Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco[DVD]

In directors Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier's konzept, Giovanna is a teenager with a disturbed mind and a controlling, rigid, father, in a middle-class household around the beginning of the 20th century. Her father gave her a strict religious upbringing, which increasingly clashes with her awakening sexuality. She is experiencing visions of a sexual, religious and grandiose nature alternating with suicidal tendencies. Her symptoms would be diagnosed as a case of (sexual) hysteria 100 years ago and as a psychotic bipolar disorder today. The only external (real) conflict in this konzept is between Giovanna's hallucinatory behavior and her alarmed father - all the other characters and events are Giovanna's hallucinations. The exasperated father has scant means to help his daughter other than to argue with her, yell, threaten and even resort to physical violence to suppress her florid and disturbing hallucinations. He scores brief victories, but these symptoms are the essence of Giovanna's emotional life; without them, she becomes depleted and switches to suicidal (post-psychotic) depression. (Act I) The drama opens at a point where Giovanna's illness reaches a point where she is bedridden (chapter 2 on the DVD, in the opening "Sinfonia"), her worried father fussing over her with help and attendants coming and going. Giovanna wakes up and is putting her hands over her ears to stop the voices (opening chorus, chapter 3) threatening divine retribution for wicked sins: the inner conflict is between Giovanna's awakening sexuality and her religious upbringing, or between id and superego. We see her visual hallucinations of the intimidating chorus spying on her - it is very well done, striking images conveying the inner torments of a paranoid mind: the chorus has a persecutory quality, they are trapped in glass cages (and in her mind) - scary. She begins to have vague visions of Carlo VII, fuzzy and poorly formed at this point. This will be the beginning of the solution her tormented mind will create for her agony. The delusional vision of The King leaps to life (chapters 4, 5, 6). It is basically a teen idol, a perfect golden being. He consoles and uplifts Giovanna. This is a complete edition with all cabalettas and repeats. Francesco Meli gives a carefully calculated performance in a polished style with enough metal and power, ardor and heroism. He does not erase memories of Vincenzo La Scola in Herzog's 1989 Bologna production on a Kultur DVD - La Scola's tone is brighter, warmer, more open and ultimately with genuine, irresistible italianità that Meli lacks. There is a struggle in Giovanna's mind between The King's perfect goodness and the threatening chorus, they circle him and are about to finish him off since he represents a sublimated version of Giovanna's sexual urges whereas they represent her superego, but he vanquishes them in his cabaletta with repeat (7) and they vanish. But Giovanna has mood swings, The King collapses lifeless and Giovanna pulls out both a razor and a rope (8) about to kill herself while her father rambles on, scandalized by what he sees. As usual, when Giacomo, Giovanna's father has the upper hand the visions are suppressed and Giovanna is down. But she flips back (mood swings), ties the rope around her waist instead of around her neck, and while her father prays to Jesus she prays to Mary, regains her stamina and (9) Anna Netrebko delivers a stunning account of her cavatina (10). Giovanna belongs to a group of early Verdi insanely difficult female heroines (Abigaille, Giselda, Ernani's Elvira, Odabella, Lady Macbeth and Amalia) who require a soubrette's coloratura agility combined with pipes of steel. Netrebko possesses both, as well as a rich, full fantastic tone that the sound engineers were able to capture how it expands (huge amplitude), blooms, ripens and fills the house. This is not just a gorgeous voice, it's a full artist who lives the role, and is able to make her conception of the role "read." The insight and details of her artistry are breathtaking. She is on stage all the time, never once loses concentration and is the reason why the directors were able to bring off this tired konzept of "it's all in her head" so successfully. Giovanna hallucinates The King as revived, he is gaining the upper hand again (11), but her feelings towards him become more clearly erotic. She caresses him with projected erotic images. This triggers an offstage chorus, where the demons try to seduce Giovanna with a cute little waltz “Tu sei bella” (12). An angelic chorus answers back "Rise, beloved virgin!" The two choruses fight over Giovanna's soul. The Angels win, she puts on The King's golden armor, cries out "I am ready!" and launches a rousing rendition of the cabaletta "Son guerriera" (13). It has an unusual structure in that the