Review - 2016 Hong Kong Arts Festival - Simon Boccanegra (Verdi), Teatro Regio di Torino, Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre, 28 February 2016 & 1 March 2016

Simon Boccanegra - Roberto Frontali (28 February 2016) / Alberto Gazale (1 March 2016)

Maria Boccanegra - Erika Grimaldi

Jacopo Fiesco - Michele Pertusi

Gabriele Adorno - Giorgio Berrugi

Paolo - Gevorg Hakobyan

Pietro - Fabrizio Beggi

Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Regio Torino

Conductor - Roberto Abbado
Director - Sylvano Bussotti (Revival by Vittorio Borrelli)

I had encountered Simon Boccanegra in my opera going experience more than other popular works by Verdi like La Traviata, but the third viewing is still far from ideal. This revival of Bussotti's production from the 1970s with a recent revamp retain the feature of 'grand' scene settings and elaborate period costumes. Visually the staging made some impact in the council chamber scene with a rich blue mosaic backdrop alike the great hall of a Byzantine palace. Wave machine was employed to produce the coastline of Genoa in the background. Those after the grandeur of a stage set and argue opera should retain historical relevancy will probably applaud and enjoy.

However, I am not convince that the 'park and sing' choreography and stage set as backdrop would enhance the audience understanding of this opera. Genoa's ruling class is a microscope of the obstacles challenging Italy before and after unification. Unlike Rigoletto, it is also not so much about a class conflict but an ongoing bloodshed between local clad, which composer despised its existence into the unified Italy. Local hostile divisions and lacking the vision of a unified nation posed instability to the course of Risorgimento. One could argue the political tension is already demonstrated by the angry crowds in council chamber scene, councillor’s rivalry and plotted against the doge throughout the opera. But lavish costume and scene set are a display of quality workmanship than a visual realisation of the underlying message, neither establishing the theatrical atmosphere.

The complicated background of Amelia, or Maria, being kept away from knowing as the daughter of Simon, granddaughter of Simon's rival Jacopo, and Amelia's mother as the missing character, were also left to the audience doing detective work from the translated surtitles. I understand not everyone would enjoy the French opera director Olivier Py's approach in portraying every single details of the story in his production. Though his approach in Il Trovatore with extras to act out the troubled memory narrated by Manrico's mother fed the audience with background information, which I reckon is essential for staging Verdi's operas when we want to understand the recurring inner personal theme between father and daughter.

If theatrically the staging did not elevate an insight of the story, musically it would require a stellar vocal cast to keep the ears interesting. The line up from Turin Opera were generally technically competent and no ugly voice, but far from making an impression as a whole. Erika Grimaldi was so far the better Amelia I came across in live with the sheer impact in volume and note accuracy. But I found her timbre more a dramatic soprano than a spinto, which lacked the lyrical side of a soft spoken 'Gilda' in this tale. Giorgio Berrugi, who sang the role of Amelia's passionate lover Gabriele, was shaky with intonation in the second act big solo aria 'Cielo pietoso, rendila' and fell short from a climatic showcase. Same problem with singers as protagonist and Jacopo on different evenings that their timbre more suited in the dramatic first act, but lacked the warmth in tone desired in the expressive second half. I was disappointed by the baritone duet in the reconciliation scene that neither moving nor processing any radiant quality. Diction was generally passable though not Italianate enough, which probably suggested why the singing rather white hot in colour. Roberto Abbado should be credited for keeping the band together and very alert to the singer's rubato. The brass and wind sections were better than the strings for rhythmical precision and produced a rich body of sound. Tempo was generally on a broad side to keep tutti moments polished and elegant, but gradually sounded tiring for the ears and losing the momentum towards the end.