Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Macbeth, Opera in 4 Acts (1865 version)
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and Andrea Maffei (after the play by William Shakespeare and Thomas Middleton)
Macbeth, Ludovic Tézier (baritone); Lady Macbeth, Martina Serafin (soprano); Banco, Vitalij Kowaljow (bass); Macduff, Saimir Pirgu (tenor); Malcolm, Albert Casals (tenor)
Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu/ Giampaolo Bisanti
Christof Loy, stage director
rec. live, 2016, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona
Reviewed in stereo
C Major 768908 DVD [2 discs: 152]

In the good/bad old days of Regietheater in opera, whatever one’s reaction to the latest production by the likes of Harry Kupfer, Ruth Berghaus, Götz Friedrich etc, one couldn’t deny that like it or not, there was an intellectual, also often political, concept behind their work. With the notable exception of Barrie Kosky, the work of the current generation of specialist opera directors often strikes me as a bit bland by comparison.

Christof Loy’s production of Macbeth filmed at the Gran Teatre del Liceu is an example. It seems largely devoid of any genuinely interesting interpretative ideas. Instead it defines itself by its setting and costumes, which are modernish with a uniformly grey theme. The DVD has an epitaph from Act 3 of the play to underline the omnipresent gloominess, ‘Come, seeling night,/Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day’, but to emphasise that Shakespeare’s and Verdi’s creations have a predominantly oppressive atmosphere is neither an original or sufficient dramaturgical notion to sustain narrative tension. Loy’s other overarching decision is inspired by the lines spoken about the witches in Act 1 of the play, ‘you should be women,/ and yet your beards forbid me to interpret/ that you are so’. Here the chorus of witches are court servants in disguise, most of whom are indeed wearing beards or moustaches. I don’t know if Loy intends this to be some sort of statement about gender politics or something else or nothing at all but there’s no attempt at any sort of thematic development.

There’s not much else. Some inconsequential and uninteresting interpretative touches such as the misguided presence of Macbeth in Lady Macbeth’s letter scene, or the absurd antiphonal dialogue between the male dinner guests all apparently complicit in Banco’s forthcoming murder. Rather empty theatrical effects are deployed, the worst being the apparition of Banco’s line of descendants ascending from beneath the stage in display cases like a trailer for Madame Tussaud’s. The ballet added for the 1865 version of the opera is included but like the rest of this pivotal scene in the opera is staged in a rather clichéd and clumsy way and adds nothing dramatically. I should add that Loy decided to tack on the 1847 ending of the opera so we see Macbeth’s death and hear his final aria ‘Mal per me che m’affidai’. It makes for an unsubtle ending which I suppose is at least consistent with what has gone before.

If Loy had been blessed with a more gifted set of actors in the main roles, perhaps some of his staging might have seemed better. As it is the principals drift about unenthusiastically without being terrible. Ludovic Tézier’s limitations are shown most tellingly perhaps in the dagger scene where he fails to convince us he sees anything other than a long road to the final curtain and where Loy’s notes to him appear to have consisted of ‘fall down a few times’. Martina Serafin is a bit better and occasionally transcends the caricature of evil that it’s easy for the role to become. Musically things are a bit healthier without being especially memorable. The singing is generally adequate, sometimes good, Serafin particularly, and the chorus despite the haphazard direction they apparently received, are in fine voice. Giampaolo Bisanti’s reading of the score is generally a bit four-square but occasionally, tantalisingly takes flight, with some nice flashes of colour and flair in the banquet scene for example.

Overall, then, I’d struggle to recommend this production. Whilst not a disaster, it’s not especially obvious why it should have been memorialised on DVD. A quick search of the catalogue and Music Web will reveal a number of other filmed options, including an earlier one from this same house and it’s worth pointing out that the ‘Met Opera on Demand’ app has Adrian Noble’s excellent production (which shows that a modern setting can work really well) in a performance recorded in 2014 conducted by Fabio Luisi featuring Anna Netrebko and Željko Lučić. This would be my choice for repeat viewing.

Dominic Hartley

Other cast and production staff
Lady’s companion – Anna Puche (mezzo-soprano)
Doctor – David Sánchez (bass)
Servant, herald and assassin – Marc Canturri (bass),
Jonas Dahlberg, set designer
Ursula Renzenbrink, costume designer
Bernd Purkrabek, lighting designer
Thomas Wilhelm, choreographer

Technical details
Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Audio language: Italian
Subtitles: Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Catalan, Korean, Japanese

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