Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro (Lyon, 1987)

Cast: Giovanni Furlanetto (Figaro), Lucovic Tezier (Almaviva), Elzbieta Szmytka (Susanna), Janice Watson (Rosina), Francesca Provvisionato (Cherubino), Tiziana Tramonti (Marcellina), Marcello Lippi (Bartolo), Sergio Bertocchi (Basilio), Rebecca Hoffmann (Barbarina), Orchestra of the Opéra National de Lyon, Paolo Olmi (conductor), Jean-Pierre Vincent (director), Mate Kabinowski (video director)

Recorded at Opéra National de Lyon in 1987

Issued on DVD by Arthaus Musik in 2003 [100 410, PAL/regions 2, 5, menus in English, German, French, Spanish, subtitles in Italian, English, German, French, Spanish]

Technical details
Aspect ratio 16:9 (Packaging says 4:3)
Sound PCM Stereo

Running time: 190 minutes

Sung in Italian
This recording has a fatal flaw: it is entirely lacking in wit, substituting physical comedy for vocal characterization. It has the virtues of completeness even to the Act IV arias of Barbarina, Marcellina and Basilio; and freshness in that the singers are all young and enthusiastic.

There is a remarkable sameness to the singing. One has the impression that any of the women can take any of the roles without difficulty and that Figaro and the count are similarly interchangable. As a result, the trio in the boudoir falls flat for lack of vocal characterization. Even the Marcellina - Susanna duet loses due to near identity of timbre and style. However, style rarely enters the equation in a performance delivered in a neutral fashion, almost as though each singer were performing before a teacher of voice, not even a coach of performance. In that environment, failure of ensemble is disappointing, but hardly surprising.

Staging and costumes are colorful but conventional. With the physical humor, they provide distraction from the flat, un-Mozartian musical realization.

This Furlanetto (Giovanni, not Ferruccio) has a dark timbre, but problems with both intonation and the lower notes. This Watson (Janice, not Claire) manages the fioriture well but also suffers unsure intonation on occasion. Otherwise the singing is accurate and essentially uninflected. The sound is fine; the picture is slightly soft, though the lighting is sufficient throughout. Complicating matters further on one viewing the sound was out of sync with the picture, running consistently a half-second late. On another player and on the first in a second attempt, synchronization was fine.
 
Related website:
Arthaus Musik www.arthaus-musik.de
 
Michael Richter, 27 December 2003
mrichter@cpl.net
 
See also Michael Richter's Introduction to the DVD, for a list of other reviews see the DVD Project page.