[Met Performance] CID:350155

New Production

Luisa Miller
Metropolitan Opera House, Fri, October 26, 2001

Debut : Santo Loquasto




Luisa Miller (70)
Giuseppe Verdi | Salvadore Cammarano
Luisa
Marina Mescheriakova

Rodolfo
Neil Shicoff

Miller
Nikolai Putilin

Count Walter
Hao Jiang Tian

Wurm
Phillip Ens

Federica
Denyce Graves

Laura
Maria Zifchak

Peasant
Jeffrey Mosher


Conductor
James Levine


Production
Elijah Moshinsky

Designer
Santo Loquasto [Debut]

Lighting Designer
Duane Schuler





Luisa Miller received eleven performances this season.

FUNDING:
The production a gift of Catherine and Ephraim Gildor

Review 1:

Review of Peter G. Davis in Classical Music

Veni, Vidi, Verdi

After many tries, the Met conquers Verdi with a spot-on "Luisa Miller"

Progess is possible at the Metropolitan Opera these days, even when it's faced

with what sometimes seems like the hopeless task of putting on a decent production of a Verdi opera. Not only is the new "Luisa Miller" the company's most satisfying Verdi effort in years, but it also marks a vast improvement over the bloated and preciously decorated production that has flitted in and out of the repertory since 1968. And unlike last season's disastrous "Il Trovatore," there are no fanciful directorial gimmicks to go wrong.

Santo Loquasto's period sets and costumes (nineteenth-century England) effectively embody the conflict-filled social environment that fuels the tragedy. The pleasant pastoral surroundings of Luisa and her father and the cold and threatening castle of the powerful local lord, Count Walter, whose son Luisa secretly loves, are both keenly observed and tastefully realized. Within this sensible but atmospheric setting, Elijah Moshinsky is content to direct plot and characters, which he does with skill, flexibility, and a sure understanding of who these people are.

It's an old-fashioned approach, I suppose, and won't please the conceptualists, but it does encourage singers to express themselves, vocally and dramatically - a refreshing notion nowadays. The current cast never seriously disappoints, but one need not go back very far into Met history to dwell wistfully on a treasured memory or two, and pardon me if I name names. Renata Scotto and Katia Ricciarelli, both in their prime, sang the title role exquisitely not so long ago, and they tore your heart out. Marina Mescheriakova, the current Luisa, never does that, but she can manage to convey a generalized sort of vulnerability, and she sings carefully. Even at that, Mescheriakova tends to croon a lot, and her soprano has only limited color and support in the middle to lower registers. The search for a really superior Verdi soprano continues.

Neil Shicoff as Luisa's self-destructive suitor is the clear audience favorite. He is probably about as close to an authentic Verdi tenor as we have, at least for lyric roles that require only a minimum of heroic heft. Others have caressed the line of Rodolfo's famous Act II aria with more elegance, but Shicoff's tone has ample ring, and for once his hyper method-acting style goes straight to the center of this tortured character. The rough nap of Nikolai Putilin's baritone is not entirely out of place as Luisa's crusty father, Denyce Graves gives an honorable account of a thankless role (Federica), and the two basses, Hao Jiang Tian (Walter) and Phillip Ens (Wurm), make appropriately sinister sounds. Always at his best in middle-period Verdi, James Levine lovingly conducts this wonderful score, giving it exactly the right rhythmic pacing and melodic shape.



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