Verdi: Macbeth / Tiliakos, Urmana

URMANA; TILIAKOS; FURLANETTO; SECCO; CURRENTZIS; TCHERNIAKOV

When you mix an art nouveau Russian director (Dmitri Tcherniakov) with an Italian masterpiece, and mount it on a French opera stage with an international cast, you never know what you might get. Fortunately, the main ingredient in this recipe, Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth, provides a good beginning for all that follows. The story is Shakespeare’s own and will be familiar to most viewers for its basic theme of how power corrupts, and how absolute power corrupts absolutely. Even so, it remains fascinating to see how Macbeth, aided and abetted by his scheming wife, attains the throne of Scotland only to be undone by guilt, madness, and eventually by Malcolm, the rightful regal heir. For those who have seen traditional performances of Macbeth, this one will come as either a shock to the system or a revelation. Tcherniakov downplays the regal aspect of the story and casts it as a domestic power struggle in a small town of uncertain European provenance. Gone are the witches, replaced by a motley crew of villagers. Gone are the three visions of the third act or Banquo’s ghost at the royal party which resembles an intimate cocktail affair. Macduff delivers his big aria from a child’s playpen! Simply put, this is not your father’s Macbeth. In spite of these substantial alterations to Verdi’s original intent, opera still is all about great singing and here is where this 2009 Paris Opera performance shines. Greek baritone Dmitris Tiliakos (Macbeth), Lithuanian soprano Violetta Urmana (Lady Macbeth), and Italians, bass Ferruccio Furlanetto (Banquo) and tenor Stefano Secco (Macduff) deliver a terrific sing. The Parisians in the pit are ably led by young Greek conductor Teodor Currentzis who clearly has a lot of Verdi in his veins.

Price: $57.98

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