Dec 3, 1988 Barber of Seville Met On Demand

[lennygoran]

We decided to do an old--1988-- Met On Demand-for the most part we liked it-a delightful production we don't seem to have ever seen before-our first Barber was with NYCO Feb 26, 1977. First and foremost is Battle-just a superb performance. Agree more with the second review provided below-Henahan is too critical for me-he saw, btw, Robert Lloyd, we saw Furlanetto and loved him. We were kind of disappointed by Rockwell Blake-a little too dry for us--he tried hard though. We have enjoyed the current production in the past-the one where they step out past the regular stage and of course that had JDF!

Rossini
Il Barbiere di Siviglia
The Met site describes it this way:

With its hilarious hijinks and vocal virtuosity, Rossini’s madcap comedy always proves a delightful treat. For this 1988 telecast, the Met assembled a cast capable of tackling both the musical and physical challenges of this bel canto farce, seen here in a whimsical production by John Cox. From the moment he takes the stage with Figaro’s iconic aria “Largo al factotum,” Leo Nucci combines winning charm with a robust baritone. Soprano Kathleen Battle tosses off one glittering vocal display after another as the feisty Rosina, while tenor Rockwell Blake makes for an ardent Count Almaviva. Ralf Weikert conducts the lively performance, which also includes the comic duo of Enzo Dara as Dr. Bartolo and Ferruccio Furlanetto as Don Basilio.

Dec 3, 1988

Composer
Gioachino Rossini

Librettist
Cesare Sterbini

Run Time

2 HRS 39 MIN

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Conductor Ralf Weikert
Rosina Kathleen Battle
Count Almaviva Rockwell Blake
Figaro Leo Nucci
Bartolo Enzo Dara
Basilio Ferruccio Furlanetto


By Donal Henahan

Oct. 28, 1988


Rossini's ''Barbiere di Siviglia'' is one of a handful of nearly perfect operas. Not that it is surefire or indestructible. Anything but. Few operas are easier to destroy with slapstick comedy, for instance. Rossini's wittiest effects grow directly out of his score and need to be treated as musical jokes in the best sense, not vaudeville turns applied to the surface of the work. Still, the results in this most effervescent of operatic comedies should be - how to put it? - comic.

The principals in Wednesday evening's ''Barbiere'' at the Metropolitan Opera, the season's first of the John Cox production, were mostly content to go through the motions of opera buffa without finding ways to be genuinely funny. Ralf Weikert's conducting, conscientious rather than idiomatically Italianate, set the evening's tone. One delicious number after another fell flat.

Rockwell Blake, the Lindoro/Almaviva, sang his notes faithfully, including an eight-minute aria (''Cessa di piu resistere'') that apparently had not been heard at the Met in 25 years. He has removed some acidity from his tenor since he appeared in this production's premiere in 1982, but the top is still squeezed and kazoolike, the overall timbre colorless. The restored aria, cut by 20 measures over Mr. Blake's well-publicized objection, serves as an explanatory finale to the comedy and could be quite effective. Mr. Blake, however, did not make an overpowering case for its revival.

Leo Nucci's robust if unsubtly used baritone is enough these days to make him welcome on international stages. This time he barked his way through the evening as Figaro. He gave little indication of the raffish charm that makes the barber such an irresistible force in the Seville community. ''Largo al factotum,'' his signature aria, was energetically babbled, careless of tone quality or dramatic punctuation.

Kathleen Battle, who seldom disappoints, conferred consistently buttery tones on the role of Rosina, her ''Una voce poco fa'' and ''Contro un cor'' almost enough to justify the whole evening. As Dr. Bartolo's adventurous ward, she often slipped into a stereotyped coyness, passing up chances to show sharper, more illuminating facets of the character. The part, written for a genuine coloratura mezzo, is not ideal for a light coloratura soprano, but Miss Battle's technique, taste and tone are such that reservations tend to melt away. Most of the time, despite the voice's feathery quality, Miss Battle could be heard clearly, thanks in part to the purity of each note's pitch. She declined, however, to compete with the orchestra whenever it threatened to drown her out, seemingly content at such moments to mouth the words. This caution can sometimes cost her performances a certain raw, sporting quality, but it also could insure that she will be singing beautifully when most of her colleagues have shouted themselves into premature retirement.

