Best Trovatore Ever!

Despite the grainy black and white picture, boxy audio (which peaks out at crescendos, varies wildly at times and can really become constricted during large ensembles), painted clouds, sets that range from starkly stagey yet realistic to "huh?", lip-synching that for most of the film is so good it looks as though the singers are really singing then degenerates into hit 'n miss, and some nasty cuts, the performances are simply astonishing. I hadn't planned on watching the entire thing, but once in the video machine I was along for the ride.

Leyla Gencer absolutely amazes me. If this woman were singing today she would be having productions of whatever she wanted, wherever she wanted and cast with whomever she wanted. Verdian style, ease of vocal production, ear ravishing mezzo voces and spot on high notes attacked with precision and clarity that had me doing something I hate to do - rewind whole sections and play them over and over again - so much so that the 2 hour video took me closer to 3 hours to watch. In Tacea la notte she throws in this soft, high Db that may be one of the most beautifully produced single notes I've ever heard.

(Note: I have to say, right here, that listening to Gencer today I was struck for the very first time at how similar a sound she shares with a singer I don't love but is known for her beautiful voice . . . (drum roll, please):  Renee Fleming. I'd never noticed before, but the weight of both voices is similar, especially when Fleming uses chest . . . I know, it sounds crazy, but I hear that for some reason.  BUT, Gencer is, of course, superior and capable of vocal "tricks" from the bel canto training, and the results can be extraordinary.  An example: Gencer seems to sing almost all of  Tu vedrai in chest voice - which blew my mind. I've never once thought of Fleming as a Leonore, and that will remain the case. It simply isn't in her (Desdemona is the extent of her Verdi for me.)

Mario Del Monaco is thrilling both in sound and looks, his acting right on the mark for Manrico. His high note (C?) at the end of  Di Geloso amor  is not nice and almost sounds as though tagged on after the fact . . . and maybe not even his (though I doubt that). But, all of his other high notes are definitely THERE and I was particularly affected by his ensemble work (who said he always had to show off? Del Monaco is here, most definitely a team player and the result is marvelous. The Pira (down a tone) has all the ping and brass one could want. He's just terrific. While his acting is excellent as Manrico, he does, I confess, in Act IV go way over the top. Manrico becomes all flashing dramatic eyes and Bela Lugosi poses, but these are NOT out of place at all here, as they seem to be genuinely Manric-an (yes, I just made that up. Sorry.)

Ettore Bastianini is, as ever for me, commanding, and in excellent - simply outstanding voice as DiLuna.  I simply cannot imagine a better foil to Del Monaco's Manrico.They are the team to beat in these roles and, at least for me, no one has done so yet.  I'll wait though.  

Plinio Clabassi opens the film with a fairly rousing Abbietta zingara,  and the men's chorus act and sing nobly.

There are touches of humour in the direction (notably in the Anvil Chorus) both intentional and seemingly unintentional, such as the gypsy who's mock anvil striking can't help but provoke a grin.

The great Fedora Barbieri in that costume, suffers as the most unfortunate victim of the wardrobe mistress. Despite her protestations in a recent Opera News article, Barbieri employs chest voice and does so splendidly. I remember she called it sometime else, but . . . it's still chest to me.  But never mind, because her Azucena has so much beauty throughout from start to finish. One of her most beautiful moments comes in that little trio toward the end: Gencer sustaining a lower note, Del Monaco buffering the middle as Barbieri enters ravishingly, on a higher sustained note returning to Ai nostri monti" That is the magic of Verdi right there, and it is the magic of singers who know what to do with this ravishing stuff.

Any director worth his salt should look at this and realize that "concept" is irrelevant, unnecessary and can - as we've seen in so many productions - sometimes stand directly in the way of telling a story. The power of the music, and singers who know how to react to it and to each other, are more than enough. The drama comes through in spades here, despite the perceived deficiencies of great visuals or expertly engineered modern sound.

I get more worked up by this film than perhaps any other opera movie I've seen. There are so many moments I jump up to my feet, and yell, cheering at the screen as though they can hear me. The ending, for once, felt as brutal and stomach churning as Verdi must have intended it to.

Oh, to experience a Trovatore like this in a house even once!