Verdi - La Traviata

From the Editors

Verdi's opera tells the tragic tale of Violetta, who is dying of consumption and leaves her beloved Alfredo at the request of his father, only to be r
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Customer Response

Incredible
This modern version of Traviata is absolutely georgeous I loved it from top to bottom. Both Netrebko and Villazon are incredible and share amazing chemestry on stage. Tha vocal performances as well as the scenery are fantastic.

Stirring conducting, orchestral music, original concept.
Theatrical elements come together in this production. The opening, with Violetta begging "death" to give her a little more time, is heartbreaking. Heartbreaking too is the chorus (all dressed as men) who are pushing Violetta to the brink of her mortal strength. Anna Netrebko is a wonderful actress who sings and acts with terrific energy and commitment. Her singing is powerful and complete, although compared with Renee Fleming's nuanced and breathtaking musicality in the same role, her musical interpretation feels somewhat by-the-book.
Rolando Villazon's interpretation and musicality are things to savor for a lifetime. Willy Decker's (hope I got the director's name right, here) concept and staging and the designer's decor are elements you will remember, always. And best of all is the orchestra, led by Carlo Spizzi (again, hope I got it right), pushed to tender depths and swells, and then blazing speed and mania-- music that will vibrate within you for days.
Leonie

La Traviata: Salzburg's 2005 Men-in-Black version
SOURCE:
This is reported to be an assemblage of the several performances of the opera at the Salzburg Festival's Grosser Festspielhaus in August 2005. I rather suspect that there are also some cuts from a dress rehearsal, for there are some points where applause would certainly be expected but only dead silence ensues.

SOUND:
This DVD has the full-bodied resonance of a studio recording, at least for the principal singers. The orchestra in the pit is usually rather distant-sounding, although from time to time, it leaps forward into the listener's lap. The on-stage orchestra--which, of course, never appears on-stage--is always distant and muffled. The chorus and occasionally the comprimarios sound a bit mushy throughout.

I frankly do not believe for one moment that Netrebko and Villazon sounded in the Grosses Festspielhaus as they do on this disk. The resonance and fullness of their voices simply make no sense in the context of that particular theater and that particular stage set. I think that both have been given a bit of body and "sweetened" by the engineers to make them sound more "real."

CAST:
VIOLETTA VALERY, a successful courtesan in her last days, unaccountably attracted to Alfredo - Anna Netrebko (soprano)
ALFREDO GERMONT, a shallow, callow young man with no discernible self-control - Rolando Villazon (tenor)
GIORGIO GERMONT, father of the half-witted Alfredo who falls under Violetta's spell - Thomas Hampson (baritone)
FLORA BERVOIX - Violetta's friend, another successful courtesan - Helene Schneiderman (mezzo-soprano)
ANNINA - Violetta's maid and friend through thick and thin - Diane Pilcher (soprano)
IL BARONE DUPHOL, Violetta's "protector" during her high-flying days, a sensible man who has no use at all for Alfredo - Paul Gay (baritone)
IL MARCHESE D'OBIGNY, a guest at parties thrown by both Violetta and Flora - Herman Wallen (bass-baritone)
IL DOTTORE GRENVIL, Violetta's GP and generally a society doctor (in Acts I and II) - William Schwinghammer (bass-baritone)
IL DOTTORE GRENVIL, a stalking figure throughout the opera who may represent death or fate or the tax collector or the stage director's indigestion, and who may or may not be singing in Act III--it's hard to tell - Luigi Roni (maybe a bass-baritone)
GIUSEPPE, a servant - Dritan Luca
FLORA'S SERVANT - Wolfram Igor Derntl
A MESSENGER - Friedrich Springer
A GUEST - Athol Farmer (who sings, I suppose, like a choreographer)

CONDUCTOR:
Carlo Ricci, with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Konzert Vereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor.

STAGE MUSIC:
Mozarteum Orchester

STAGE DIRECTOR:
Willy Decker, a practitioner of Regietheater, alas.

SET DESIGN:
Wolfgang Grossmann. The set remains unchanged throughout all three acts: a greyish-white concave wall some twelve or fifteen feet high curving all the way from stage left to stage right. The top of the wall has a practical platform from which the chorus can look down on the stage, as though from the top of a battlement. At the base of the wall a curved bench extends across the width of the stage upon which members of the cast can perch like so many frozen haddock. The only entrance to the playing area of the stage is a tall set of greyish-white doors which open and close at stage right. Stage props consist of a large clock, perhaps eight or nine feet in diameter that represents ... er, time, I suppose. The clock lasts for the duration of two-and-a-half acts. Stage furniture consists of a couple of uncomfortable-looking, squared-off sofas which serve as sitting places, hiding places and stages for slightly raunchy exhibitionism.

