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RECORDINGS
Video
GIORDANO: MARCELLA
 Daolio, Carone; Formaggia, Rosiello, Dilengite; Slovak Chamber Choir, Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia, Benzi. Production: Pizzech. Naxos 2.110263, 67 mins., subtitled
Umberto Giordano had an affinity for Paris. Three of the four Giordano works the Met has staged — his masterpiece, Andrea Chénier, as well as Fedora and Madame Sans-Gêne, though not La Cena delle Beffe — figure the French capital and its romantic possibilities as a contrast to murderous political upheavals. The pattern holds for 1907's one-act Marcella, which had its premiere at Milan's Teatro Lirico. The opera is kind of a proto-Rondine with reversed polarities, crossed with The Student Prince (disguised Ruritanian heir posing as artist rescues impoverished girl, then breaks her heart when homeland duty calls). It has three "episodes" — Trovata, Amata and Abbandonata.
I enjoyed encountering this pleasant if inconsequential work in Naxos's spirited though undersung centennial staging from Martina Franca, despite restless camera work and engineering that privileges heavy footfall. It's salutary to hear an all-Italian cast in such an opera, but this "everyday," highly conversational verismo idiom demands charm of verbal delivery and phrasing, here in short supply, especially from the leading tenor and baritone.
The first episode's dance rhythms — there are atmospheric extras by the dozens, including many scantily clad dancing girls — are not always carefully woven into the rest of Giordano's orchestral fabric. The sentimental prelude before the third episode, beautifully led by the first cello, fulfills a requirement of the verismo one-act genre: it serves as lead-in to one of the few (relatively) memorable numbers in Marcella, the tenor's regretful "Dolce notte." Danilo Formaggia, in the role of Giorgio, tries hard but scarcely effaces memories of Tito Schipa's enchanting account from 1938, a souvenir of a famous revival with Magda Olivero. The last episode, largely the impassioned, conflicted farewell of the lovers, is melodically the work's richest part; one can imagine it catching fire when performed by artists of the imagination and individuality of Schipa and Olivero — or, indeed, Gemma Bellincioni and Fernando de Lucia, Mascagni's first Santuzza and Fritz, respectively, who also created Marcella.
Mild flatting, a slightly nasal quality and brusque high notes beset Formaggia: it's just not a first-rate instrument. No devotee of "looks casting," I still wonder that so many bald male singers today abjure wigs; this choice makes Formaggia's youthful character appear incongruously middle-aged. Nothing in his address or deportment remedies that impression, especially with his eyes so often glued to the acceptable conductor, Manlio Benzi.
Serena Daolio (Marcella) is directed too melodramatically, with lurching and clutching beyond the role's demands. Fielding a clear, Italianate lyric soprano of the Carteri/Maliponte type, with some glow and morbidezza in her sound, she lacks ideal steadiness. Daolio still makes the best impression here, but one wants her to be subtler in close-up and more polished in shaping the music.
Giorgio's aide Drasco (dashing, decent bass Pierluigi Dilengite) engages in simple-minded expository political talk ("The evil minister you threw out has been reinstated"). Baritone Marcello Rosiello, as the artist Vernier, sounds dryish, with little legato. Natalizia Carone fares capably as Vernier's paramour, Clara. This is a worthwhile curiosity for committed verismo fans.
DAVID SHENGOLD
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