repeat is sung by both tenor and soprano. Father notices that daughter is manic and out of control, protests "The King" (i.e., in this konzept " she's now fantasizing about some stupid king"), daughter becomes subdued and this part of the repeat of the cabaletta switches from an accompanied tenor-soprano duet into an acapella soprano-tenor-baritone trio. I don't know of any other example of this structure in Verdi. It's almost as if he was embarrassed by the tackiness of the crass Angels & demons business and tried to make up for it. Act I reaches a climax in a crude, silly chorus that is beautifully staged as visions of an army bursting into the stage out of nowhere, the French slaughtering the English, flames, banners, spears, Giovanna leading the charge: father cowers in horror as he watches daughter manic, out of control, "saving France." At this point, it looks like directors Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier were able to save Verdi's opera from its Temistocle Solera risible libretto. (Act II) Giovanna has visions of the defeated English (14) singing in a chorus that is one of several passages in the opera that sound as if Verdi composed them on autopilot in his sleep (and that Donizetti appeared to him in his dreams). Father has had enough and protests angrily (15, 16, 17): Carlos Álvarez' Scena ed aria. As usual, the tone is a little constricted, the sound emission a little blocked as if the baritone struggles to get it out, particularly at the less than elegant ending of phrases; the legato and style less than pristine. But we have been living through a terrible famine of Verdi baritones (and basses) and if you complain too much you may get a certain ex-tenor, so this is a very fine performance, ok? After father's extended hissy fit daughter snaps back into reality, the visions disappear, she puts on everyday clothes: Netrebko gives a moving account of her romanza "O fastidica foresta" (19). But she never fully snapped completely into reality - she sings the romanza holding an imaginary dagger left behind by the visions. Sure enough, she has a relapse of her symptoms, The King returns (20), they declare their love to each other and kiss passionately, but Giovanna freaks out "Leave me." Netrebko is stunning here as a singing actress depicting Giovanna's conflict "I am accursed!", alternating between tenderness and terror with showstopping, beautifully sung outbursts with perfect passagework (21). The victorious French return in beautiful shining silver armors (22) - a beautiful scene. The act concludes with a chorus of demons (23) and visions of the satanic winged creatures bathed in red lighting circling and overpowering Giovanna. If you observe well you'll notice they are engaged in sexually suggestive poses and activities. It was rumored at the time that originally the directors, Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier, a gay couple for more than 20 years, had the diavoletti engage in explicit backdoor gay action, but Maestro Chailly had the scene toned down. Later, when Chailly was preparing to give an interview for Rai radio 3, Moshe Leiser yelled at him: "Congratulations Maestro, really congratulations", "A-hole", then, in Italian: "stronzo di merda". (Act III) Giovanna dons the full King's golden armor (24) and looks like the Tinman from 'The Wizard of Oz.' She is completely delusional and has visions of The King's coronation in Reims Cathedral, that rises up from her bedroom floor. Father is at his wits' end (25) and Carlos Álvarez delivers his romanza "Speme al vecchio era una figlia" (26). He is more grieving then angry and is unable to stop daughter's visions, which become religiously ecstatic. She receives the cross from a Christ-like figure with stigmata and a crown of thorns (27). The King and chorus acclaim her "Long live Giovanna!" and The King kneels (28) while the lighting reflects Giovanna's ecstatic mood, the apex of her grandiose delusions. This is too much for her father who engages in an accusatory tirade against daughter, raising doubts about her virginity. Giovanna now imagines that she is Christ bearing his cross (29), but father gradually succeeds in suppressing the visions and daughter's ecstatic mood. The lighting becomes bluish, daughter takes off her golden armor, Reims cathedral sinks in smoke and fire (30). If you think this is silly and dramatically repetitive remember that Temistocle Solera's libretto provides nothing to work with. The directors' interventionist approach works very well. In act IV father finally succeeds and daughter eventually crushes fully into reality (31 - 39). Deprived of her visions she is sapped of life and slowly dies a slow, beautiful death, impressively staged in increasingly pervasive blue lighting, with images symbolizing both emotional impoverishment and spiritual ascent with intelligent, aesthetic touches. Very impressive.

