Verdi - Macbeth / Welser-Most, Hampson, Marrocu, Zurich Opera

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Musically, this is an exemplary Macbeth. Visually, it is a matter of personal taste, but director David Pountney, who has a flair for unconventional staging (see, for example, his Rusalka) gives it a strong, concentrated visual impact with overtones that send the mind spinning in many directions. The chorus of witches, which is seen right at the beginning and later at intervals, has a wild variety of costumes and makeup and might be mistaken for the inhabitants of an old-fashioned insane asylum. The power of superstition (or perhaps of the supernatural) is one of this opera's primary subtexts, and it's presented with eerie impact, including a mummified corpse that refuses to lie still. Costumes are generally but not exclusively modern.

Thomas Hampson and Paoletta Marrocu score equally well as singers and actors, and neither tries to prettify the character. They are ably supported, most notably by Roberto Scanduzzi (who manages to look spooky as Banquo's ghost with a jacket and necktie) and Luis Lima, a fire-breathing Macduff. Franz Welser-Most conducts with a keen ear for dramatic tension. --Joe McLellan

Description

This hard-edged postmodern production of Giuseppe Verdi's haunting masterpiece brings the story of Shakespeare's bloody tragedy to vivid life, characterized by spine-tingling atmospherics and a triumphant debut by American baritone Thomas Hampson in the title role. This Zurich Opera House production also features a mesmerizing turn by Paoletta Marrocu as the beautiful, power-hungry Lady Macbeth, while striking sets and costumes further enhance the duality of the main character whose rise and fall mirror the darkest impulses of man. Replete with supernatural mystery, sexual tension, and violent power plays, this timeless story remains gripping and chilling for today's audiences and boasts some of the most astonishing music of Verdi's legendary body of work. Conducted by Franz Welser-Most.

Customer Reviews:

Macbeth meets Farscape.......2007-08-04

Let me first off say the set here definitely crosses the line over to Euro-trash. I actually liked the costumes and I don't really mind an unearthly feel to a set, but when the blood of Duncan is green slime - that's just going too far. Also, the table at the banquet is a box with dirt in it and a sheet covering, which is then turned into something the witches are making their brew in for the next scene and dead bodies sit up out of these table-dirt-holder-things. Just a little too much weirdness. The witches seemed to be ladies from an insane asylum - that's the way they acted and were dressed, I thought, but possibly that's not at all what the producers had in mind. Some people might find that a bit weird too, but it actually worked okay for me.

The direction was sometimes retarded and at turns brilliant. For instance when Macbeth and his lady are discussing the blood and how to get rid of it, they begin touching each other and rubbing the green slime all over each other's arms - retarded. However, Macbeth and his lady are protrayed as a young, lustful, and childish pair, which really worked. Paoletta Marrocu is a fantastic-looking Lady Macbeth, pretty, voluptuous, but believeably evil. During the banquet scene, they have both been drinking and she pours wine all over the table as though she loves being decadent and she also pours some on her guests as though she loves having them in her power and they just have to take what she dishes (or rather pours) out. As she sings and acts up, Macbeth laughs along with her as though she is the life of the party. I really liked this direction - it seemed to work well.

All the acting was quite good, particularly Hampson and Marrocu and Hampson looked great too.

The singing: Hampson is surprisingly good. He seems to make his voice a bit darker than usual and it's quite beautiful. I found no terrible desire for a more dramatic voice which I did expect to, but he was exceedingly pleasant to listen to. Marrocu was good enough with a good-sized voice and a timber that has a bit of evil in it, however she was a bit weak in the lower range. Her coloratura is quite acceptable. Scandiuzzi has a beautiful voice and he is in excellent form on this video - best ever from him, and he's often quite good. Lima is a little nasal for my taste but quite acceptable and very passionate as MacDuff.

Too bad about the sets - otherwise a decent show.

Great performance!.......2007-03-26

Wonderful singing/acting, passionate, super creative, surreal, smart, sensual, aggressive...these are the only few ramdom words I came up with right after I watched this amazing performance. Those of who criticized on David Pountney's production, they just don't get it. Highly recommanded!

