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Sunday Express, 20 September
2009 |
Clare Colvin |
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DON CARLO REVEALS GLITTER AND GORE
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THE TITLE is Don Carlo or, as in the original
French version, Don Carlos, but the central character of Verdi’s five-act
historical saga is undoubtedly Philip II of Spain rather than his wayward
son. The point is made strongly in the revival of Nicholas Hytner’s 2008
production, as Italian bass Ferruccio Furlanetto returns to the role of the
repressive King with even greater authority.
The influence of Philip pervades the opera, from the lyrical first scene
when Elizabeth, daughter of the King of France, meets her betrothed Don
Carlos while hunting in the Forest of Fontainebleau. No sooner have they
fallen in love at first sight than the news arrives that Elizabeth’s father,
to ensure political peace, has promised her to the King of Spain instead.
Not a good start to the marriage, which is clear to the entire Spanish court
when Philip brusquely sacks the Queen’s French lady-in-waiting for leaving
her alone in the garden. As Marina Poplavskaya’s Elizabeth comforts her
banished companion in an aria seething with bitterness, the King goes
through a folder of official papers while he waits for his wife to stop
complaining.
When her tirade continues unabated, his expression veers from sulkiness to
embarrassment at having the cracks in the marriage exposed before all. It’s
a masterly character study of a man who can command the world but not
himself and prepares the way for the devastating loneliness of his fourth
act aria when cloistered in his study he reflects on the emptiness of his
life with a wife who has never loved him.
German tenor Jonas Kaufmann, new to the role of Don Carlo, is a singer
who has everything going for him in looks, voice and acting ability. In this
difficult role of a Hamlet-like prince whose search for love and a purpose
in life ends in a botched rebellion against his father, Kaufmann shows us a
naïve young man whose setbacks lead to his mental collapse.
He is well partnered by Simon Keenlyside’s Marquis of Posa, the friend whose
idealistic stand against the King’s tyranny provides more fuel for the
Inquisition.
You can always expect the Spanish Inquisition from the ominous chords with
which Verdi heralds the approach of the Grand Inquisitor. It is a
sensational entrance as the blind, scarlet-robed Inquisitor (John Tomlinson)
is led into the King’s gloomy study at the Escorial by two hooded monks for
the duel between State and Church. Bob Crowley’s designs for the earlier
auto da fé have been slightly toned down with, thankfully, less beating of
heretics and writhing of bodies but it’s still an in-your-face spectacle of
glitter and gore.
The remarkable feat of the production is that despite its scale, featuring a
90-strong chorus, it still focuses on the domestic trauma of the unhappy
Hapsburgs at its heart. The evening of four hours 20 minutes requires
stamina but is sustained by the intensity and drive with which the
orchestra, under Semyon Bychkov, play Verdi’s magnificent music. Don Carlo
will be broadcast by BBC Radio 3 on Saturday October 17 at 7pm. |
Photo: ©
Robbie Jack/Corbis |
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