELIO
 W. Meier, I. Raimondi; Seiffert, Uusitalo, Salminen; Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana, Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, Mehta. Production: Pier'Alli. Medici Arts 2072498, 148 mins., subtitled
There's little question that if I'd attended this Fidelio, I'd have left the theater bedazzled. Waltraud Meier makes a thrilling, charismatic Leonore, singing with the coiled restraint of a woman near hysteria, and her feelings wash over the footlights. The other singers are solid, and the conducting is lively, but it is Meier's agony, heroism and warmth that give it fire.
But is this a performance I'd revisit for an ideal Fidelio? Leonore, notoriously, is nearly impossible to sing beautifully. Either you forfeit musicality or you forfeit drama. In recent years, only Karita Mattila has sung it with both excitement and attractive sound. Meier, whose top has seldom been secure, warps, flats, grates and screams. I love her dearly, but this is not the way I would want to remember the role.
Though it has a vaguely Spanish setting, Fidelio is a universal story, hence a satisfying choice to inaugurate a new Spanish opera house — namely, Santiago Calatrava's Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, which opened in 2006. With this presentation — as with the Palau de les Arts itself — Valencia makes a bid to rival Madrid and Barcelona as Spain's cultural showcase. Though the production (no doubt designed to show off the stage of the new facility) is the work of native talent Pier'Alli, the starry international cast is largely German and Finnish; Spanish singers are confined to the chorus. Choral singing, though, is a major musical tradition in Valencia and Catalonia and plays an important part in Fidelio; the Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana is very good, with exceptional dynamic control in the prisoners' chorus, proceeding from murmurs of anguish to the stunning plea for freedom. Critique of their stage abilities must wait, as they move very little in Act I and not at all in the finale, presented as an oratorio before a pulsating abstract sunrise. There are no overt references to Spanish history; the setting, the Spanish character names and the stark grandeur of Pier'Alli's fascist prison take care of that.
Besides Meier, the cast features the able, distraught Florestan of Peter Seiffert; Matti Salminen, a stalwart Rocco careful not to overwhelm the other artists; Juha Uusitalo, a cardboard Pizarro (I have never seen or heard a frightening Pizarro — can it be done?); Ildikó Raimondi, a satisfying Marzelline; and Carsten Stabell, a somewhat wobbly Don Fernando. Zubin Mehta allows his singers breathing room when they need it without letting tension drop and gives the orchestra plenty of opportunity to show off. The Leonore Overture No. 3, performed in its usual niche, makes a dramatic climax, which may be why the final scene is played as an actionless concert.
Mancini's video presentation has been touched up to some extent: did the Valencians see Florestan's hands clutching their chains, as we do, while Leonore sings of him in Act I? Or the long, cavernous descent to the dungeon that opens (and then, in reverse, closes) Act II? For those seeking a more "filmic" experience of Fidelio, this may enhance matters. For my money, Beethoven has made it all perfectly, audibly, clear.
JOHN YOHALEM
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