The Video Director has much to answer for.......2007-03-19

As others have said, the singers in this production are excellent - Hampson in particular with Marrocu who also looked quite stunning.The production is often ridiculous but engaging and some moments come off to good dramatic effect. What doesn't is the video director's love of closeups which soon became an irritation as it was obvious that accompanying stage action was being missed. Time and again I was saying to the screen - pull back as it was clear interesting things were going on but not being seen- as in the the Birnam Wood episode. Opera is the sum of all its parts and when clever sets and good stage directions are employed they make a significant contribution as the work unfolds.Too often in this production they missed out while the essential suspension of belief was being threatened through yet another closeup of perspiring principals. It can work in film, but not when you are in the audience at a live performance watching the whole stage which this dvd should be replicating. You can shut your eyes to just enjoy the singers of course, but given the resources available to a Director, they and we deserved better.

Never boring.......2006-12-07

I'm a fan of the play, but generally dissatisfied by operatic versions. This version, however, captures the sense of darkness, anxiety, and violence (and of course uncertainty and guilt) that lies at the heart of Shakespeare's play. It also captures the excitement, as the pace is great.

I am skeptical of concept productions, but the beauty of the set's colours (as well as dark and sexy Paoletta Marrocu, playing Lady Macbeth) won me over. (Unlike at least one of the other reviewers, I couldn't tell that she was -- allegedly -- out of tune.)

Hampson irritated me a little bit at first, because it initially seemed that his Macbeth would be too apprehensive to kill Duncan, but what won me over was they way he brought out Macbeth's limitations. And Macbeth IS limited. That's what causes him to fail, in terms of holding the throne and establishing a dynasty. Macbeth is a jock (er, no pun intended), a ferocious fighter, but his ambition puts him in a situation he's unprepared for (namely, being a regicide and usurper). Macbeth ends up out of his depth. Hampson's Macbeth captures Macbeth's flaws, especially his earnestness and that's important, because it highlights the fact that Macbeth is, at heart, too naive politically -- his response to political anxiety is to resort to killing anyone who threatens his rule -- to rule successfully or for very long.

The lamentation scene was fabulous, with Hampson's voice just about perfect, and his acting (and facial expressions) working with his singing to bring out the poignancy of Macbeth's fate. Scandiuzzi playing Banquo has a great voice. But he certainly looks more like a scholar than Macbeth the warrior's sidekick.

Downside? Macbeth appearing at the banquet in what looks like a lime green velour bathrobe that's three sizes too big. Oh and Lima's Macduff with blue hair under some kind of lacrosse helmet, while killing Macbeth through a wall, was odd, too. (Though see below.) So was Duncan's green blood, a visual pun on 'incarnadine' the green seas? So, it's five stars for the superlative music alone, four-to-five for the principals' work, and three for the visuals.

I'll conclude by urging you to give it a try. I was skeptical but the power of the performances, the perfect speed of the plot development, and the stunning sound, really do combine to overcome the weird sets/costumes. (Two examples: Macduff kills Macbeth by stabbing several swords through the wall of a cubed room, in which Macbeth is standing. This seems weird but it is understandable if it is seen as a visual metaphor for the edifice of Macbeth's rule being breached, and Macbeth and his rule simultaneously destroyed. Literally it is absurd, for people don't die that way. But tyrants do fall when walls are toppled. So it works. In her sleepwalking scene Lady Macbeth looks like a punk rocker chick in a sanitorium, sitting in gaudy lights, daubing the mirrored walls with her lipstick. But this is a nice touch, as it conveys the disintegration of her mind.)

Overall, while there are things I'd prefer to do without, unlike some Macbeths it is never boring.

unspeakable!.......2006-11-26

This production is one of the worst examples of "Euro trash".
Why do directors who hate opera so much attempt to stage it?
And why do they get paid to ridicule and destroy it?

This travesty of Verdis`s master piece is really outrageous.

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