In the last few seasons La Scala has been following a new trend and opening the house to baroque operas, most of which had never been staged by the company.

This is the case with the company’s premiere of Georg Friedrich Händel’s Tamerlano, an opera that has enjoyed numerous revivals in recent years, partly on account of an increasing number of outstanding countertenor voices, and partly also thanks to the interest in Plácido Domingo's assumption of the tenor role of Bajazet, the main protagonist of the opera. These two reasons may appear contradictory: on the one hand, baroque practice is finally implemented by using the correct vocal distribution; on the other hand, it is an obvious fact that Domingo has nothing to do with baroque style.

Nevertheless his appearance in the role has attracted a sizeable audience which would not have attended a Händel opera otherwise. Indeed, many of the spectators attending the Milan performances confessed that this was their first exposure to the Saxon composer, and getting people interested in new areas of the repertoire is certainly one of the functions of great singers.

But of course this was not Domingo’s only attraction in this series of performances. His touching and compelling interpretation held the audience in rapt attention especially in the last part of the opera, when Bajazet’s death moved everyone and left many breathless. Vocally, the tenor sounded in very good shape, his voice was firm and well sustained by breath in the coloratura parts. Personally, I prefer Domingo in such a role, in spite of stylistic objections, than in the numerous baritone roles he’s taken up in the last decade.

At the second performance, before the curtain rose, general manager Alexander Pereira caused everybody’s terror when he came on stage with an announcement. Fortunately, there were no cancellations, but Bejun Mehta had suffered a cold and didn’t feel in optimal conditions. However, whatever problems the singer might have felt in his throat, nothing audible blurred his performance. Towering in the cast in the title role, Mehta showcased his beautifully timbred, evenly colored, and natural sounding countertenor, which he molded to express a variety of feelings and attitudes.

In the complex role of Greek king Andronico, countertenor Franco Fagioli was especially compelling for his high range, while when reaching the lower register the timbre tended to lose its color and sounded somewhat more effortful. Soprano Maria Grazia Schiavo was a sweet, yet temperamental Asteria, Bajazet’s unfortunate daughter, while mezzo Marianne Crebassa was an elegant Irene: vocally and technically very well prepared, she was also especially compelling theatrically, easily adapting to the entangled personality of the Trabzon princess.

The production, directed by Davide Livemore and co-produced with Valencia’s Palau de les Arts, turned out to be the best offering in the company’s recent history. The stage director, who also collaborated with Giò Forma as set designer, setting out from the assumption that Händel’s contemporaries didn’t care much, or even know much about Tamerlane and Bajazet’s deeds, gave up the idea of staging the action in the historical times of the protagonists, and moved it to 1917, in revolutionary Russia. In this framework, Bajazet, the defeated king, becomes Czar Nicholas the 2nd, the somewhat hysterical Tamerlane becomes Stalin, while the more idealistic Andonico becomes Trotsky.

Bajazet/Czar Nicholas is captured on the train that drives him around in the ravaged country, while reds and whites fight in the imposing architectural setting of the Winter Palace, in a grayish mist that remains lingering over the orchestra when the curtain falls. Movements that are impossible on stage are supplied by projections: so, even though the train stands still, the landscape moves on the background. Sometimes, the fighting soldiers mimic the vocal score, and diligently repeat the action in the da capos. 

In the pit, conductor Diego Fasolis conducted the company’s orchestra with great care, which for the occasion was playing with original instruments and supplemented by the Swiss baroque ensemble I Barocchisti, and was able to reach a tension that is not obviously associated with baroque opera.

Applause followed most arias, and an ovation saluted everyone at the end. In this nearly perfect production, the only fault was in the timing: a four-and-half hours’ production should have prompted an early curtain raise, and scheduling of at least one matinée. Instead, all performances started at 8 p.m. and ended at half past midnight: too late for weekdays, and too late for quite a few spectators, who ended up missing the (beautiful) last act.