Verdi – Un ballo in maschera

Riccardo – Francesco Meli
Amelia – Anna Pirozzi
Renato – Franco Vassallo
Oscar – Marina Monzó
Ulrica – Agnieszka Rehlis
Silvano – Toni Marsol
Un servo d’Amelia – Thomas Viñals
Samuel – Irakli Pkhaladze
Tom – Javier Castañeda

Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana, Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana / Antonino Fogliani.
Stage director – Rafael Villalobos.

Palau de les Arts, València.  Sunday, April 28th, 2024.

For its penultimate production of the 2023 – 24 season, the Palau de les Arts premiered this new production of Un ballo in maschera, a coproduction with the Staatsoper Berlin, and directed by rising star Rafael Villalobos.  The house also engaged an Italian central trio of principals led from the pit by Antonio Fogliani.  Tonight’s was the third performance of a run of five, following last Sunday’s premiere.

Villalobos appears to be setting the action in 1970s USA.  The set, by Emanuele Sinisi, is a large concrete room, with a further space at the back which in the first act appears to be a dry cleaning storage, while later is a room in Renato and Amelia’s home, where Oscar appears to be being kept prisoner.  The horrid field, is a place where a large TV mast is installed in the room, while a car allows Amelia to hide.  The presence of around 8 television sets around the set in several of the acts, gives us that sense of time, with images of iconic 1970s figures appearing on them – I think I spotted the late Farrah Fawcett’s magnificent mane at one point.  This idea of televised politicians is one that appears to be a theme of Villalobos’ staging – Riccardo makes his first entry speaking to a film crew, while the TV mast at the horrid field holds a suggestion that power is maintained through mediation.  Oscar appears at the start of the evening, dressed very much as a woman, who then goes to the dry cleaning store to put on a suit and spends the rest of the evening in her male drag. 

If this sounds slightly confusing – that’s certainly how it felt.  Villalobos has given us a staging that looks good.  Its murky gloominess and shadiness in the background seems ideal for the work.  And yet, this very positive starting point is not carried through to a compelling theatrical argument.  There appears to be no motivation for Oscar to become who s/he is – is she escaping captivity with Renato, if so, why does she then hang around in that entourage?  Weaker still is the personenregie.  Characters were simply parked at the front and waved their arms around in a desperate attempt to inject dramatic intention.  We had people declare their infatuation while barely looking at each other.  There was an undeniable sense that the principals were perfunctorily directed and the chorus was simply parked on stage.  The one moment where the chorus did feel directed was in the ball scene, where the choreography (Javier Pérez) had them merrily gyrating around.  Again, Villalobos clearly has some very intriguing ideas about this work.  The sets and lighting (the latter by Felipe Ramos) work very well with the score – although I’m not sure how the large hole in the roof of the set would have stopped the rain coming in.   Moreover, the set itself offers the singers optimal acoustic support.  It’s just that in the gap between idea and execution it feels like there is a real lack of direction of the characters, who far too often just flail around the stage when, with a cast as experienced in their roles as this, they could have done so much more to engage with each other.

The evening wasn’t particularly helped by Fogliani’s conducting.  It was interesting because his tempo for ‘Teco sarem di subito’ was nicely brisk, but it felt heavier because of the lack of rhythmic pointing in the articulation in the orchestra.  Similarly, he let tension drop significantly in the Ulrica scene due to some very slow tempi.  Congratulations are due to Anna Pirozzi’s Amelia for sustaining her big scene at the horrid field so well at the extremely slow tempo that Fogliani gave her, and throughout there was a sense that some of Fogliani’s slower tempi let the tension drop a few degrees too much.  Naturally, the orchestral playing was superb – one would expect nothing less at this address – although there were a very small number of ragged entries, something uncharacteristic of this band given how immaculate their playing usually is.  The tuning in the violins in those treacherous high-lying lines in the opening prelude was impeccable and the brass was excellent.  Credit also to a very pleasing piquant oboe soloist, and the cello soloist in ‘morrò’ played with genuine and lyrical eloquence.  Unfortunately, the house is no longer providing printed program books so I cannot credit the musicians by name.  Francesc Perales’ chorus, one of the glories of this house, once again demonstrated why they’re one of the best opera choruses in the world.  The precision of the tuning in the tenors and basses in the conspirators’ chorus was exemplary, while the sopranos and mezzos sang with terrific firmness of tone.

This was my second encounter with Francesco Meli’s Riccardo, having seen him in the role at the Scala a few years ago.  Meli’s isn’t the most refulgent tenor to have essayed this music.  The voice itself is rather thin in tone, although also bright.  What tonight showed is that with hard work, one can grow the technique so that he has now rendered himself into a creditable Verdi tenor for these medium-sized roles.  I found his legato to be smoother than previously, and while the vibrations have widened at the top, he no longer feels the need to put undue pressure on it.  Meli gave a decent account of himself tonight and, having heard him in a few Verdi roles now, I would say this is his happiest.

Pirozzi sang Amelia with impressive breath control and deep feeling.  The voice is a nice size and carries well.  She injected the words with meaning, singing her ‘morrò’ with such genuine sadness.  The voice does have a rather limited range of tone colours, but Pirozzi compensated for that with her textual eloquence.  The top also doesn’t quite spin optimally, which meant that the treacherous path up to the high C at the horrid field lacked a little in beauty.  Still, Pirozzi is a very engaging actor and sang with such feeling and dedication.  Franco Vassallo’s Renato did not leave us wanting for more volume.  He sang with generous force, letting rip a wall of sound into the auditorium.  He was in much fresher voice than the previous occasions on which I’ve heard him, the tone less dry than it often is.  He also brought a real and genuine sense of line to his music and the legato was not aspirated.  A strong assumption from a singer I’ve found somewhat inconsistent in the past, but who tonight gave a very good account of himself. 

Marina Monzó was a delectable Oscar.  Her soprano has a wonderful peaches and cream core to the tone, she can turn the corners with ease and has a genuine trill.  Most definitely an artist to watch.  Agnieszka Rehlis brought a very glamorous contralto to the role of Ulrica.  The voice is wonderfully plush, rich from top to bottom and she crossed the passaggio with ease.  Perhaps she could make more of the words, but this is a Rolls Royce of a voice.  The remaining roles reflected the positive standards of the house, not least Irakli Pkhaladze and Javier Castañeda both very handsome of tone as Samuel and Tom.

This was a somewhat mixed evening on the whole, one where the good ideas didn’t always manifest themselves into a cogent theatrical argument.  Villalobos is undoubtedly a director with a very vivid imagination and what he conceived should have worked well with the score.  The problem was that the personenregie felt practically non-existent and this is where the evening fell down.  I’m still not sure what Oscar’s role was, but that wouldn’t have been so critical had the principals felt more clearly directed, rather than parked on stage to gesticulate to the front.  Villalobos is still very young and will surely grow in this respect with time.  Musically, the evening was compromised by some pedestrian conducting, but the house orchestra and chorus were, as always, absolutely superb.  The singing also gave some pleasure, with Monzó and Rehlis particularly satisfying.  The audience responded at the close with generous applause, with a huge ovation for their cherished orchestra.