Robert Lloyd, a veteran British bass, made his Metropolitan debut as Basilio. The voice proved right in size and resonance for the role of the corrupt music teacher and with shrewder direction Mr. Lloyd might bring off his insidious ''La calunnia'' with more black-humored effectiveness. Enzo Dara, the Bartolo, dithering about in the manner sanctified by ''Barbiere'' tradition, zipped through the role's patter with more speed than gusto and otherwise best amused those who are easily amused. Berta's wryly wise aria, often cut, is restored in this production, but a bland reading by Margaret Jane Wray left one wondering why. THE CAST - IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA, opera in two acts by Gioacchino Rossini; libretto by Cesare Sterbini, based on Beaumarchais's comedy. Ralf Weikert, conductor; production by John Cox; sets designed by Robin Wagner; costumes designed by Patricia Zipprodt; lighting designed by Gil Wechsler. At the Metropolitan Opera. Rosina...Kathleen Battle Figaro...Leo Nucci Count Almaviva...Rockwell Blake Dr. Bartolo...Enzo Dara Don Basilio...Robert Lloyd Berta...Margaret Jane Wray Fiorello...Christopher Trakas Sergeant...Charles Anthony Ambrogio...Peter Sliker


Kathleen Battle sparkles in a 1988 Il barbiere di Siviglia from the Met
26/08/2020 by Rick Perdian

United StatesUnited States Rossini, Il barbiere di Siviglia: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of The Metropolitan Opera / Ralf Weikert (conductor). Performance of 3.12.1988 reviewed as a Nightly Met Opera Stream on 22.8.2020. (RP)
Production:

Production – John Cox
Sets – Robin Wagner
Costumes – Patricia Zipprodt
Lighting – Gil Wechsler
TV Director – Brian Large

Cast:

Figaro – Leo Nucci
Rosina – Kathleen Battle
Count Almaviva – Rockwell Blake
Dr. Bartolo – Enzo Dara
Don Basilio – Ferruccio Furlanetto
Berta – Loretta Di Franco
Fiorello – David Hamilton
Sergeant – Charles Anthony
Ambrogio – Edward Ghazal

Kathleen Battle was one of the Metropolitan Opera’s shiniest stars in the 1980s and early 1990s and, after making her house debut as the Shepherd in Tannhäuser in 1977, she went on to sing 244 performances at the Met. She was fired in 1994 by Joseph Volpe, then general manager, from a production of Donizetti’s La fille du régiment a week before opening night, for her ‘unprofessional actions during rehearsals’. In an instant, her international operatic career was over, proof of the old adage that a halo only has to slip so far to become a noose.

This 1988 telecast of Il barbiere di Siviglia displays the delicate beauty, shimmering voice, exceptional artistry and potent charisma that made Battle such a favorite. Her Rosina is pert and mischievous but always elegant and glamourous. The first notes that she sings, when echoing the Count’s serenade, were stunning, while the performance ends with Roman-candle-like bursts of high notes in the final ensemble. In between came limpid tone, melting phrases and exquisite ornamentation. It was a small voice, and there was always much debate over whether it was suited to the cavernous Met, but audiences don’t cheer for something they can’t hear.
Leo Nucci was 46 at the time, and his Figaro, if not youthful, was worldly, wily and expertly sung. By this stage of his career, Nucci had outwitted innumerable Dr. Bartolos, and he faced a formidable one in Enzo Dara, who sang the role over 400 times in his career, including 41 Met performances. Reviews from the time show that Dara didn’t impress the critics, but on the small screen he all but stole the show with ‘A un dottor dell mia sorte’ as the words tripped off his tongue at lightning speed.

For many, Rockwell Blake’s voice was an acquired taste, but he was one of the most heralded Rossini tenors of the day. While his voice lacked the lustrous beauty that the current crop of star lyric tenors seems to have in spades, Blake had a formidable technique and dashing stage presence. He and Dara supplied the bulk of the laughs in this rather straitlaced spin on Rossini’s comedy.

