It is remarkable to consider that it has taken Vienna's most illustrious opera company until 2014 to present Adriana Lecouvreur - an opera which enjoys comparable popularity with many of its verismo contemporaries and which offers a peach of a part to a soprano in possession of the appropriate assets.
In co-operation with the ROH Covent Garden, this production stems from the reliable hand of David McVicar, whose participation was a stipulating factor in Angela Gheorghiu's conditions when offered the lead. According to an interview with the Vienna State Opera's Andreas Lang, the soprano further insisted upon a traditional reading (Paris in the first quarter of the 18th century) - ultimately to be set by Charles Edwards, with costumes and lighting by Brigitte Reiffenstuel and Adam Silverman.
Indeed, the production team well captures the epoch with Act One's musty back stage atmosphere scantily illuminated and with the luxury of an elevated revolving stage for the play with in the play.
Act Two and Three's sets extend to the rear, allowing intimate upstage contact with the main protagonists while providing a unobtrusive platform for the ballet and Adriana's Phaedra recitation.
The costumes are more than opulent - really quite fabulous - and not just for the leads.
Indeed, it is the ensemble that largely brings this show to life, the characters all slickly shaped by McVicar and executed with aplomb by Jongmin Park (Quinault), Jinxu Xiahou (Poisson), Bryony Dwyer (Jouvenot), Juliette Mars (Dangeville), David Prohaska (Major-Domo) and a strikingly powerful Abate from Raul Giminez.
Alexandru Moisiuc makes a wonderfully repugnant Principe.
Of the four leads, Roberto Frontali and Elena Zhidkova offer the most rounded performances. Frontali creates a Michonnet for whom one quickly feels empathy. After a sensitively-shaped Act One monologue the Italian baritone proves able to pull out all the vocal stops where required in a true flesh and blood interpretation. As La Principessa di Bouillon, Zhidkova displays considerable vocal prowess with a a ringing Italianate timbre, cutting a slender, icy aristocrat who easily dominates her scenes.
Massimo Giordano's Maurizio rather fails on various fronts, lacking the swash-buckling virility that might compensate for vocal failings - only occasionally providing the odd lyrical phrase (in Adriana's death scene for example) or stentorian top note in a generally porous-toned and erratic interpretation.
Angela Gheorghiu's Adriana comes across as a rather petulant, lip-pouting, leg-wiggling melange of Shirley Temple and Joan Collins. She wears her costumes well, but is wanting in both the vocal and dramatic grandeur for this operatic figure. While finely-spun pianissimi may have their appeal, failure to sufficiently expand and produce the thrill of an Italianate spinto tone (which the score often demands) results in a somewhat one-dimensional and monochrome impression. Act Four's "Poveri fiori" provides a great vehicle for a soprano in which to place her final stamp, and Gheorghiu takes advantage of the opportunity, providing her highlight of the evening.
Evelino Pidò successfully negotiated the tricky course of providing a colourful palette of emotions from the pit while maintaining a tight rein on the Vienna Opera Orchestra to accommodate the stage demands. The invitation to applaud after the set numbers came from his baton, rather than spontaneous demand from the house.
When one considers that the original cast featured Caruso - not to mention subsequent greats such as del Monaco and Corelli, with Olivero, Tebaldi - and more recently, Caballé and Domingo in the romantic leads, one can't help feeling Vienna is being rather short-changed in this premier production despite its virtues.
