The silent-movie treatment director Davide Livermore has given Gioachino Rossini’s fourth opera, Ciro in Babilonia, is as engaging as its fabulous cast of singers led by the formidable contralto Ewa Podles and soprano Jessica Pratt on a new DVD issued by OpusArte.
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Livermore created his ingenious production for the summer Caramoor Festival north of New York City to celebrate the opera’s 200th anniversary in 2012. The version captured for this live performance recording was presented immediately afterward at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, Italy.
Podles’ hero doesn’t appear on stage for his first monologue until about 30 minutes into the opera. And even though all the singing to that point has been excellent, our world shifts a bit when this remarkable artist unleashes her prodigious voice and dramatic power.
The “dramas with choir” with Biblical themes were still demanded by censors at the start of the 19th century as chaste substitutes for lustful intrigue during Lent. Ciro tells the tale, drawn from the Book of Daniel in Hebrew Scripture, of how Cyrus defeated Babylonian king Belshazzar. The personal story of how Ciro gets his wife Amira back from Baldassare helps engage us with the larger plot.
How to stage a Biblical epic on a budget and in a tight space is always a brain-teaser. Livermore’s scratchy, flickery film projections and Gianluca Falasci’s elaborate 1920s idea of 6th century B.C.E. costumes completely make us forget that there isn’t much to this set.
The chorus of the Teatro Comunale of Bologna has relatively little to do over the course of nearly 3 hours, but they sound excellent alongside a cast where the two principal women — Podles as Ciro and Pratt as Amira — carry the personal side of the conflict on their amply endowed vocal shoulders.
The pit orchestra (also from Bologna’s Teatro Comunale) is smartly led — from the podium as well as the fortepiano during recitatives — by Will Crutchfield. He teases every shade of colour from the rich orchestration and keeps the sound light and transparent throughout. Some of his fortepiano flourishes are hilarious.
The musical writing is extraordinary; it’s hard to imagine that Rossini was only 20 when he wrote this opera.
With superlative singers and a brilliant staging, this little-known treat deserves to be savoured over and over again.
The audio quality from this public theatre in Pesaro is never ideal, but at least there is usually a good balance between orchestra and singers. There are no extras on the DVD, beyond a cast gallery, nor is there anything beyond a basic backgrounder and synopsis in the booklet.
For more information on this release, click here.
This is the trailer:
John Terauds
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
