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Figaro rules Paris
Théâtre des Champs-Elysées
03/26/2025 - & March 22 (Basel), 24 (Luxembourg), 29 (Hamburg), 2025
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492
Florian Boesch (Il conte di Almaviva), Anett Fritsch (La contessa di Almaviva), Nikola Hillebrand (Susanna), Robert Gleadow (Figaro), Anna Lucia Richter (Cherubino), Anna‑Doris Capitelli (Marcellina), Riccardo Novaro (Bartolo, Antonio), Joshua Spink (Basilio, Curzio), Shinyoung Kim (Barbarina)
Basler Madrigalisten, Kammerorchester Basel, Giovanni Antonini (Conductor)
R. Gleadow (© Robert Hugh Wesley)
The entire plot of Mozart’s fabled opera Le nozze di Figaro (1786), based on Beaumarchais’s play La Folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro (1784), takes place in one day. The frenzied action in Lorenzo Da‑Ponte’s exceptionally well‑written libretto makes it one of the most dramatically compact and successful operas. A brilliant performance makes one feel this relentless pacing. The opera has five major characters: Figaro; his soon‑to‑be wife Susanna; the Count and Countess Almaviva; and the adolescent page, Cherubino. It also features six secondary roles: the intriguers Bartolo, Basilio and Marcellina; the gardener Antonio and his daughter Barbarina; and the judge Don Curzio.
This performance was an opera-in-concert that started touring four days earlier and is Hamburg-bound. Opera‑in‑concert is an increasingly popular way of presenting this art form, but it has its drawbacks. It makes perfect sense with obscure rarities one’s unlikely to ever see otherwise. Therefore one questions the motivation to present one of the most enduring works in the repertoire in this reductive format. This is especially true for Le nozze di Figaro, where Da‑Ponte’s libretto is without exaggeration the equal of Mozart’s outstanding score. Enjoying a brilliant director’s spin on the opera is as pleasurable as the pure enjoyment of the singing. The quality of these touring operas‑in‑concert varies enormously, from the terrific to the mediocre. A case in point is Die‑Fledermaus with Marc Minkowski in Barcelona in‑December, and Idomeneo in January with René Jacobs in Madrid. The former was brilliant and the latter truly dreadful. This performance fell somewhere in between. Uneven would be the kindest way to describe it. Most of the singers were at least adequate, with three of the principals truly outstanding (Figaro, Susanna and the Countess), and one miscast (the Count).
The most impressive was Canadian baritone John Gleadow, endowed with a beautiful, powerfully virile voice, outstanding diction and abundant charisma. Given this was not a staged performance, I’m not sure the singers receive acting direction. Gleadow’s excellence was in fact problematic as he was so much more involved that the weakness of the others was jarring. The relative homogeneity of the cast is more essential than in a staged production, as elaborate sets, dazzling costumes and intelligent staging can deflect attention from vocal weaknesses. In a concert performance, all is exposed. On the other hand, had Gleadow not been so exuberant, this performance would have been a trial. Gleadow’s interpretation of Act I’s “Non più andrai,” admonishing young Cherubino on his way to military service, was brilliant. Act III’s scene with Marcellina and Bartolo was hilarious, mostly thanks to this Figaro’s natural comic verve. In his scenes with the Count, one felt sorry for such a spineless Almaviva having to live in the same household as such a spirited, defiant and overpowering servant. And his Act IV aria, “Tutto è disposto... Aprite un po’ quegl’occhi” was simply mesmerizing.
German lyric soprano Anett Fritsch started with her entrance aria, Act II’s “Porgi, amor, qualche ristoro”, somewhat tentatively, which is forgivable as this challenging segment is the Countess’ first utterance. Nonetheless, she was able to convey the neglected wife’s ennui and melancholy. Soon after, she was in her element. The Act III aria “Dove sono i bei momenti” was beautifully interpreted and moving.
German lyric soprano Nikola Hillebrand was a spirited Susanna, with a beautiful voice, lighter than the Countess. Thus, her soprano leggero contrasted with Fritsch’s heftier voice in Act III’s duet “Canzonetta sull’aria”. The lighthearted Act II aria, “Venite inginocchiatevi,” where she dresses Cherubino in the Countess’ clothes, was appropriately joyous and amusing. Her Act IV aria “Giunse alfin il momento... Deh vieni non tardar” was a delight; charming and sensual. Her diction, too, was quite impressive. Unlike some of her colleagues, she positively savoured Da Ponte’s magical words.