First off, no matter what Amazon says, this Blu-ray is REGION FREE, as the back cover indicates. I sent them a notification, but they don't seem to have acted on it. This is a lesser Verdi opera, not well-known to most casual opera-lovers. The production is a bit strange, but I can't fault the singing at all. Anna Netrebko goes from strength to strength vocally. She has been choosing her roles well as her voice changes, and this is no exception. While her Italian can be a bit mushy, one makes allowances due to her luscious voice and increasingly aware vocal acting. Granted, she's not Tebaldi, but not many sopranos are - and Tebaldi's Giovanna is available only on a less than sonically satisfactory "live" performance on compact disc. The supporting singers are very good, although never quite up to Netrebko's level. Chailly's conducting is excellent, and the sound is fine. I'm very happy to have added this performance to my collection.

Verdi’s genius was apparently far different than that of his predecessors Rossini and Donizetti. For instance, Donizetti reportedly composed Don Pasquale in a mere eight days. If you gave Verdi only eight days to compose an opera, it’s doubtful he would have come up with anything as brilliantly tuneful as Donizetti’s comic masterpiece, more likely the results would have been closer to what we have here, the rowdy and often uninspired Giovanni d’Arco. On the other hand, you could have given Donizetti eight years and he wouldn’t have been capable of an Otello or Falstaff or even La Traviata. Certain composers flourished under the factory-like system of Italian opera during the early to mid nineteenth century, with its emphasis on formula, while others, like Verdi, experienced a hampering of their innovative creative instincts. Of course some of Verdi’s most beloved works were sketched out in just a few weeks, so it’s possible that with Giovanna d’Arco he was simply being lazy, or else pandering to the crude tastes of a faction of his audience. And of course the Donizetti of Don Pasquale was much older and more musically experienced than Verdi at the time of this opera. Whatever the case, Giovanna d’Arco is a relatively minor work but with moments of brilliance, making it not atypical of Verdi’s self-described “galley years.” The main draws here, at least for people who already own a video performance of this opera, are the singers and conductor and the La Scala orchestra and chorus, all of whom deliver. Some people find Anna Netrebko’s voice diminishing as she graduates to heavier roles but I’m not among them. Her singing is still beautiful to my ears, and powerful, and she’s always been a committed stage actress, meaning these more dramatic roles suit her perfectly. I haven’t yet heard her Tosca or Norma, so at this point I’ll withhold a final verdict until October when she’s broadcast worldwide in the Met’s production of Aida. But for now I approve of her career’s trajectory and look forward to seeing her in a variety of more challenging roles, provided she doesn’t overdo it. She’s still relatively young and doesn’t need to devour every fiendishly large character all at once, she has plenty of time to spread them out. Some singers specialize in a few select parts while others, like Placido Domingo, are more dramatically curious and adventurous, and Ms. Netrebko, thankfully, belongs in the latter category. In other words, to paraphrase Neil Young, she’d rather burn out than fade away, although hopefully, like Domingo, she’ll be smart about her choices and pace herself, thus giving her the opportunity to do both. Francesco Meli, as King Carlo, has a clean and prepossessing tenor voice, while the veteran baritone Carlos Alvarez brings both zealotry and tenderness to the role of Anna’s father. Riccardo Chailly, who apparently has an affinity for this score (he’s been conducting it for several years), leads a vigorous performance, whipping the orchestra into a tempest of emotion, while the chorus, under Bruno Casoni, emerges as a major character, which is typical of early Verdi, especially the operas where Temistocle Solera is the librettist. As for Moshe Leiser’s and Patrice Caurier’s production, as others have noted it’s a bit strange. Netrebko seems to be playing a more contemporary woman than the title character, confined to her bedroom with delusions of being Joan of Arc. Perhaps the suggestion here is that Joan herself was a mere fantasy figure, a much needed larger than life heroine for an oppressed people. This is an interesting idea although I’m not sure it works in this context, especially when combined with the background video and over the top symbolism that accompany these delusions. Solera’s text for the opera is typically straightforward and lacking in complexity, making it a poor fit for such grandiose abstraction. Still, the picture and sound are of very high quality, and combined with the musical quality of the performance this makes all the visual weirdness going on much easier to live with. As for the opera itself, the final two acts are musically glorious, but unfortunately are much shorter than the first two acts. Not that there isn’t fine music throughout the piece, but it tends to be less inspired early on and at times is even banal. This is most often evident in the choruses, which are sometimes no more artful than a student section cheering on a football team, and the orchestration which can be thin and rather tinkly. One of the more illustrative examples of this occurs in the second act, where the chorus is split into two parts, one a lascivious mob encouraging a young woman to give up her maidenhood and the other a solemn religious ritual. It’s an interesting idea but the execution, unfortunately, is rather shallow, especially when you look at Richard Wagner’s Tannhauser, which debuted a mere eight months after this opera, and the brilliant way it juxtaposes the spiritual and profane. As far as Verdi’s pre-Rigoletto operas are concerned, I would rank Giovanna d’Arco as somewhere near the middle of the pack or maybe even lower. Luisa Miller, Macbeth, Stiffelio, Ernani and Nabucco are securely positioned at the top, with Oberto and La Battaglia di Legnano and I Due Foscari the next in line. This one is slightly higher than Attila and Il Corsaro, and well above I Masnadieri and I Lombardi. I’m not familiar with the others so will withhold commentary. But don’t take my word for it. The number of performances and video releases of this opera belie my own opinion that this is a minor work, in fact there’s another DVD and Blu-ray due to be released only a short time after this one. And look at the names involved. This upcoming performance is directed by Peter Greenaway, the British filmmaker responsible for Prospero’s Books and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. And a much earlier production was directed by the great Werner Herzog. So there’s obviously something here to attract such prestigious talent, something I’m obviously missing. For me Giovanna d’Arco is an entertaining enough opera, frustrating at times and others genuinely inspired, only partly scaling the heights to Verdian splendor, mostly of interest because I’m such a huge fan of the composer and have a wish to experience his entire oeuvre. This particular disc is essential because of the commitment of the performers, and also the video and sound quality which contrast rather starkly with the Herzog production from almost thirty years ago. But if others find more to it than that, well, I’ll offer the same advice Joan herself would have given. Go with God.

