This concert with Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito is part of a long run beginning in Salzburg, of which I could one performance in Lucerne. For the performance in Zurich, there were two new singers in the cast – French soprano Alexandra Marcellier and American tenor John Osborn. Ms. Marcellier is something of the pocket version of an ideal Vitellia – a complex, unsweet tonal quality, the low notes, the high notes, more than reasonable flexibility, the attitude. It is all there provided the hall is not too big. As many Vitellias, she is not truly a Mozart soprano in the sense of poise, purity, accuracy and instrumental quality. Mr. Osborn’s tenor is dulcet and projects famously. I mean, he could sing this role at the Met, but even if he has the voice for it, it’s not his repertoire. There is portamento galore, note values are a bit free, he simplifies some lines and he did everything he could not to sing a high note on the vowel “ee”. He did not hide that he is not truly familiar with the part; in the encore of the final chorus, without the score in hand, he was entirely at a loss about what he had to sing. Still, his Italian is crispier than you’d find with Mozart tenors and he has the right likability for the part.
When writing about the Lucerne performance, I reported that Cecilia Bartoli was in good voice, but this evening she was actually even in better shape. The middle register was more solid, the coloratura in the stretta of Parto, ma tu ben mio more spontaneous, the expression even more refined. Lea Desandre, Mélissa Petit and Péter Kálmán lived entirely up to the very high standards of their performances in Lucerne. Again, the duettino (as well as Annio’s and Servilia’s arias) an example of Mozartian style.
Gianluca Capuano and the Musiciens du Prince again offered a theatrical, exciting account of this tricky score. It never hang fire, and the first finale was the very definition of thrilling. Back in Lucerne, I didn’t have the impression that the continuo was so busy in the recitatives as this evening, even if I can’t say it felt intrinsically different. To be honest, Malin Hartelius’s Vitellia (even reading from the score) showed then a bit more imagination (and stronger diction), and Charles Workman’s lifelong experience with the part makes more than some difference. Maybe that was it. Anyway, I am glad to have seen this concert again. La Clemenza di Tito is a favorite of mine, and I doubt one could find a performance – even a staged one – more convincing than the this evening these days.
I HEAR VOICES 
I have to admit that I can pretty much go to any Tito and enjoy myself. I think it’s quietly one of Mozart’s strongest from a dramatic standpoint despite it’s odd reputation amongst some as boring. I like it’s comparative compactness. I listen to it constantly.
Although I’ve been made to understand that Bartoli has never felt comfortable in trouser roles, I’m still a bit surprised it’s taken her this long to sing Sesto live in any format.
Me and LCdT, it was love at first sight. I even love Süssmayr’s recitatives. And the Capitol scene gives me goosebumps.
I too find it curious some people consider it boring – maybe it’s the connection with Racine’s Berenice, but I like the libretto. We have talked here about the Met’s revival with Barbara Frittoli, for instance. Even if vocally it was past her best, what she did in terms of characterization was just amazing. There are some verses by Metastasio there which shine if properly rendered. In that Met revival, when Tito (another Italian singer in that cast) says “I’ll raise your status in such a way that there will be little left in the infinite gap that the gods have dug between Sextus and Titus” with affected humbleness, the cameras show Garanca with a poker face and Kate Lindsey rolling her eyes. Wonderful haha
As for Bartoli, I guess it might have to do with her not having the physique for trouser roles. In purely vocal terms, Sesto fits her voice like a glove.
One of joys about the Jacob’s recording *to me* is that all the recites are included. It’s so odd to me people put them down. When you head the entire given and take between Vitellia and Sesto before “Parto” the whole sequence makes so much more sense.
The Ponnelle production is quite good and Frittoli, who IMO came off better in HD than live, had the proper bitch hauteur for the role. It’s also a role that benefits from an Italian/Latin sound and approach.
Although it is a good text, it’s not easy for the stage director, because it’s pretty much about what people are saying. So it tends to the static. Instead of trying to disguise it, Ponelle embraced it and that is why it works so well (I wouldn’t say the same thing about the Idomeneo) . And, yes, Vitellia is a role has a high frequentation from Italian sopranos. The first studio had Maria Casula. I guess we can count Celestina Casapietra as Italian. Then there was Scotto’s incursion at the Met. Daniela Dessì in Salzburg, Carmen Gianattasio sang it in Aix (?), Antonacci in Paris, Geneva (?) and elsewhere, Ciofi in Lausanne. It seems Nuccia Focile and Carmela Remígio also sang the part too. I saw Adriana Damato sing it in Lisbon.
I think the five an take could lead to a lot of good personen regie. I always wished Chereau had done this opera.
Ciofi sang it? That seems like a questionable role choice for her. Loved Antonacci in Paris. Scotto circa 1985 was…well, Scotto circa 1985.