COSTUMES:
Wolfgang Grossmann and Susana Mendoza. The costuming is simple: black men's contemporary suits with white shirts and black ties for all members of the cast--male and female alike--except for long frock coats (black, naturally) for Papa Germont and the stalking Grenvil-Death figure; Violetta in a red dress and sometimes a white slip, a mute Violetta-successor in a white slip to which is later added a red dress, and a guy in red drag who makes goo-goo eyes at Alfredo ... don't ask. In Act II, the black-suited ensemble don flat face masks ... again, don't ask.

I assume that Ms. Mendoza's function was to walk into a women's shop to buy the red dresses.

CHOREOGRAPHER:
Athol Farmer. His hand is not readily detectable. I suppose some of the milling about might be classed as dancing.

DRAMATURGIST:
Klaus Bestisch, a complete buffoon, if this is a fair sample of his work.

TEXT:
The singers and orchestra offer a fairly accurate and complete rendition of what was written by Verdi and his librettist Piave. The stage director has apparently been exposed to a three-paragraph summary of the plot of "La Traviata" at some time in his career. He has chosen to ignore most of it in order to substitute his own improved notion of what the story should have been and to insert the stalking Death (or whatever) figure that Verdi and Piave inexplicably omitted.

COMMENTARY:
This is a Regietheater (aka Eurotrash) version of Verdi's "La Traviata." As such things go, it's not nearly as obnoxious as it might be. Rather than obscenely disgusting, as the best of Regietheater must be, it is more accurately to be described as wrong-headed and mostly visually boring.

Both Netrebko and Villazon are among the top-ranked of contemporary singers and do very well here, although I found both their acting and their singing styles to be more appropriate for the sweaty, earthy "Carmen" than for the more elegant and formal world of Verdi. That is merely a matter of personal taste, however, and it is perfectly possible that theirs is the proper style for Verdi in the early 21st Century.

I found Netrebko to be just a bit short-breathed for some of Violetta's soaring passages and just a bit too hardy in parts of Act III. I also found Villazon too dramatic tenorish to be an ideal Alfredo, whom I would prefer to be of lighter and more elegant voice. Once again, these are matters of purely personal taste. I must give Villazon full marks, though, for singing his big aria, "De' miei bollenti spiriti," in character and with a straight face while wearing a pair of baggy, blue boxer shorts.

(To those who would damn Netrebko for ignoring certain very high notes, I ask, "Are you out of your minds? What about the other 99.99% of the notes she sang?)

Thomas Hampson is a very big operatic name. Despite that, I found his voice to be too light in weight and too lacking in warmth for the older Germont. To call his acting stick-like would be to overpraise it. (I must admit that it is possible the fault may lie with the director rather than the baritone.) In any case, the singers who did Baron Duphol and Doctor Grenvil of Acts I and II and maybe even the Grenvil of Act III would have been better choices for the part.

Among the performers, the most damaged by the stage director's limited vision are the comprimarios, Flora, the Barone, the (Acts I and II) Doctor, Gastone and the Marchese. All are very good vocally but visually, they are entirely subsumed into the black-suited unisex chorus.

All in all, I regard this as a pretty good performance from Netrebko and Villazon who offer strong, if not especially elegant takes on Violetta and Alfredo. Hampson, to give him the benefit of a doubt, is minimally adequate. The Regietheater production is disrespectful of the material provided by Verdi and Piave--naturally!--but not as awful as it might very well have been.

A weak four stars for the singing and two stars for the dismal staging. Call it three stars overall.

LEC/Am/11-09

Another Traviata for oblivion
I'll give 4 stars to the singers, 2 stars to stage producers and 0 stars to DG for releasing a Traviata for oblivion. Listen recording companies: what is the point of releasing every other year bunches of Traviatas & Bohemes?...I could name a number of operas waiting to be updated on records (eg Martha, Macbeth, Roberto Devereux, William Tell, Andrea Chenier, etc)...but what do we have instead?...same old stuff!!!. Do you really think the world needs another Traviata?...(some might say, with reason, that recording companies need money and works like this guarantee it...but then, ask yourselves: if money is the only thing that matters, what is left to opera lovers?)

Oh The Voices!
Some might be put off by the minimalistic staging of this version of La Traviata -- originally a contemporary set piece in Verdi's world of the mid-19th Century and baed on Alexander Dumas Fils masterful novel, then stage play known now as Camille. Bringing the staging and time frame up to the more modern 1920's and giving the stage a stark setting dominated mainly by a tell tale clock, for me makes the focus not on costumes but on the voices. And what voices! Anna Netrebko, as Violetta, and Rolando Villazon as Alfredo exude a sexual chemistry in their duets unparalleled in the operatic world. Their voices are sharp, clean and strong and neither one overpowers the other. I have always admired the soprano voice but never before now LOVED a single diva's instruument -- Netrebko is both beautiful and magnificent. Add to that Thomas Hampson, now entering into the more mature roles, as Alfredo's father, and you have three of the best voices you will ever hear in a single performance.

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