{"id":9507,"date":"2019-06-27T13:03:37","date_gmt":"2019-06-27T11:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.riccardomuti.com\/?p=9507"},"modified":"2021-06-01T08:39:46","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T06:39:46","slug":"riccardo-muti-conducts-the-chicago-symphony-orchestra-in-triumphant-aida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.riccardomuti.com\/en\/2019\/06\/27\/riccardo-muti-conducts-the-chicago-symphony-orchestra-in-triumphant-aida\/","title":{"rendered":"Riccardo Muti conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in triumphant “Aida”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Riccardo Muti leads Chicago Symphony Orchestra and CSO Chorus in triumphant \u2018Aida\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

– Kyle MacMillan | June 22, 2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAida\u201d might seem like an unlikely choice for a concert treatment, but this approach successfully allowed listeners to zero in on the music and use their imaginations to fill in the action.<\/p>\n

Among the most anticipated events during Riccardo Muti\u2019s tenure as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra have been his full-length concert presentations of operas by Giuseppe Verdi \u2014 \u201cOtello\u201d (2011), \u201cMacbeth\u201d 2013 (2013) and \u201cFalstaff\u201d (2016).<\/p>\n

Not only is Muti one of the world\u2019s preeminent interpreters of the celebrated composer\u2019s works, his international stature allows him to assemble dream casts of soloists and then partner them with an orchestra that few if any opera houses could match.<\/p>\n

That potent combination of elements came together again Friday evening, when the conductor and the Chicago Symphony concluded the 2018-19 season with a superb, utterly engrossing performance of \u201cAida,\u201d one of Verdi\u2019s most accomplished and oft-heard masterpieces.<\/p>\n

The only minor blot on the evening was the surtitle screen, which was shut off after Act 1, forcing patrons to rely on a printed libretto for the English translations. According to an announcement during the first intermission, the screen was malfunctioning and making a distracting noise.<\/p>\n

In this opera set against the backdrop of wars between Egypt and Ethiopia in the time of the ancient pharaohs, Aida, an enslaved Ethiopian princess, must choose between her love for the Egyptian general Radames and her loyalty to her father and country.<\/p>\n

\u201cAida\u201d might seem like an unlikely choice for such a concert treatment, considering that staged productions typically play up the opera\u2019s pomp and pageantry, especially the triumphal march in the second act which has even featured elephants and other animals in some versions. But this approach successfully allowed listeners to zero in on the music and use their imaginations to fill in the action.<\/p>\n

At the heart of this opera is the bitter romantic rivalry for Radam\u00e8s between Aida (soprano Krassimira Stoyanova) and Amneris (mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili), the daughter of the Eyptian king. Their confrontational duet at the beginning of Act 2 should be and was one of the evening\u2019s most riveting moments.<\/p>\n

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Both of these world-class artists are complete singers sensitively attuned to Verdi\u2019s writing, and both were fully invested in these two characters. Here and in Aida\u2019s anguished Act 1 aria, Stoyanova imbued her singing with intensity and depth, masterfully adjusting her vocal timbre to fit every minute shift in Aida\u2019s complicated emotions.<\/p>\n

Rachvelishvili was every bit Stoyanova\u2019s match, with her supple, organic phrasing and a bewitchingly smoky voice that potently conveyed her character\u2019s conflicted feelings with ferocious punch or whispered urgency.<\/p>\n

Francesco Meli possesses an admirably full-bodied tenor voice with no shortage of power, and he proved convincing as Radam\u00e8s despite a couple of wavering high notes. Although a bit more vocal oomph would have been welcome at times, baritone Kiril Manolov was effective as Aida\u2019s father.<\/p>\n

Deserving special note was Tasha Koontz, a member of the Chicago Symphony Chorus making her solo debut with the orchestra as the High Priestess. She has a fulsome, penetrating soprano voice and performed with unflappable poise. Rounding out the cast were bass Ildar Abdrazakov as Ramfis, bass-baritone Eric Owens as the King of Egypt and tenor Issachah Savage as the Messenger.<\/p>\n

The Chicago Symphony Chorus, prepared by director Duain Wolfe, was, in a word, magnificent. Taking on the roles of various groups within the opera, these singers were very much actors within the drama, delivering the expansive scenes with thunderous \u00e9clat and the smallest with delicacy and finesse.<\/p>\n

In the end, though, this evening belonged to Muti, who was clearly in his element. He captured the full sweep and drama of this innately grand opera, making sure that every big moment was indeed big, especially the wonderfully boisterous triumphal march, with its augmented brass at each side of the stage.<\/p>\n

In an interview for the orchestra\u2019s webpage Muti called \u201cAida\u201d a \u201cvery intimate opera,\u201d and he made it feel that way. He leaned in and backed Stoyanova note by note in her tour de force Act 1 aria, making sure the orchestra\u2019s playing was imbued with the same pain and vulnerability as her singing. He also knew when to hold back, offering just a scattered cue or gesture in a light, airy dance in Act 2 but not feeling the need to beat time.<\/p>\n

There was a sense throughout that no detail was too small, that everything had to be in its place. And it all added up to what just might been the apex of a 2018-19 season with no shortage of other high points along the way.<\/p>\n