Yes, Ciofi sang it and it’s just like what you’ve imagined. There are scenes of Antonacci’s Vitellia in Paris on YouTube. It’s not a broadcast, but it seems like footage made for internal purposes. And she’s fascinating there.
It remains a great mystery what happens to productions that are filmed but not released or even broadcast. There are two different videos of Antonacci as Agrippina and one of Nerone from Paris. Both would be definitive videos if they were commercially released. But they’ve never been. Similarly I know for a fact the Peter K. Tristan und Isolde was filmed when it premiered with Meier and Jerusalem. For god knows what reason, they never released it and filmed the John Frederic West (!) festival run and released that.
This is a favorite subject of mine – unearthed treasures. Everybody who has seen the Paris Agrippina wonders why it has never been released. I have the impression that the Abbado Elektra from Salzburg was filmed too, but again never released. And I’m one of those people who browses through the Internet for all things Abbado haha
I didn’t know that about the Abbado Salzburg Elektra. There’s an Abbado doc which has tiny bits from what look like a dress rehearsal. It would be nice to have a video of Mattila’s Chrysothemis since it’s basically her only major role that inexplicably never got commercially documented.
The Agrippina and the Poppea are so weird. The latter was definitely telecast. Both productions are McVicar/Jacobs/Antonacci collaborations and are stacked cast wise and both were major triumphs for everyone involved.
I’ve heard that there was something about Antonacci that prevented the releases.
As for the Elektra, I have no evidence that the whole performance was recorded. I heard back then that it was.
There are some tapes from Japanese TV that feature some interesting pieces of casting. Some have made their way into YouTube. Some were released only in Japan. I bought some on DVD.
I’ve heard something similar about Antonacci as well. Too bad.
I keep hearing conflicting stories about the Mattila 2004 Met Salome. That’s a holy grail that hasn’t seen the light of day whatsoever (at least you can track down the Agrippina and Poppea). It was definitely filmed.
I remember that story about the Salome too. It might be my imagination, but the issue there – as far as I remember – was the 7th veil, wasn’t it? There are stuff with Mattila from Japan. A Don Giovanni maybe, not better than the unreleased video from the Met with Vaness and Upshaw.
Is the Don G. from Japan? I could have sworn it was from the Theater an der Wien. Unless it’s another one.
I’ve heard 3 takes on the Salome: the nudity, Peter Gelb wanting “his” Salome being the one released commercially, and Mattila herself. In the cast of Mattila the stories I’ve heard is that she didn’t like the production in its first incarnation. That seems doubtful as she’s praised the production and its director many times in print and also I saw both runs and don’t remember any real differences. I’ve also heard that the press she got in Finland for the nudity embarrassed her and so she prevented it from being broadcast. That also seems dubious to me.
Peter, I might have made a mistake. I remember a Mozart opera in Japan with Mattila, but now I’m not sure if it was Don Giovanni. I tried to find it but in vain. If I ever find it again, I’ll let you know.
As for the Salome, I remember having read that she was ok with the nudity on stage, but but not for it to be available on video. It was not an interview, so I can’t tell what she really thought of it. In the theatre it did not feel exaggerated or vulgar at all. I mean. Strauss did not expect it to be something X-rated at all. And the production didn’t try to make it anything like that either. Anyway…
OK, I’m not totally insane. Mattila did sing Donna Elvira in Japan in a 1992 tour with the Royal Opera House (Tokyo Bunka Kaikan and somewhere in Osaka) – with Vaness as Donna Anna, Gheorghiu as Zerlina, Blochwitz as Ottavio, Allen as DG, Desderi as Leporello, Terfel as Masetto and Lloyd as the Commendatore, Haitink is the conductor. You can find the video of the same production the same year in London (without Mattila, Patricia Schumann instead, Gheorgiu doesn’t appear in it either).
The video from Vienna is Abbado’s with Studer, McLaughlin, Blockwitz, Raimondi, Gallo, Chausson and Kotscherga (1990). There’s also the Met video with Vaness, Upshaw, Hadley, Ramey, Furlanetto (the same year).
Oh man, why didn’t they film THAT cast?! That sounds amazing.
I saw both the Wien and Met performances.
In the past, the Japanese tours of American and European opera companies were truly stellar. These days, they are rather like a performance you could see at the opera house any Wednesday (if you live in the city where the opera house is, of course). For instance, the Vienna State Opera Figaro from Tokyo (1980) on DVD has Janowitz, Popp, Baltsa, Weikl and Prey (Karl Böhm conducting) – the Ponnelle production at the Bunka Kaikan. The one I saw (also the Ponnelle, this time at the Kanagawa Kenmin Hall, maybe 2012) was Frittoli, Sylvia Schwarz, Gritskova, Álvarez, Schrott (Peter Schneider conducting). The 1980 is a festival cast, the 2012 is a pretty solid rerun cast.