Anna Lucia Richter, mostly a Lieder and oratorio singer, was an adequate Cherubino, her voice on the lighter side for this mezzo trousers role. Though credible as the adolescent page, adopting boyish mannerisms and deportment, her voice was too light and lacked the colour one associates with the role. Her Act I “Non so più cosa son, cosa sento” was appropriately petulant, but the tempo was too fast, perhaps deliberately to exaggerate the adolescent’s excitement. The Act II “Voi che sapete che cosa è l’amor” fared better, replete with passionate longing.
By far the weakest of the cast’s leading roles was Florian Boesch’s interpretation of the Conte di Almaviva, who came off as underpowered and unconvincing as a dominant nobleman. This Austrian bass‑baritone is an excellent Lieder singer, and can venture into oratorio with aplomb. His voice is expressive, but his gift is inextricably linked to his native (German) language; his Italian was sadly lacking. Boesch’s volume was too small for opera, especially in a role as imposing as the Count, who’s domineering, authoritarian and irascible. Boesch also sang in a kind of murmur, without projection, and had to force his voice in dramatic moments, resulting in a less than beautiful sound. As a competent musician, he could simulate the proper pronunciation, but clearly it was not idiomatic. Lost was the proper emphasis on pivotal words and phrases, such as “tu non nascesti audace”, “temerari” and “i miei vassalli”, in both the arias and the recitatives, utterly important in the performance of Mozart. Boesch overdid the charm in his Act III duet with Susanna, “Crudel! perché finora farmi languir così,” sounding more like a bashful adolescent than a philandering Lothario. His “Hai già vinto la causa” was the most underwhelming performance of a great Mozart aria I’ve ever heard. No hint of haughty stature and disdain was sensed in this Count’s interpretation. Often, a Lieder singer can render opera more expressive. Not in Boesch’s case. We are left with mannered approximation.
Italian baritone Riccardo Novaro was a low-key Bartolo. Comedic excess is unappealing but Novaro’s Bartolo was the opposite: too discreet. He did not impress in his one aria “La vendetta”, sung without much brio. Despite being Italian, he was only moderately fast in the frenetic final part, “Se tutto il codice dovessi volgere, se tutto l’indice dovesse leggere...” Novaro also sang the small role of the gardener Antonio.
German-Italian mezzo Anna‑Doris Capitelli is far too young and pretty to be the old maid Marcellina, making her not so credible as Figaro’s mother. A little make‑up would have gone a long way. Capitelli happens to be pregnant, but her condition did not deter from her credibility as she is endowed with a natural comedic verve. Her Act I flippant exchange with Susanna, “Via, resti servita, Madama brillante... Non sono sì ardita, Madama piccante”, was well‑executed and amusing.
South Korean soprano Shinyoung Kim made the most of her small role, excelling in her one aria “L’ho perduta” and instilled ample charm and panache into her lines. As both Basilio and Curzio are smaller roles in the same register, the same tenor often sings both, which was the case here. English tenor Joshua Spink sang both comic roles convincingly, and seemed to have a ball in the process.
Act IV is the hardest to pull off, as the two secret trysts (the Count with the Countess disguised as Susanna; and Figaro with Susanna disguised as the Countess) can be confusing. Most difficult is to create the space and lighting to imply the two amorous rendez‑vous are secretive, visible to the audience, and most of all credible. In most stagings, the subterfuges are too obvious for the public. Matters are much worse in an opera‑in‑concert version, where there is no travestimento at all. One would have at least hoped for the Countess and Susanna to swap dresses to attempt the deception.
Kammerorchester Basel was at its best in the overture, the glorious finale of Act II, and the fandango finale of Act III. In several arias, notably Cherubino’s first and Figaro’s “Non più andrai”, Giovanni Antonini’s tempi were on the brisk side.
Mozart’s opera (and even more so, Beaumarchais’s play) were controversial at their creation, as they augured the soon‑to‑come French Revolution. Portraying the servants as smarter than their masters was certainly audacious at the time. With the present Figaro surpassing most of the rest of the cast by a mile, the Revolution has already started and been won.
Ossama el Naggar
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