Kyle MacMillan, Chicago Sun-Times<\/em>, June 22, 2019<\/p>\n

\u00abAida\u00bb vestita a nuovo per duettare con il ‘900<\/strong><\/h3>\n

– Carla Moreni | June 23, 2019<\/p>\n

This is not\u00a0the usual performance in concert form, no: we are on the\u00a0spaceship of the future of the opera. Here every note is perfect, and not by calligraphy, but because only total dedication to the sign returns the originality of the composer…<\/span><\/p>\n

[Free translation]<\/p>\n

La pur meravigliosa Aida<\/em> di due estati fa, diretta da Riccardo Muti al Festival di Salisburgo, viene completamente spiazzata da questa nuova – moderna e intrigante – che si ascolta in questi giorni a Chicago, in conclusione spettacolare della stagione dei concerti. Hanno ben poco in comune, le due sorelle. Una, coi Wiener Philharmoniker, rappresentava allora l’incarnazione di tutto ci\u00f2 che definiamo tradizione: bel suono, eleganza, classicit\u00e0. Questa, con una Chicago Symphony strepitosa, per inventiva e duttilit\u00e0, ci fa toccare con mano il Verdi pi\u00f9 creativo e radicale. Visionario. Gi\u00e0 proiettato in un Novecento di sogni esotici, con profumi alla Debussy e Ballabili costruiti per passi veloci e il graffio di Stravinskij.
\n\u00c8 il motore audace dell’orchestra a portare Muti su strade inesplorate? Oppure \u00e8 il Maestro che qui si consegna ad una espressivit\u00e0 totale, sapendo di venir compreso? Le domande valgono entrambe, di fronte a una Aida<\/em> che in ogni momento suona nuovissima. Fatta di tecnica strumentale e fantasia di pensiero, spiccate. Dove ovviamente l’ebbrezza si contagia alla compagnia di canto, che tutta insieme, dalle primedonne fino al messaggero, fa pi\u00f9 teatro qui che nei luoghi deputati. Scavando nella parola, mirando a un teso racconto. Non siamo alla solita esecuzione in forma di concerto, no: siamo sulla astronave del futuro dell’opera. Qui ogni nota \u00e8 perfetta, e non per calligrafia, ma perch\u00e9 solo la dedizione totale al segno restituisce l’originalit\u00e0 del compositore. La sentiamo quando i primi violini nel Preludio arrivano esattamente insieme sul disegno ascendente e colpiscono, tac, immacolati, l\u00e0 dove di solito si miagola; oppure nel balzato degli archi, tutti a identica distanza; e ancora nei tremoli, serrati, uguali dal primo all’ultimo leggio. La qualit\u00e0 sinfonica della CSO \u00e8 arcinota. Qui tuttavia si arricchisce di preziosit\u00e0 che danno spolvero, luce, gesto. Muti chiede una Aida<\/em> da camera, raccolta, dove il canto si specchi sempre in un riverbero singolo in orchestra. E dove Cantabili e Arie sboccino dai Recitativi, tanto screziati, nella adesione al ritmo interno della parola, da diventare loro i momenti pi\u00f9 interessanti. Anche perch\u00e9 detti con quantit\u00e0 di sfumature, di pesi, di volumi, dal parlato al sussurro al grido, da alta scuola attoriale.
\nIl Verdi dei Recitativi \u00e8 di una modernit\u00e0 da cinema, \u00e8 zoom nell’anima. Ad esempio, quando la Aida sognante di Krassimira Stoyanova (prudente, anche per una indisposizione che l’ha costretta a risparmiarsi sulle prove) riesce a distruggere il castello dei cieli azzurri con due parole: \u00abMa dimmi\u00bb. In quell’avversativa, nello scarto emotivo verso Radames, c’\u00e8 l’intero rovesciamento della storia. Plagiato dal solito padre negativo verd\u00edano, l’Amonasro di Kirill Manolov, terrifico nel crescendo della condanna. Francesco Meli pronunciale fatali \u00abGole di Napata\u00bb come un automa: fin qui ha cantato a meraviglia, per intonazione, slancio, innocenza pura; ma qui supera se stesso. \u00c8 gi\u00e0 condannato. Freddo di morte. La riscatter\u00e0 poi, con lei, nell’estremo sogno, sublime, nella tomba. Ma qui la vincente protagonista \u00e8 la Amneris di Anita Rachvelishvili, incantevole mezzosoprano, di generosit\u00e0 scure, profonde, e infinite ombre nel registro chiaro: tra le due donne rivali – che deliziano Muti, \u00e8 evidente, una a destra e l’altra a sinistra – \u00e8 lei la pi\u00f9 cangiante, la pi\u00f9 donna. Nella caparbiet\u00e0 di essere amata (come ammette assoluta il proprio cuore \u00absacro per sempre\u00bb) e nella disperazione del confronto con il Sacerdote di lusso di Ildar Abdrazakov, implacabile nella ragione della legge.
\nEd \u00e8 continuamente questo doppio registro, pubblico e privato, di sguardi e di masse, che Muti dipinge e alterna con mano magistrale. Rendendo Aida serratissima. Di qui gli squarci corali, col Chicago Symphony Chorus anticato, nei richiami battenti alla Gabrieli o ancora pi\u00f9 indietro nel gregoriano da monaci in cripta. Di l\u00e0 le ultime battute, dove \u00abpace\u00bb ripetuto prende un’eco mediterraneo, fino a svanire, dando all’opera il suggello del capolavoro.<\/p>\n

Carla Moreni, Il Sole 24 Ore<\/em>, June 23, 2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Watch the photos:<\/p>\n\n\t\t