A beautiful production of this rarely seen Verdi opera with a first class cast.

While the staging is far from traditional, treating Giovanna's actions as the fruits of a delusional mind and Introducing some seriously illogical actions as a result, the sheer magnificence of the vocalism gets the five star rating. Netrebko gives a master class in Verdi singing. Her recent efforts in Macbeth and Il Trovatore at the Met, when taken as a whole, underscore her unqualified success in transitioning from lighter roles to Verdi. Meli also nails the role of Carlo vocally, but the gold armor and face paint underscore the inconsistency of the staging, Alvarez does his usual fine job, producing that rich Verdian style of singing. His last act duet with Giovanna is exquisitely done. Chailly conducts this early Verdi work with an emphasis, when warranted, on the energetic nature of much of the score, while recognizing the delicacy of the father daughter relationship. Disc quality is superb. HD MA sound can break leases, Highly recommended for fans of exceptional singing and of early Verdi.

Netrebko and Meli sang this in concert, earlier at the Salzburg Festival in 2013. Unfortunately it has a weak Domingo singing in his false baritone range. This Blu-Ray is visually and sonically strong The singing is good, if not on the highest level. However La Scala’s baritone is much preferable to Domingo. The production is a bit strange, as it seems to be dream like sequences. It’s always a pleasure to hear one of Verdi’s less familiar operas from his earlier period.

