HANDEL: Ariodante (complete opera) (2008)
Ann Hallenberg (Ariodante)/ Laura Cherici (Ginevra)/ Marta Vandoni Iorio (Dalinda)/ Mary-Ellen Nesi (Polinesso)/ Carlo Lepore (Re di Scozia)/ Zachary Stains (Lurcanio)/ Vittorio Prato (Odoardo)/ Il Complesso Barocco/ Alan Curtis, conductor
Directed by John Pascoe
Studio: Dynamic 33559 [Distr. by Qualiton]
Video: 16:9 HD color
Audio: Dolby Digital; PCM Stereo 2.0
All Regions
Extras: Introduction to the opera with John Pascoe and Alan Curtis
Length: 157 minutes
Rating: ***1/2
Ariodante is different from many of Handel’s other operas in that it is action-deprived, concentrating instead on the personal dilemma of deception and betrayal, resolved for the audience when the bad guy (Polinesso) gets stabbed, and Ariodante and Ginevra are festally united in the end. Fortunately on this release there are substantial interviews with conductor Curtis and director Pascoe, and these do help in understanding the conception of this production. One of the more interesting things that Curtis says regards the use of countertenors, something he was once very much for but has now rethought due to the inability of most of them to produce a firm and unyielding lower register. Good thinking, Alan; countertenors are at best a footnote in Handelian history, maybe even more versatile and popular today than they were in Handel’s time.
But this is of course a multiple “trouser” opera, the parts of Ariodante and Polinesso taken by women. I am going to steal Wikipedia’s synopsis since it is short and pithy: “Ginevra, daughter of the King of Scotland, is betrothed to Ariodante. Polinesso, a jealous rival of Ariodante, wins the confidence of Ginevra’s friend Dalinda. With Dalinda’s unwitting help, Polinesso tricks Ariodante into thinking that Ginevra is his lover. The King, hearing of Ginevra’s alleged infidelity, disowns her, while Ariodante is reported dead by suicide. Polinesso then sends his agents to kill Dalinda, as the only witness to his plot. But Ariodante (whose suicide attempt was foiled), having met Dalinda while wandering in the woods, drives off the would-be assassins.
Polinesso, seeking to win the King’s favour, now offers to defend the honour of Ginevra in a tournament. In the combat, he is mortally wounded by Ariodante’s vengeful brother Lurcanio. Ariodante, having learned about Polinesso’s plot from Dalinda, now appears and offers himself as Ginevra’s champion. The dying Polinesso confesses his guilt and Ginevra is pardoned by the King.”
Okay, maybe not so pithy—but I guarantee you that watching this with the subtitles is an easy thing, comprehensibility no problem. But I also must admit that seeing this was not that much of a boon; in fact, I think that hearing it may have proved more profitable. One reason is the high quality of the conducting—Curtis is an old hand at this and carries his forces through admirably. The singers are all uniformly excellent. I was particularly taken with Marta Vandoni Iorio’s Dalinda—well-rendered and played with suitable naiveté. But Laura Cherici (Ginevra) nearly equals Juliana Gondek on McGegan’s Harmonia mundi recording, though I’ll wager that Ann Hallenberg’s Ariodante, as well-acted as it is, doesn’t quite come up to the vocal prowess of the young Lorraine Hunt (Lieberson) on the same HM recording. Mary-Ellen Nesi as Polinesso is downright creepy in parts of this, and wonderfully so.
The problem with the visuals, filmed at the Spoleto Festival of Italy, is that they are so unrelentingly monochromatic—we get black, gray, and shades of in-between through the whole thing. The stage is set in the 1950s, which works okay, director Pascoe emphasizing the “glamour” aspect of the age in his talk, but the costumes do not reflect that, looking more like suburban housewives dressed up for an evening at the Elk’s club. And I must say that Ariodante’s pant suit costume looks decidedly unflattering on a soprano with a bit of girth to her—visible panty lines are just not appealing and emphasize that which should not have been. Action is fine on the stage, such as it is, greatly limited by the size of the small stage and the nature of Handel’s subject.
So you will have to decide if the singing’s the thing, or not. This is a visual production after all, so I don’t think that the less-than-satisfactory colors of this work can be downplayed. But then again, it has gotten good reviews, so maybe I am wrong; the vocalizing is quite impressive. The only other DVD alternative is a production of the English National Opera that Amazon.com describes as an “essential video” though the write-in reviewers seem to disagree. I can recommend this easily for those needing a DVD production of this exquisite music; if you can exist on CDs alone for while, maybe something better will appear, but I would not hold my breath.
— Steven Ritter
