Opera Reviews
28 March 2024
Untitled Document

Ildar Abdrazakov is an impressive Attila at La Scala



by Silvia Luraghi
Verdi: Attila
Teatro alla Scala, Milan
12 December 2018
Saioa Hernandez (Odabella), Ildar Abdrazakov (Attila), Fabio Sartori (Foresto)

Following tradition, the 2018-19 season at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala opened on December 7th with great success, featuring one of Verdi’s early operas, Attila.

As in 2017, the performance was telecast, and reached about 2 million spectators throughout the country. Opera lovers abroad could also follow local telecasts by French and German channels, as well as internet streaming. In addition, several hundred Milanese attended the free live broadcast on 37 screens in various locations in town.

Apart from the musical performance, a major feature of the evening turned out to be the appearance of Italian president Sergio Mattarella in the central box, who was cheered with four minutes of applause. This gave way to various political interpretations, as did the collapsing bridge that appeared when the curtain rose, which might look as a reminder of the disaster that happened with the collapse of Genoa’s highway bridge earlier this year (even though the stage director hastened to deny this interpretation).

I attended the second performance on December 12th, with the theater full but not sold out. Bass Ildar Abdrazakov in the title role gave a superb rendition of the barbarian king. His handsomely colored voice loses weight in the lower range, but this was noticeable only in the opening scene. Later he warmed up, and his perfect diction combined with an imposing stage presence resulted in an outstanding interpretation, depicting a noble and loyal character, disdainful of the intrigues and betrayals of the Romans which eventually lead to his assassination. Abdrazakov showcased his theatrical skills especially in the second scene of the first act, when Attila awakes frightened from his nightmare just to see the same vision live at his meeting with Pope Leone.  

The role of Odabella was taken by soprano Saioa Hernández, who skillfully mastered the demanding score, producing the required volume of sound with ringing top notes, and also showed the adequate temperamental attitude in tackling her arias.

Baritone George Petean was a compelling Ezio, though slightly uneven towards the final part of his performance. Odabella’s unrequited lover, Foresto, was tenor Fabio Sartori. The singer can rely on a well-trained, ringing voice, even though his singing is sometimes not especially stylish. He did not delve as much into the role as his colleagues, resulting in a somewhat generic interpretation.

The cast was fittingly completed by Francesco Pittari as Uldino and Gianluca Buratto in the role of Pope Leone, and the choral parts were skillfully covered by the company’s chorus.

Stage director Davide Livermore in collaboration with set designer Giò Forma and costume designer Gianluca Falaschi updated the action to the 20th century, in one of the many cities destroyed in the Second World War. The Huns vaguely reminded of Nazi soldiers, even though in Verdi’s libretto Attila ends up being the only really positive character. The sets were effectively complemented with video projections produced by D-Wok, which gave a cinematic flavor to the performance. Other hits were the two horses that took Attila and later Pope Leone on to the stage, and the reproduction of Raffaello’s painting from Heliodor’s room in the Vatican with a living picture that ended the first act.

The second act showed Attila’s camp, in a decadent atmosphere remindful of many movie renditions of pre-war Germany, from Luchino Visctonti’s The Damned to Babylon Berlin, and was not as compelling as the preceding parts of the staging: one had the impression that the stage director tried to assemble as many things and citations as possible, without a clear vision and a precise purpose.

Conductor Riccardo Chailly, as in other similar occasions, decided to feature some lesser known, or completely unknown passages: in this case, five notes composed by Rossini for Attila and never introduced into the score were added, and Foresto’s third act aria “Che non avrebbe il misero” was replaced with the alternative and longer aria “Oh dolore! ed io vivea”, which Verdi composed on commission of tenor Napoleone Moriani for the Milan premiere, a few months after the world premiere of March 1846 in Venice. Chailly conducted the orchestra with great care, though perhaps not with the fire that one expects with Verdi’s early operas.

As at opening night, the performance was very successful, with tributes of applause for everyone, and a real ovation for Ildar Abdrazakov.

Text © Silvia Luraghi
Photo © Brescia/Amisano - Teatro alla Scala
 
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