Don Basilio was Ferruccio Furlanetto, who made his Met debut as the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo in 1980 and quickly became an audience favorite. More wonderful than his aria ‘La calunnia’ was the gleam in his eyes as he took his solo curtain call.

The cast contained two Met stalwarts who enlivened many an evening with their endearing characterizations: Charles Anthony as the Sergeant and Loretta Di Franco as Berta. In keeping with the tone of the performance, Di Franco gave a droll, rather than over-the-top comedic, take on Berta. Her account of ‘Il vecchiotto cerca moglie’ in which Berta muses over why people in love act so crazily – but at the same time wishes she wasn’t so old so she could find out for herself – brought hearty applause and at least one enthusiastic bravo.

The critics didn’t warm up to conductor Ralf Weikert either, but the noted Mozart and Rossini specialist led a fast-paced, sparkling account of the score. The Met orchestra performed with its customary brilliance, especially the boisterous woodwinds who stole the spotlight from time to time.

This was John Cox’s first production for the Met, and it would be seen for 25 years with a remarkable progression of Rosinas, beginning with Marilyn Horne who starred in the 1982 premiere. I saw neither her nor Battle in the role, but the Rosina of Frederica von Stade and of Ruth Ann Swenson (whose Met halo also abruptly slipped) linger in the mind, as well as the delightful and devilish Don Basilio of Samuel Ramey. Juan Diego Flórez as Count Almaviva in his 2002 debut season was a revelation. I don’t believe I had ever seen a singer who was so handsome and gifted with such a beautiful voice on the Met stage; he was as agile physically as he was vocally.

Cox staged all of the action on a revolving set, which permitted one scene to flow seamlessly into another in a lovely progression of rooms and panoramic scenes of the skyline of Seville. None garnered applause, but the horse that drew the band of musicians on stage in the opening scene did. Critics noted that Cox had updated the action by a century to the time of Rossini. Would we even notice today? It was a perfect jewel of a production, true to the libretto and human-scaled, which by then were becoming ever rarer at the Met and elsewhere.

Rick Perdian
https://seenandheard-international.com/ ... m-the-met/

[maestrob]

Len, I would have thought that Kathleen Battle would have had a more sensitive conductor than this:

Miss Battle's technique, taste and tone are such that reservations tend to melt away. Most of the time, despite the voice's feathery quality, Miss Battle could be heard clearly, thanks in part to the purity of each note's pitch. She declined, however, to compete with the orchestra whenever it threatened to drown her out, seemingly content at such moments to mouth the words. This caution can sometimes cost her performances a certain raw, sporting quality, but it also could insure that she will be singing beautifully when most of her colleagues have shouted themselves into premature retirement.

While she had a sparkling, radiant presence on stage, she was difficult to work with, sometimes refusing to sing during rehearsals in order to save her voice. This may be the reason that the conductor (unknown to me) did not balance the orchestra properly.

In rehearsal for a recital appearance with a pianist I knew peripherally, Battle was mouthing the words (at a dress rehearsal!) and, of course, her pianist couldn't watch her all the time, especially as she was facing out to the empty house. Believe it or not, she had the gall to stop several times and complain "You're behind: not following me!") Yikes!

Other stories abound, but they are too racial, and I don't want to get into that here.

Nucci was never my favorite baritone, nor Blake my favorite tenor. Both had dry voices with little or no expressive ability and warmth or beauty, so I avoided performances when they sang. I did watch Nucci on television in Forza when he sang "Urna fatale" in the original (higher)key, which was excruciating, as I was then used to Leonard Warren & Robert Merrill.

I would have enjoyed this, however, for Kathleen Battle's Rosina, as she fully deserved the stardom that, unfortunately, went to her head a bit too much. One of our favorite Christmas CDs is one that she recorded with Leonard Slatkin, and then there's an aria disc of Mozart works conducted by Andre Previn that's quite stunning: perhaps you can find it on Spotify (I know you can stream it on Amazon):

[lennygoran]

Len, I would have thought that Kathleen Battle would have had a more sensitive conductor than this

Brian I could have been conducting the orchestra and even that couldn't have stopped her-the notes flowed out-I was choking up as I listened to her singing and also incredible stage presence at play! And how nice to see a young Furlanetto! Regards, Len