2017年バーデン=バーデン・イースター音楽祭でのラトル指揮ベルリン・フィルによるプッチーニの名作オペラ「トスカ」。「トスカ」と言えば、かつてカラヤンがベルリン・フィルと上演して大成功を収めたオペラでもあり、1979年に録音された全曲盤は「トスカ」の名盤として聴き継がれています。今回、ベルリン・フィルが同曲を演奏するのは、カラヤン指揮で、1989年ザルツブルク・イースター音楽祭の上演から、実に28年ぶりとなります。 ローマの歌姫を演じるのは、ドラマティックな歌唱と演技力で人気ソプラノ、クリスティーネ・オポライスです。同じラトヴィア出身の指揮者アンドリス・ネルソンスとともにラトヴィア政府から優れた芸術家として勲章を授与されるなど公私ともに充実しています。 カヴァラドッシを演じるのは、甘い美声と豊かな声量を持つ、世界が認める当代最高のテノール歌手の一人、マルセロ・アルバレス。そして抜群の安定でスカルピア男爵を披露するのはマルコ・ヴラトーニャと主役陣も現代最高峰の歌手を揃えています。 演出は、2007年ブレゲンツ音楽祭での「トスカ」や2013年バーデン=バーデン祝祭劇場での「ドン・ジョヴァンニ」などモダンな演出に強いメッセージ性を込める鬼才フィリップ・ヒンメルマンが担当しています。
Iago
On a June night in 2017, opera lovers thronged to the Royal Opera House in London to hear tenor Jonas Kaufmann, recently acclaimed by The Daily Telegraph as the world s greatest tenor, make his eagerly anticipated debut in the title role of Otello Verdi s greatest and most demanding role for tenor voice. As the New York Times wrote Mr. Kaufmann made his debut in the part, and he calmly, confidently sang it for the ages.
Frank
Puccini’s operas are among the most beloved and best-known works in the classical repertoire, but Edgar may be unknown even to aficionados, at least as it is presented here. This original four-act version of Edgar, first performed in 1889, was believed lost for over a century when Puccini’s granddaughter Simonetta discovered the score fully intact in 2008. In addition to the third act’s funeral music, which Arturo Toscanini conducted at Puccini’s funeral in 1924, listeners may recognize the duet from the now-restored fourth act, cut by Puccini in subsequent revisions of the work: it bears more than a passing similarity to the third-act duet in Tosca.
At first it came as a delightful surprise to see this Simon Boccanegra (libretto: Francesco Maria Piave) from the Teatro Comunale di Bologna available on DVD. In November, 2007, thirteen opera lovers from Michael Tisma’s Ovations International opera tour travelled to Teatro Municipale Valli in Emiglia Romana to see Bologna’s production of Boccanegra. Without exception, everyone considered it an emotionally gripping performance of Verdi’s pessimistic tale of spiritual disturbance and foreboding. What is evident while watching the DVD is the difference between the confident execution and polish of the Teatro Valli performance and the unfinished, yet promising rendition caught at the opera’s prima in Bologna.
Renato
Passion, loyalty and political conspiracy are the three pillars of Un ballo in maschera (1859), the 'most operatic of all operas'. Set in 19th-century Boston, Mario Martone's atmospheric production for the Teatro Real brings out all the innate theatricality and drama of Verdi's work. World famous Argentinean tenor Marcelo Álvarez, in the role of Riccardo, leads a fabulous cast including Lithuanian soprano Violeta Urmana as his lover Amelia, and Elena Zaremba as the witch Ulrica. Jesús López Cobos conducts the Madrid Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a performance that emphasises the lyricism and majesty of this wonderful work, in which grand opera and opera comique are woven into the Classical Italian Opera style.