To start with, this opera is hardly a master piece so it is rarely produced, for good reason. The libretto is based on Schiller’s play Die Jungfrau von Orleans. The music has some nice arias and ensembles, but do not mesmerize. I found Giacomo’s Carlos Alvarez the most believable and beautifully sung. Netrebko disappointed me, the music and acting doesn’t convey a strong Giovanna’s character. And here comes my biggest problem, the stage concept. If you read the attached pamphlet before watching this opera, you will be bewildered by the sets when the opera starts. The whole concept is that Giovanna is in her bedroom and the whole story is in her young mind. She starts lying on her bed in her nightgown and keeps them for the entire opera. The pamphlet doesn’t even mention the concept, nor the room or the bed. Details of the plot are described as originally written, Weird! Although the stage concept is not farfetched, its staging is not very successful. I have to say that there is extensive use of technology, lights and special effects which are interesting, but the overall result is sometimes confusing, in particular since there is not a single explanation of it anywhere. The orchestra is great, as well as the video and sound recording (Blue-Ray version). I doubt the opera will be recorded often, so this one gives a possibility to know better this opera from the great Maestro, despite the drawbacks I mentioned.

Although the production is strange and dark, that is not the worse part of this bluray. The worse for me is Anna Netrebko, whose voice has changed and that's not bad, but in this case has changed in a bad way and is not the voice needed to sing Giovanna. Recently I saw Netrebko singing Tosca at the Met and Lady Macbeth with Domingo in Berlin and what a dissapointment in both. Her voice very high-pitched and an ugly vibrato in the the high notes, that she did not have a couple years ago. Sadly the same happened at the opening night at Milan's Scala in December 2017 when she sung Maddalena de Coigny in Andrea Chenier, and happened the same. Seems her career is declining fast. Meli sings correct but nothing outstandig. If you want to listen the best Giovanna d'Arco recorded at the moment, buy the one by Tebaldí and Bergonzi. This is in CD. Is an old recording but the sound is not bad, and you will appreciate how must be sung Giovanna and the extraordinary voice of Renata Tebaldi. The other Giovanna that is very good is Caballe's with Domingo, this one in better stereo sound but even though for me Tebaldi is the greatest Giovanna I have heard.

Il video documenta l'esecuzione scaligera dell'opera di Verdi (in edizione critica) ripresa alla Scala dopo oltre 100 anni di assenza. Giovanna d'arco del 2015 fu anche la prima inaugurazione di stagione con Riccardo Chailly insediato come direttore musicale del Teatro.l'esecuzione proposta non è quella del 7 dicembre ma della replica del 23 (alla quale tra l'altro ho assistito personalmente; fu necessario probabilmente a causa dell'indisposizione del Baritono Carlos Alvarez influenzato alle prime 2-3 recite). Voci ottime (Meli, Netrebko, Alvarez) così come la concertazione di Chailly con orchestra e coro della Scala. La regia, pur partendo da un punto di vista abbastanza alternativo riserva momenti di grande effetto.

This production has many anomalies notable the story line which could be described inventive at best or even down right potty. The staging is "adventurous" ergo why the five stars? This is one of Verdi`s earliest works and the score is simply superb and several of the melodies remind me of some of his later operas. The three principles are in top form throughout. Natrebko as you have never see her before as Giovanna d`arco (it takes some time to see just, how as a poor farm girl, she is made to appear) but is in full voice,,,,,simply magnificent. Francesco Meli (New to me) as the King of France fills and sings the role as it should be. Carlos Alverez as Giovanna`s father again gives a superb performance. There is an inordinate amount of choral work in this opera and I am delighted that there is because it will blow you away. One thing is certain...there is never a dull moment in this entire version of the opera where the action takes one from Earth to Heaven and from Heaven to Hell and back again....at times lurid and at times sublime.

Diese Oper wird derzeit sehr selten gespielt, dabei enthält sie grandiose Arien und Duette, besonders, wenn sie von so großen Stimmern vorgetragen werden, wie auf dieser Aufnahme. Und die moderne, aber ausgesprochen einfühlsame Regie unterstreicht noch die Wirkung. Mailänder Scala gilt zurecht als das wichtigste Opernhaus der Welt und produziert leider viel zu selten DVD, um es einen breiten Publikum zu zeigen.

Trio vocal inégalable dans ce répertoire. Ravie de revoir cette superbe production. Et quel chef!

un VERDI peu joué