From Seen and Heard International
By: José M Irurzun; Photo Courtesy of the Teatro Calderón de Valladolid ©
Soloists, Orchestra and Chorus of Latvian National Opera. Conductor: Pietro Rizzo. Teatro Calderón de Valladolid. 19.5.2010 (JMI)

The Teatro Calderón brought Italian director Elena Barbalich’s Macbeth to Valladolid, three years after its premier in Lisbon. The production concept is very traditional, grim, dark and well suited to the dramatic narrative. Sets are often rather light coloured however but are always appropriate while the dark toned costumes are less attractive. Lighting could have taken more advantage perhaps, of the production’s dark and scary atmosphere too. The direction portrays Lady Macbeth as the real manipulator behind her husband’s actions, which is absolutely right. The two scenes with the witches are well resolved, Macbeth’s party is less so and the ghostly apparitions and the final battle were not done so well either. There are some curious details in the production, such as the presence of the murdered King Duncan on stage, covered with a blood-spattered white sheet which when removed in order to have to the corpse washed, leaves no trace of blood on his royal skin. Overall though, this is an effective production.

The best part of the evening was the music. In charge of musical direction we had Maestro Pietro Rizzo, whose reading I found wholly convincing. I do not know how many rehearsals he had, considering that he was working with a Latvian orchestra and chorus but there was no doubt that Mr. Rizzo was in full control of all the forces under his care, producing some remarkable and truly Verdian sound. This was an excellent reading. The orchestra offered a fine execution of the score, better than what one usually hears in Valladolid, and the chorus produced a decent performance too; good rather than exceptional perhaps.

The Italian baritone Vittorio Vitelli sang Macbeth and he offered exactly what we might expect from him. He has a pleasant and homogenous voice, rather lightweight for Verdi maybe, but his biggest problem, as usual, was his lack of expressiveness and his habitual tendency to sing forte.

The Lady Macbeth was an almost unrecognizable Susan Neves. To begin with, she has lost more than 50 kilos in weight and unfortunately too, she was also lost quite a lot more in terms of her singing. Within four years she has gone from being a major soprano to becoming a literal shadow of what she used to be. The role is beyond of her current capability and it is to be hoped that she will regain her full potential again very soon.

Enrico Giuseppe Iori made a somewhat modest Banco with a wide middle range, which was whitish at the top and none too brilliant in the lower ranges. His aria was less than memorable. Francisco Corujo was also badly suited to Macduff. This capable tenor is too light for the role and his voice is generally too small for the character. Even Ramón Criado’s fairly mediocre Malcolm offered a bigger voice than Corujo’s. The smaller roles were generally poorly cast.

The Teatro Calderón had an almost full house but the public had few reasons to applaud during the performance: at the final bows they showed little more than courtesy to the artists.

Production from Teatro São Carlos, Lisbon.

Director: Elena Barbalich.

Sets and Costumes: Tommaso Lagattolla.

Lighting: Michele Vittoriano.

Cast:
Macbeth: Vittorio Vitelli.
Lady Macbeth: Susan Neves.
Macduff: Francisco Corujo.
Banco: Enrico Giuseppe Iori.
Malcolm: Ramón Criado.