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Franco Capuana, Orchestra e Coro dell' Arena di Verona - Verdi: Aida (2005/1966)

Posted By: Vilboa

Date: 1 Jul 2022 00:03:16

The tradition of presenting operas in the Arena of Verona was inaugurated by Aida when it was performed there in 1913. The wide-open spaces of this opera-the blue skies and fragrant forests of Ethiopia, the starry nights on the Nile-and its picture of Egypt's ancient civilisation found their ideal setting in the grandeur of this centuries-old Roman amphitheatre and in the open air of Verona's summer nights.
The Aida on this videotape was part of a heroic epoch at the Arena, when great Verdian singers were members of a homogeneous opera company and they had heroic stature, had the greatness of romantic myth. Some say that when opera is taken out of the theatre and performed in the open, it loses resonance, loses its nature. But on the contrary, with singers of such greatness as these, opera in the Arena acquires the sacral nature of Greek tragedy. The performance on this videotape was televised in black and white with the technical means of thirty years ago. It lacks the lighting, the brilliant colors, the flexible movement from panoramas to close-ups which today's telecamera can provide Yet it is a precious document, for it gives us the spacious Arena, here dominated by the stage sel of designer Pino Casarini and the conducting of Franco Capuana. We may smile at certain scenic features that are now old-fashioned, like the costumes, or the warrior's appearance of the hero. Radames. Nonetheless, in this videotape the camera truly transmits the scenic presence of these singers and the intensity of their acting.
Leyla Gencer is Aida, the princess of Ethiopia (in fact, Turkey) who has been enslaved, and it is our great good fortune that this video has preserved at least a trace of the interpretation this artist gave to one of her greatest roles. She both sings and acts with greal intensity. She is completely immersed in her role, from the moment when she first appears, above, and then descends a long slope with proud, majestic steps. A sense of Aida's tragic fate is conveyed to us at once by the expression in her eyes.
Carlo Bergonzi is Radames, and is already Verdian in the sincerity and richness of his voice, whose warmth expresses the province of Emilia from which he comes. He conveys his interpretation of the role, conveys the psychology and the ideals of Radames, through his voice. The easy, burnished timbre of his high notes and the mellow softness of his voice make the dream expressed in his opening aria ("Se quel guerrier, io fossi") seem plausible. And his careful, supple phrasing, the words fully enunciated and well shaped, give exemplary clarity and rotundity to his singing.
Bergonzi doesn't like taking risks, and yet the amorous power of his first words to Aida ("Pur ti riveggo, mia dolce Aida"), his vehemence in the duet that follows, and the absolute desolation in his voice when he sings "Io sono disonorato!" are all superb. The dark, tragic determination of "Sacerdote, io resto a te" is dazzling.
The lyrical flow of song in the final scene, and his capacity to soften his voice as the soprano softens, create a harmony between the two that is simply enchanting. Amneris has the great, Arena-filling voice of Fiorenza Cosssotto. The colour, power, voluptuousness and pathos of Cossotto's voice are unmistakable. On stage she displays the arrogance, the superiority to which Amneris has every right, as a Pharoahs daughter triumphant in her beauty, power, and love.
The conductor, Franco Capuana, sustains the flow of Verdi's score with a sure hand, sensitive to its rhythmic surges of ecstatic lyricism. He has an ear attuned to the greater extension of sonorities in the spaciousness of the Arena. And he is always vigilant and attentive to the poetic intensity of his singers.

Cast:
Aida - Leyla Gencer
Radames - Carlo Bergonzi
Amneris - Fiorenza Cossotto
Ramfis - Bonaldo Giaiotti
Amonasro - Anselmo Colzani
Il Re - Franco Pugliese
Corpo di Ballo del Teatro Kirov di Leningrado
Orchestra e Coro dell' Arena di Verona
Conductor - Franco Capuana

PART 1
PART 2
PART 3

2005 Arena di Verona Carlo Bergonzi Classical Classical Music DVD Fiorenza Cossotto Leyla Gencer Opera Verdi Video opera