“Luisa Miller” makes history at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia

A century and a half later, the perception of the work is different, even if the miseries that make it possible are still alive. Elder, Carrasco and with them a cast that responds to the essential nature of the characters identify and represent them. And this is the reason that makes possible the wonderful welcome of ‘Luisa Miller‘ in Valencia and what attracts the attention of an audience who comes to the theater ready to break the general laziness. In return, he finds a subtle spectacle, which requires finesse and palate, a focused gaze (including the small sacrifice of turning off his cell phone before it gets dark) and even an analytical sense.

Elder offers viewers an insightful read, worthy of a seasoned director whose only interest is sharing experiences. The general perception of his work is overwhelming in its logic and coherent in the narrative sense with which he adheres to the work. The transparency obtained by Valencian Community Orchestra It’s admirable, the naturalness with which he invokes the voices is surprising, the balance of the general sound is an example of refinement. Elder invokes, in moments of tension and extremes, a sonic arcadia that seems lost. But his work must also be understood from his own absences.

A lot of work

In this sense, it is good to recall the brief and substantial work of his predecessor at the Palau property, James Gaffigana director who, from a musical point of view, was able to demonstrate the passion that the opera scene is capable of containing, especially when it comes to titles that highlight human contradictions. For this reason, Elder’s analytical also has an intellectual flavor, which in “Luisa Miller” becomes more evident in the first acts, while the work is still the heir to previous bel canto styles and the expression is manifested through the soft accents of a calmly flowing orchestra.

All of this takes on another novelty in the fourth act, in which Verdi discovers a new, more personal territory, populated by many of the ghosts to which he was so faithful in later operas. Carrasco makes them very obvious because his staging impeccably understands the importance of the dependent relationships between father and daughter in Verdian dramas, the congenital evil inevitably associated with deep voices, the naive anguish of the tenor in love who does not see beyond appearances, the perfidy, the jealousy, the cynicism and blind rapture. The fourth act shows, in conclusion, a powerful, definitive, energetic, broadly expressive and consciously “polite” Elder.

His hand gives meaning to this “Luisa Miller” because the complicity with the casting emerges from the abyss. It is directed by the Italian soprano Mariangela Sicily. In line with the general development, she and all the performers showed their best side on Wednesday as the work progressed, joining forces and adding resources to the strict expression. The quality of the lines that Sicilia emits ends up drawing a character halfway between anguish and fragility. And he’s there when he confronts the evil Wurm, determined to break off his relationship with Rodolfo out of pure self-interest. Here the courageous and closed interpretation of the bass is fundamental Gianluca Burattoable to provide a counterpoint to the disastrous encounter, with a well-armed voice and resolute interpretation.

Mariangela Sicily

But Mariangela Sicilia still has before her the impressive “duet” with her father, “La tomb è un letto sparso di fiori”, in which they promise a common future which she herself knows will be impossible. The interpretation is powerful and has the response of the Argentinian baritone German Enrique Alcántara. He and Mark Elder strengthened their relationship with the recording of ‘Simon Boccanegra‘, in its original version of 1857. After its publication in the first months of this year, the critic Pablo L. Rodriguez He described it as extraordinary in the Scherzo magazine, highlighting Alcántara’s nuanced and colorful speech. In Valencia he appeared with a particularly brilliant Miller in the treble, who already in his entrance aria, “Sacra la scelta è d’un consorte”, one of Verdi’s great creations for baritone, established the character.

The final scene is of course decisive on the stage of the Palau de les Arts. Deep in Luisa’s heart, Rodolfo is always present and with him she experiences the tragedy of the outcome, a moment of glory for the Anglo-Italian tenor. Freddie Tommasoespecially brilliant when the drama narrows the paths of greater emotional tension. He resolves with amplitude and energy the inevitable “Quando le sere al placido”, so evocative, in fact, of the old belcantismos and reserves for the closing his stellar moment in a clear demonstration of faculties. Added to all this was the solid performance of the Italian bass Alex Espositowell known in Valencia after his previous role in “Faust”, and who here gives meaning to Count Walter. And in the final summary are the Russian soprano Maria Barakova like Federica, with a very dignified presence, and Lara Grigorevamember of the Center de Perfectionament del Palau de les Arts, for a Laura tour.

The challenge of the Palau de les Arts has a lot to do with the compact and sensitive scene of Valentina Carrasco. The initial perception is decisive thanks to the decor constructed by Carles Berga. Before the viewer is a doll factory for which Miller, Luisa’s father, is responsible. Above, on the upper floor, is the office, the center of power, dominated by a large W in ambiguous reference to Walter and Wurm. Carrasco emphasizes in the manual program that the great heroic tragedy (manifested here in scenographic grandeur) is transformed into an intimate bourgeois drama in which the projection of desires, disappointments and discord becomes possible. Carrasco clarifies that the plot focuses on two parents who love their children possessively, who are deaf to their wishes and who only want to see in them their own image. Walter sees in Rodolfo – insists Carrasco – someone capable of accessing a powerful economic and political position; Miller sees in his daughter Luisa a virtuous and honorable young woman who should accompany him in his old age.

But the final meaning does not lie in the characters described by Carrasco but in the inanimate beings who inhabit the factory: in those puppets and dolls which, since the 19th century, in which the action takes place today, have acquired importance as didactic objects and which, being a projection of the body itself, made the addition of desires and anxieties inevitable. There is much disturbing in Carrasco’s scene (the dolls can be as disturbing as a half-open door) and, no less, in this gradual dismemberment of inanimate bodies in a space which transforms the initial hyperrealism into something unnatural. The superposition of the unconscious on the obvious reaches its peak when, finally, Rodolfo dies accompanied by a doll instead of dying alongside Luisa, who in a grandiloquent and cinematic gesture (cinema icons are an essential part of the collective unconscious) walks towards the back of the stage in the darkness and against a beam of blinding light.

It is obvious that his salvation, on the other hand a barter that Carrasco proposes on a scenario Salvatore Cammarano Written after Schiller, it has a current and vindictive meaning after having been a toy in the hands of all men. The ending also gives the character unprecedented courage. So everything that is evident in Carrasco’s scene is nothing more than a metaphor that explains the toxic personal relationships that “Luisa Miller” depicts.

Verdi’s opera, considered a turning point in his catalog, is not a frequent title and yet it is already a reference at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia. Lorin Maazel he produced it in 2008 in a powerful version which could make the link with his own recording with Ricciarelli, Domingo, Obraztsova and Bruson. Mark Elder now regains the title, once again giving him undisputed notoriety. It’s no wonder that the atmosphere of euphoria that reigns at the Palau de les Arts is so evident.