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RECORDINGS
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DONIZETTI: LUCREZIA BORGIA
 Theodossiou, Palacios; De Biasio, Iori; Orchestra and Chorus of the Bergamo Musica Festival Gaetano Donizetti, Severini. Production: Bellotto. Naxos 2.110264, 138 mins., subtitled
Donizetti was ahead of his time with Lucrezia Borgia. In Victor Hugo's play of the same name (Lucrèce Borgia in French) and the same year (1833), the composer found the sort of bold dramatic situations that inspired him. He had some trouble convincing his librettist, the estimable Felice Romani, that the project would fly, despite the success of Hugo's play in Paris. After all, there were the censors to deal with — and how about that heroine who goes around poisoning everyone, even her own son (albeit unintentionally in his case)? But Romani acquiesced, and within ten months of Hugo's triumph in Paris came Donizetti's at La Scala. The opera had a good run, despite the censors' doing away with a chilling scene involving six onstage coffins awaiting Lucrezia's victims, not to mention prima donna Henriette Méric-Lalande's insistence that she sing a final cabaletta over the tenor's dead body, as it were. Various revivals were forced to rename the opera and alter certain situations (the same fate awaited Maria Stuarda) in order for the work to be sanctioned in other cities. But in the long run, divas were drawn to the role of Lucrezia, censorship loosened up, and the opera caught on as a popular vehicle for several decades before largely vanishing until the bel canto revival of the 1950s and '60s. It was, of course, the opera in which Montserrat Caballé exploded onto the international scene (an evening some of us will treasure forever). Leyla Gencer, the great Donizetti singer, also made a specialty of the role.
Now, in this production for the 2007 Donizetti festival in the composer's hometown of Bergamo, dynamic Greek soprano Dimitra Theodossiou has her way with the bel canto monster. Certainly, Lucrezia is a dark opera, but someone — lighting designer Valerio Alfieri or video director Matteo Richetti, perhaps — has taken this too literally: the diva is hard to find onscreen for a chunk of the opera. Particularly unfortunate is the effect on her entrance aria, the exquisite "Com'è bello," in which Lucrezia is masked and in the dark. One hears, however, that Theodossiou sings it handsomely. As the role progresses, she is able to let loose, building to a satisfyingly demented final cabaletta. It's clear that this is a soprano who enjoys carrying on; sometimes her appearance (not helped much by the makeup, hair and costumes) lets down her intent. Like her great predecessor Gencer, Theodossiou can be more successful as a vocal actress than a as physical one, at least in this role.
Her supporting cast of principals ranges from pretty good (tenor Roberto De Biasio as Gennaro and mezzo Nidia Palacios in the trouser role of Orsini) to less than good (baritone Enrico Giuseppe Iori as Lucrezia's evil husband Don Alfonso). Iori begins roughly, with a dry, stopped-up sound in the middle register that improves to some extent higher up. He warms up to some extent, but his singing is blunt almost throughout the show. De Biasio has a nice lyric sound and some dynamic control in the middle, but his voice turns a bit dry in its upper reaches. Palacios is effective in the Act II friendship duet with him but somewhat lackluster in Orsini's famous brindisi. Some of the blame may lie with conductor Tiziano Severini. In context, the brindisi is not just a showpiece but an integral part of the drama. However, Severini zips through it as a vocal non-event. Elsewhere, he is very successful in drawing musical performances from his singers, particularly in the marvelous Act I sotto voce trio for Lucrezia, Gennaro and Alfonso. And the Bergamo forces perform nicely for him.
An unusual aspect of this opera is the importance of the comprimarios, making the casting of smaller roles crucial. Tenor Luigi Albani is a suave-sounding Rustighello and bass Luca Dall'Amico a resonant Gazella. Mauro Corna's young bass voice is in alarming condition as Astolfo. Light tenor Livio Scarpellini is a passable Liverotto. Francesco Bellotto's stage direction features a few distracting touches inserted in the middle of otherwise conventional emoting and well-organized blocking. Most crucially, he lets the diva do her thing in a bel canto vehicle she obviously relishes.
IRA SIFF
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