‘Il trittico’, a beautiful ‘bilbainada’ to commemorate Puccini’s centenary | Culture | EUROtoday

Giacomo Puccini’s music at all times works its magic. We had been capable of see it in Bilbao, final Saturday, November 23, on the finish of Sister Angelicathat includes Chiara Isotton’s fiery incarnation of the suicidal nun. The younger Italian soprano elevated the final fifteen minutes with a gorgeous aria Without mom and particularly with its stark interpretation of the poisoning and the ultimate prayer. The viewers was moved to tears by the miraculous reunion of the nun and her lifeless son, in a luminous C main, with an ovation that grew louder earlier than the ultimate quadruple piano chord was consumed.

That scene was the very last thing Puccini wrote for The triptychan formidable undertaking that premiered in 1918 and that aspired to terrify, transfer and make the general public chuckle in three brief operas throughout the identical night. It began from the variation of a tragedy large puppet by Didier Gold entitled The tabard. Later Giovacchino Forzano supplied him with the sentimental stained glass window of Sister Angelica and in addition the macabre comedy Gianni Schicchi in regards to the crafty forger situated within the eighth circle of hell of the Comedy of Dante, who actually existed and is even mentioned to have defrauded the Donati household, to which Dante’s personal spouse belonged.

Despite the attraction of experiencing all these sensations in the identical perform, The triptych is considered one of Puccini’s least frequented titles. It is extra frequent to see a few of its three components individually and in different corporations. At the Teatro Real it was programmed Sister Angelica subsequent to The prisoner of Dallapiccola in 2012, and three years later Gianni Schicchi shared poster with you go by Granados, though it has not been carried out in full in Madrid since 1987. The Liceu programmed The triptych in 2022, after 35 years of absence from its stage, albeit in a manufacturing imported from the Bavarian Opera. And the Teatro Principal of Palma included it in its final season in a easy manufacturing of its personal.

ABAO Bilbao Opera has chosen to premiere a brand new manufacturing of The triptych with an attention-grabbing Spanish position, each within the stage course and within the musical course and the solid, coinciding with the centenary of the composer’s demise. Curiously, the presence of the Kings on the perform on the twenty ninth has been introduced, a date that can mark precisely 100 years since Puccini’s demise. We are speaking about the most costly manufacturing of the season with three units and a complete of twenty-eight solo singers for thirty-seven characters, along with the Bilbao Opera Choir and the Navarra Symphony Orchestra. According to the stage director, Paco Azorín, it’s an “authentic after” which has concerned a month of rehearsals between Bilbao and Pamplona.

The Malaga baritone Carlos Álvarez stood out within the solid, who did a double position taking part in Michele and Gianni Schicchi, within the first and third components, in addition to in February in Vienna. In reality, it was the very best within the distribution of The tabard with a superb incarnation of the murderous boatman, who had his most notable second within the dramatic monologue Nothing! Silence!. The Madrid soprano Ángeles Blancas sang a well-projected Giorgetta, which was joined by the facility within the treble of the Italian tenor Marco Berti, as her lover Luigi, though neither of them managed to raise their character. Among the secondary ones we should always spotlight the enticing Frugola of the mezzo-soprano Valencian Ana Ibarra, who scored a hat trick by including La Badessa de Sister Angelica and the Zita of Gianni Schicchi.

Isotton was the undisputed musical heart, in Sister Angelica. Below had been all the opposite nuns, together with La zia Principessa performed by the legendary Karita Mattila. The Finnish soprano, now restricted by her vocal situation to secondary roles in mezzo-sopranostarted considerably untempered in a job that was fairly uncomfortable for her vocality, though she discovered the mandatory doses of malevolence and vulnerability with stagecraft. And we can’t overlook right here the sensible efficiency of the Bilbao Opera Choir.

In Gianni Schicchithe solid was extra compact and featured Ibarra alongside the veteran Barcelona bass Stefano Palatchi. The vocal freshness of the Romanian tenor Ioan Hotea stood out, in You are fallacious!which we had already heard in The tabard as Amante 2. Álvarez was additionally a superb Gianni Schicchi, as he demonstrated in We run to the notary with that Puccinoan nod to the foxtrot. And the younger Navarrese soprano Sofía Esparza, who had sung as Amante 1 in The tabardwas an beautiful Lauretta and obtained the one interruption for applause on the finish of her well-known aria Oh my pricey father.

Pedro Halffter’s musical course was fairly monotonous and missing in creativeness, though the musical efficiency of the Navarra Symphony was optimum within the three operas. The Madrid native prioritized readability from the pit with fairly sluggish tempos. This affected the strain in The tabardthe place these Parisian atmospheres portrayed within the rating weren’t achieved both. The mysticism of Sister Angelica It sounded epidermal, and it was Isotton’s vocal supply that elevated the top of the opera. The most refined orchestral work was heard in Gianni Schicchithough it lacked spark and creativeness.

On the opposite, Paco Azorín’s stage proposal labored properly on a theatrical stage. He supervisor Yeclano locations the three operas in 1945, though with out altering their authentic places. This license doesn’t conflict with the dramaturgy, since a standard starting is sought with a toddler projecting photographs and an finish with a snapshot spiced with confetti. These extras appear like the lifeless youngsters of Michele and Giorgetta together with that of Suor Angelica and the character of Gerardito in Gianni Schicchi. Azorín completes his set with a rotating platform that resolves the totally different Parisian and conventual environments, but additionally provides dynamism to the ultimate comedy. Added to this are video projections and cautious lighting by Pedro Chamizo together with the profitable costumes by Ana Garay. And the course of actors stands out particularly in Gianni Schicchiwith the addition of an unbelievable ending, the place Buoso Donati will not be lifeless and is related to the crafty forger.