Adriano in Siria [Blu-ray]

You might not have heard of Pergolesi's Adriano in Siria, but the chances are that if you've any familiarity with Baroque opera, you will at least have heard of Pietro Metastasio, the poet and dramatist responsible for librettos that were used and reused in literally hundreds of early compositions (Adriano in Siria had already been set to music several times before Pergolesi) - and if that's the case then you will have a fair idea of what to expect from the development of the plot and its treatment in an opera seria work. Historically or classically based but more romantically inclined, Metastasio's librettos often feature a powerful king or ruler who is usually in love with a woman who is engaged to be married to another man. There are often a few additional variable complications that lead to confrontations between each of the principal figures during the recitative, with long heartfelt, reflective and repetitive virtuoso arias of despair, anger, love and compassion, according to the turn of events. What distinguishes the adapting any Metastasio's libretto to music is of course the interpretation of the composer, and in this case Pergolesi's handling of this fairly dry and static dramatic material is every bit as brilliant and enchanting as Handel, Gluck or Mozart.

There doesn't appear to be any attempt to impose a modern reworking or concept onto the opera, which is played and performed in this 2010 production at the composer's home town of Jesi in a quite traditional manner. The all-purpose, generic, classical ruins of antiquity can nonetheless be seen as metaphorical of the romantic conflict that takes place. The metaphors work best however in the libretto itself, with birds of prey and birds in captivity featuring, not least in Farnaspe's gorgeous aria at the end of Act I, 'Lieto così tal volta' ("At times the nightingale is heard, still happily singing in its captivity"), which, sung by Annamaria dell'Oste with an onstage solo oboe accompaniment that evokes birdsong, gives an indication of the beauty and the wholeness of the production, singing, music and libretto working together in perfect harmony.

Elsewhere the musical arrangements perfectly reflect the nature of the characters and their emotional state at any given time. Later parts of the libretto make reference to torments and tempests (emotional as well as meteorological) and the Accademia Bizantina appropriately whip up a storm in the pit with a huge sound from what appears to be only an 18-piece orchestra. When contrasted with the aforementioned 'Lieto così tal volta', you get a sense of the whole dynamic of Adriano in Siria, which is sung simply and beautifully by all the performers, with da capo but no excessive ornamentation.

If that's not enough on its own, you get two works for the price of one here that demonstrate the range and innovation of Pergolesi. A comic opera Intermezzo would often be performed in the breaks between acts, and one of Pergolesi's buffa operas, 'Livietto e Tracollo', composed for a Neapolitan audience, is included in this performance in two parts in the intervals between the acts of Adriano in Siria as it would originally have been presented. There's very little plot to speak of here either, Livietto setting a trap for a notorious thief Tracollo and ending up marrying him, but it has two good parts for singers and they are entertainingly delivered with gusto and plenty of comic gesticulation by Monica Bacelli and Carlo Lepore.

The Blu-ray release for Opus Arte looks and sounds terrific, with a clear, sharp colourful transfer, the music and singing superbly reproduced in both the PCM Stereo and the DTS HD-Master Audio 5.1 tracks with crystal clarity and depth of tone, capturing the detail of the instruments and the ambience of the old theatre. Extras include a Cast Gallery and an Interview with conductor Ottavio Dantone. The inner booklet notes the intention of the Pergolesi Spontini Foundation to record and issue all of Pergolesi's surviving operas on DVD, which, if this first release is anything to go by, will be highly anticipated.

