Germany Verdi, Nabucco: Soloists, Refrain and Extras of Festspieloper Prag. Prager Festspielorchester / Martin Doubravský (conductor). Seebühne Bremen, 22.7.2024. (DM-D)

Manufacturing
Director – Oldrich Kríž

Solid:
Abigaille – Liana Sass
Fenena – Hana Dobešová
Ismaele – Josef Moravec
Nabucco – Martin Bárta
Zaccaria – Jurij Kruglov
Excessive Priest of Baal – Oldrich Kríž

This manufacturing of Verdi’s opera, originating in Prague, has been touring open-air venues for numerous years already, over the summer time months with various casts. A promoting level within the promoting is the spectacular nature of the occasion, each by way of the opera’s common attraction, particularly due to its well-known refrain, and by way of the opulence of the staging in beautiful outside places not normally related to efficiency.

The Seebühne in Bremen is situated on the shores of the river Weser, within the industrial space of town, adjoining to an enormous, comparatively not too long ago constructed buying centre. It has been used for a number of weeks over the summer time predominantly for pop and rock music and stand-up comedy. The stage is makeshift, not everlasting, and doesn’t present a lot depth. For the efficiency of Nabucco, the metallic building of the stage was solely partly coated by makeshift black fabric cloth. The small orchestra was positioned in the back of the stage in entrance of the see-through plastic sheet providing a view of the river. The set consisted of some rectangular plastic boulders representing rocks, which have been positioned in several methods to sign totally different locales. On either side, a triangular raised platform with a column offered the body. A picket throne on a palette-sized picket platform was moved on and off the stage as wanted. The costumes have been wealthy and vibrant (particularly as represented filmed and projected dwell on to the large screens to the left and proper of the stage). The set was thus cleverly constructed to suit the quite a few totally different stage environments the corporate will encounter on its tour, straightforward to shift and transport, useful relatively than spectacular. The blocking was equally useful, with easy entrances and exits from and into the wings stage left and proper. Martin Doubravský coaxed enthusiastic taking part in from his orchestra, with swift tempi and an excellent sense of rhythm. The scale of the orchestra additionally meant that there was by no means any hazard of drowning out the singers’ voices, additionally as a result of each orchestra and singers have been amplified by the venue’s sound system and combined nicely. Liana Sass made a lot of the extraordinarily troublesome position of Abigaille. Her voice was robust and agency, her intonation safe from the beginning. She was capable of modulate her quantity as wanted, her breath management was stable, her decrease register very robust for a soprano, and there have been solely occasional shrill moments within the coloratura.

Jurij Kruglov as Zaccaria was the viewers’s favorite, and rightly so, due to his voluminous, melodic bass and wonderful breath management that allowed him to sing notably long-held arcs. Martin Bárta as Nabucco was spectacular in his vocal journey by insanity, capturing hubris and humility in equal measure.

Hana Dobešová overcame an preliminary downside with intonation to sing Fenena movingly with a very warm and wealthy decrease vary of the voice. Josef Moravec progressed from forcing his voice to permitting it to swing with the music, producing some very stunning sounds in the midst of the night. The manufacturing’s director, Oldrich Kríž, contributed a dependable Excessive Priest.

The refrain numbered about 30, and the stage was relatively crowded after they have been all on it. Notably in ‘Va, pensiero’ their singing got here throughout as very light and considerate, relatively than rousing. It was given as an encore in the course of the ultimate applause. The viewers clearly loved the occasion.

Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe