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CANDIDE by Leonard Bernstein in Firenze


CANDIDE by Leonard Bernstein in Firenze

libretto di Hugh Wheeler, after Voltaire)

Laura Claycomb as Cunegonde was on a level slightly higher above her grayish colleagues 


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. Foto MMF – Opera di Firenze” width=”600″ height=”400″ /> Laura Claycomb as Cunegonde was on a level slightly higher above her grayish colleagues. Foto MMF – Opera di Firenze

Opera di Firenze, Italy,  2015 june 3rd

Review by Fabio Bardelli. Photos MMF – Opera di Firenze

FIRENZE/ITALY: Comic operetta” is the definition that its author Leonard Bernstein gives of his work. The story was taken from Voltaire’s novel with the same title, the première was in Boston in 1956 after a long and laborious preparation.

Laura Claycomb as Cunegonde in Candide at Opera di Firenze.

Laura Claycomb as Cunegonde in Candide at Opera di Firenze.

Bernstein’s wild omnivorous curiosity is here at its top, the musician contaminates operetta with afro-american music, Broadway with Bachian choral and with the so called “serious music” in an incredible music collage. But here the composer seems to find only in spare occasions his authentic inspiration, more often he seems short in creative spirit and choses the easier way of the “deja entendu”.

Chris Merritt, Rossinian tenor of historical importance, shows that he has much to offer yet both vocally and scenically.

Chris Merritt, Rossinian tenor of historical importance, shows that he has much to offer yet both vocally and scenically.

Moreover the characters, already surreal in Voltaire, become here scenically and musically schizophrenic in a whirling speedy pace in Feydeau-style, so to leave the audience breathless.

Conductor John Axelrod is the real engine in this Florentine performance. We heard him in more “serious” performances and here we find that a certain heaviness damages the musical rendition, considering that this opera usually benefits from a more brilliant approach.

Candide- Jameson

Candide- Keith Jameson in the titelrole

Globally the vocal cast of this Florentine performance was on an average-low level, we could define all the singers rather anonymous and without special “peaks”, only soprano Laura Claycomb as Cunegonde was on a level slightly higher above her grayish colleagues.

Two authentic “old glories” of lyric world had been engaged in Florence to create “cameos”: Anja Silja, who at 75 isn’t in her green years for sure but with her charisma and her artistry gives life to The old lady. Then Chris Merritt, Rossinian tenor of historical importance, shows that he has much to offer yet both vocally and scenically.

Candide Ensemble

Candide Ensemble

Francesco Micheli‘s staging is really too  intrusive, near to muddle and to kitsch. He stages Candide in a great multinational of trade and shipment (but why??) creating also a new character: the author Voltaire, interpreted by Italian actress Lella Costa who goes skating on the floor, whose presence is sometimes really disturbing.

For the rest, Mr Micheli and his collaborators show a wild fantasy for the visual part of the opera, but without any constructive idea or special reading or interpretation of this work. Their aim seems just to astonish, rather coarsely, the scarce Florentine audience.

Distribution:

Direttore, John Axelrod
Regia, Francesco Micheli
Scene, Federica Parolini
Costumi, Daniela Cernigliaro
Luci, Angelo Linzalata
Movimenti coreografici, Alfonso Cayetano

Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Maggio Danza

Florenze new operahouse, interior

Florenze new operahouse, interior

Voltaire, Lella Costa
Candide, Keith Jameson
Cunegonde, Laura Claycomb
Dr
. Pangloss/Martin, Richard Suart
The old lady, Anja Silja

Maximilian, Gary Griffiths
Paquette, Jessica Renfro
The Captain/The Governor/Vanderdendur/Crook, Chris Merritt
Ragotski/Croupier, Christopher Lemmings
Inquisitor/Charles Edward, Timothy Martin
Inquisitor/Hermann Augustus, Luca Casalin
Inquisitor/Tsar Ivan, Hector Guedes
Inquisitor/Sultan Achmet, Christopher Turner
Inquisitor/Stanislaus, Alessandro Calamai
Cacambo, Gianluca Di Lauro

 

Review by Fabio Bardelli

translation from italian Bruno Tredicine

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