<Translated from Italian automatically, it will be edited later>
The Lyric of Cagliari proposes another rarity and opens the Festival of Sant'efisio with the legend of the invisible city of Kite e The phantasmagoric, poetic libretto by Vladimir I. Bel'zi scena sets the story of the imaginary city that a miracle makes invisible through a thick golden fog, preserving it from the invasion of the Tatars. The girl Fevronija is the protagonist, through a route that leads from the condition of a humble peasant to princess, which is given to join the groom only in the invisible city, surrounded by out-of-time, in the eternal life.
What is magical, in rimski K-Korsakov succeeds very well; what is mystical, much less. The sense of nature, the murmur of the forest and the waters, the songs of birds and the secret animism that lurks in the life of the earth, flowers and animals, live in pages of great charm. The orchestra is volatile, light, sparkling: it suggests a polygenesis of Impressionism that, in those years, was establishing itself in France with Debuss. But here and there he anticipates stravinski. This magic reaches its climax in act three, when the city disappears from view, shrouded in its golden dust. Other strong points are the moments of lyrical suspension, the choirs of amazement before the prodigy, the lament of the page on the fate of the threatened city. The entire first scene of the third act, with choral prayers and invocations, is a masterpiece of dreamlike transformation of Russian folk singing. Then there is another layer in this score and it is that of the extroverted, boisterous, cheerful songs, between Musorgski and Borodin: in this village festival Rimski seems less original, but the stylistic cast guarantees him vivacity and a certain exuberance. Where it falls, on the other hand, is in the last scene, that of the heavenly life reached by the two spouses: of disproportionate length, it lets the work flow into an estuary too slow not to bore.
The performance, masterful, very well enhanced the preciousness of the score under the baton of Ale VederAnder Vedernikov, which brought the orchestra and the choir conducted by Fulvio Fogliazza to a remarkable stature. The singers are also excellent, in particular the protagonist, Tatiana Monogarova, the tenor Vital Pan Panfilov (the heir prince), the bass Mikail Kazakov (the prince), the baritone Albert Schagidullin (Pojarok).
The performance of Eimuntas Nekrošius is beautiful in the first three acts. Beautiful costumes of Nadezda Gultia. Invaded by a golden light, the stage is cut from time to time by blue rays that create remarkable magic effects. The scenes of Marius Nekrošius are symbolic, with the large beehives, the stylized tents hoisted on stilts, the silhouettes of wooden animals: but they are images that immediately render, in a tone of fairy tale, the peasant environment and the life of the woods. Sin, however, for the last act: the music does not hold and Nekrošius tries to support it by creating a funerary paradise, black and gold, with improbable costumes and other incomprehensible contraptions that weigh down what is already difficult to decipher when listening.
In Italian, you can read here:
Source.
The Lyric of Cagliari proposes another rarity and opens the Festival of Sant'efisio with the legend of the invisible city of Kite e The phantasmagoric, poetic libretto by Vladimir I. Bel'zi scena sets the story of the imaginary city that a miracle makes invisible through a thick golden fog, preserving it from the invasion of the Tatars. The girl Fevronija is the protagonist, through a route that leads from the condition of a humble peasant to princess, which is given to join the groom only in the invisible city, surrounded by out-of-time, in the eternal life.
What is magical, in rimski K-Korsakov succeeds very well; what is mystical, much less. The sense of nature, the murmur of the forest and the waters, the songs of birds and the secret animism that lurks in the life of the earth, flowers and animals, live in pages of great charm. The orchestra is volatile, light, sparkling: it suggests a polygenesis of Impressionism that, in those years, was establishing itself in France with Debuss. But here and there he anticipates stravinski. This magic reaches its climax in act three, when the city disappears from view, shrouded in its golden dust. Other strong points are the moments of lyrical suspension, the choirs of amazement before the prodigy, the lament of the page on the fate of the threatened city. The entire first scene of the third act, with choral prayers and invocations, is a masterpiece of dreamlike transformation of Russian folk singing. Then there is another layer in this score and it is that of the extroverted, boisterous, cheerful songs, between Musorgski and Borodin: in this village festival Rimski seems less original, but the stylistic cast guarantees him vivacity and a certain exuberance. Where it falls, on the other hand, is in the last scene, that of the heavenly life reached by the two spouses: of disproportionate length, it lets the work flow into an estuary too slow not to bore.
The performance, masterful, very well enhanced the preciousness of the score under the baton of Ale VederAnder Vedernikov, which brought the orchestra and the choir conducted by Fulvio Fogliazza to a remarkable stature. The singers are also excellent, in particular the protagonist, Tatiana Monogarova, the tenor Vital Pan Panfilov (the heir prince), the bass Mikail Kazakov (the prince), the baritone Albert Schagidullin (Pojarok).
The performance of Eimuntas Nekrošius is beautiful in the first three acts. Beautiful costumes of Nadezda Gultia. Invaded by a golden light, the stage is cut from time to time by blue rays that create remarkable magic effects. The scenes of Marius Nekrošius are symbolic, with the large beehives, the stylized tents hoisted on stilts, the silhouettes of wooden animals: but they are images that immediately render, in a tone of fairy tale, the peasant environment and the life of the woods. Sin, however, for the last act: the music does not hold and Nekrošius tries to support it by creating a funerary paradise, black and gold, with improbable costumes and other incomprehensible contraptions that weigh down what is already difficult to decipher when listening.
In Italian, you can read here:
Source.
Nekrošius, Holy Russia
Cagliari, teatro Lirico,
27 Apr 2008
27 Apr 2008
