Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Simon Boccanegra (1881 version)
Opera in a prologue and three acts
Simon Boccanegra: Ludovic Tézier (baritone)
Amelia Grimaldi: Marina Rebeka (soprano)
Gabriele Adorno: Francesco Meli (tenor)
Jacopo Fiesco: Michele Pertusi (bass)
Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli/Michele Spotti
rec. live, October 2024, Teatro di San Carlo, Naples, Italy
Libretto only in Italian
Prima Classic PRIMA069 [133]

Simon Boccanegra is one of those strange works in the catalogue whose recordings are few, and that is mostly because there is one recording that pretty much everyone agrees is the greatest. I refer, of course, to Claudio Abbado’s 1977 performance at La Scala, issued on DG. It is one of the great classics of the gramophone and surely that conductor’s finest achievement on disc. Why bother trying to re-record it if you are not going to match up to that?

This one does not, I am sorry to say. It is taken from live concert performances at the San Carlo, and the first problem is the recorded sound, far too close for comfort. Listening to it is as though you are sitting right in the middle of the orchestra and right next to every singer. There is no bloom, no space, no air, and that leads to an uncomfortably close-up experience which, paradoxically, gets in the way of the music.

That, therefore, means that this is a performance painted only in the boldest of primary colours. Of subtlety and nuance there is barely a sign, which drains many of the scenes of their drama. The violin flickerings that announce the garden scene feel as if they have been amped-up to the max. All offstage moments sound as if they are taking place right next to you, and the atmospheric whisperings of the chorus at the end of the Great Council scene sound much too stark. More important, this reduces one of Verdi’s most multi-faceted, complex human dramas to something peopled by stock characters and types. Ludovic Tézier is a solid enough Boccanegra, but his four-square performance is much more suited to the Doge than to the father. He is, therefore, at his best in the Grand Council scene when he bestrides the tempestuous political turmoil of Genoa, but he does not find the right tenderness for his scenes with Amelia. The recognition duet, in particular, passes for disappointingly little, though he does manage to refine his tone for one of Verdi’s greatest death scenes.

As his daughter, Marina Rebeka is also very solid, comfortable with the notes and phrasing. She seems, however, to be going at maximum energy the whole time. Listening to her feels like the musical equivalent of being caught in full beam headlights. (I note in passing that she and her husband own the record label.)

Francesco Meli has all the tessitura, but he blares most of the part and lacks subtlety. There is even a touch of coarseness to his big showpieces in Act 2. In short, Carreras he ain’t. Poor Michele Pertusi sounds, frankly, past it as Fiesco. The voice is coarse and desiccated, though he rallies a little for the Act 3 confrontation with Boccanegra. Mattia Olivieri is no more than a workaday Paolo, finding none of the drama or depth which José van Dam brings to the part.

The orchestral playing is fine, as you would hope for at this address, and Michele Spotti conducts capably. But this simply is not competitive when you consider the alternatives. Some may turn aside for Tito Gobbi and Gabriele Santini (review), but all will eventually settle on Abbado for this opera. It is a classic for a reason.

Simon Thompson

Previous review: David James

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