Pergolesi is a strange entry in the history of Opera. He died very young (1710-1736), produced only four Opera Seria none of which were successful, two commedia musicale neither successful and three intermezzi (short buffa action between acts of serious opera) one of which "La Serva Padrona" along with his last work before death the Stabet Mater has kept his name alive in musical history. The Foundation Pergolesi - Spontini is set to record on DVD his operas and intermezzi. The present recording is a presentation of the Opera Seria libretto by Metasasio, Adrian in Siria and the intermezzo libretto by Tommaso Mariani "Livietto e Tracollo".
The composer was born in L(J)esi in the Italian March, the grandson of a shoemaker named F. Draghi from Pergola. The composer's father Francesco was a surveyor in Lesi and added the Pergolesi to the name as Draghi-Pergolesi. The son Giovanni Battista used only the last name of Pergolesi. He was an acclaimed musician and composed some church pieces that were admired. His career took him to Naples, the opera capital of the day where he he wrote some operatic pieces and was commisioned to write an opera to celebrate the birthday of the mother of the king, Charles of Bourbon (later Charles III of Spain), Elisabeth Farnese wife of Philip V of Spain. The libretto had been set many times before by a long list of composers and seemed a "safe" entry; a display piece for vocal acrobatics, several dramatic emotional scenes and all ends happily. The king spared no expense on this production. He even imported the most famous singer of the age,the mezzo-soprano castrato Caffarelli to be the star along with Catarina Fumagalli as Sabina wife to-be of Adriano. The libretto was slashed, shortened and many new verses written by Pergolesi to satisfy the star performer (only 10 of 27 arias of Metastasio were used). Farnaspe's part was much enlarged with all new music and some brilliant passages came forth as "Lieto cosi tal volta" with a beautiful oboe obbligato and the arresting "Torbido in volto e nero" with double orchestra. However this completely unbalanced the opera. Sabina, Adriano's wife to be was given some beautiful music also as "Splenda per voi sereno" which in the present recording is sung by Nicole Heaston. It has has wide leaps of an octave and a half, great passage work and demands extraordinary virtuosity which Ms. Heaston displays. Alas the opera was a failure, the composer was taken off the list of house composers and the opera was not given again until the Maggio Musicale Florence in June 1985. His next opera was "L'Olimpiade, an opera seria again by Metastasio given in Rome Jan. 1735 again a failure but later had some popularity.
The present recording conducted by Ottavio Dantone and directed by Ignacio Garcia has a competant cast of musicians and singers. The sets are the usual work-a-day ruins that can be used for any scene desired, costumes adequate. The whole thing comes off as a dull story with some charming musical numbers. As mentioned the outstanding singer to me was Nicole Heaston. I've heard many opera seria before by a variety of composers and this was not outstanding. With the promise of other Pergolesi opera to be recorded we can see if this one was so battered for use of Caffarelli that it sank or his work is of historical interest only. I'm aware that he did greatly influence the genre known as Italian Opera Buffa which in later times had brilliant evocators as Donizetti and Rossini but on the evidence of the present Livietta e Tracollo I'm unimpressed. Slap-stick is funny once but dull in repeat. I saw no enduring funniness in this production. However I remember fondly Roberta Peters in "La Serva Padrona". Now that was a bit of genius and is worth seeing again. I think the jury is still out on Pergolesi as an opera composer.

Had our musical friends over last night and had prepared them for a treat with this new BD. I spent quite a while researching to get information and the synopsis, something not easy as this is a very unknown work. We sat through Act 1 but gave up as it was totally unenjoyable, particularly for my wife who dislikes opera anyway and this one had the worst of her dislikes - heaps of high female singing.

The GOOD:
* Not Eurotrash - tasteful and appropriate staging and costume
* Small orchestra but good playing
* Some fine artistry

The BAD:
* Tediously slow storyline and action
* Long, long arias
* Only one male singer with women singing three of the major male roles - their female voices similar to one another so offering little musical contrast

Pergolesi is justly known for his lovely "Stabat Mater" but is unlikely to become better known through his operas. The poor guy died at 26 and only wrote six we know of anyway.

I've made no comment about the audio and video quality of this disc - they are fine as we expect from Blu Ray, but technical excellence, great singing, stagework, production etc cannot turn a fundamentally boring work into something enjoyable.

Apart from my wife, we love opera, particularly Handel and Vivaldi and were expecting music along these lines, but I just cannot recommend this opera unless you particularly like this monotonous style of music. And "mono tone" most aptly sums up this work.

John

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