Nabucco

It is very easy to see why 'Nabucco' was Verdi's first big success. The story is at times obsolete and not the most compelling stories of Verdi's operas, but the music is just glorious ("Va Pansiero" being the most famous and the highlight) and Verdi's first masterpiece score.

There are to be honest better and more ideal productions of 'Nabucco' available, especially the 1985 La Scala, 2002 Met and 2004 performances. Only the Ambrosio Maestri and Andrea Gruber production is a misfire, though Maestri is very good (Gruber however is the weakest Abigaille on DVD). This is not a bad production, with the musical values really impressing and most of the cast giving committed performances. Just that it is not exactly idea, the stage direction is inconsistent and when it comes to the production values only the Maestri performance is marginally less appealing.

Starting with what's good, The orchestra are first rate, the more powerful moments have great dramatic thrust and the touching ones affecting pathos. The chorus are rousing and passionate, "Va Pansiero" is both hopeful and heart-wrenching. Nicola Luisotti's conducting is authoritative and sensitive, with the right amount of pomp, mystery and nuance.

Placido Domingo's Nabucco is one of his better Verdi baritone endeavours (his Simon Boccanegra was very good and his Rigoletto was a pleasant surprise but his Count DiLuna was disappointing). Nabucco sits well in his voice and his singing has some of the most controlled/steady tone and most secure intonation of his performances of Verdi baritone roles, his musicality also excelling. He is a deeply committed actor and inhabits his tortured character. Liudmyla Monastyrska doesn't sound intimidated at all by the extreme vocal challenges of Abigaille (in the top 10 of the most difficult soprano roles in opera), singing with beauty and steel as well as tender subtlety and fiery intensity, and while it is an interestingly more compassionate depiction of Abigaille she is compelling on stage.

Marianna Pizzolato does a great job in her aria and the last act ensemble and sings beautifully, though she is a bit bland dramatically with some stand and deliver singing and in need of more interaction. Andrea Caré's Ishmaele is one of the better ones of the DVD competition, not just the glorious sound he makes vocally but he fares better than most Ishmaeles in the acting stakes, he's magnetic. Robert Lloyd makes the most of his small role. Vitalij Kowaljow copes well with the Tessitura and music for Zaccaria, but he is far too mild-mannered for Zaccaria and he is not particularly memorable, despite some nice singing actually to me he was instantly forgettable.

Some stage direction is good, especially the very fascinatingly different development for Abigaille, instead of the villainess that leers and chews the scenery she is more compassionate and more corrupted than evil. It works very well, you can tell she is up to no good but this different approach allows for more complexity rather than being one-dimensional outside of the extreme vocal challenges. It was also very easy to identify with Nabucco, especially in "Dio Di Guida", the chemistry between Nabucco and Abigaille has good tension (a father-daughter relationship that can make or break a production, like with 'Rigoletto', the production does neither but still does a good job in this regard) and the choruses are expressively done.

It does have a tendency to be static however, Zaccaria and Fenena faring the worst, and other than Nabucco and Abigaille interaction between characters is cold at best. Worse is how virtually impossible it was to tell the difference between a Hebrew and Babylonian, the way they dressed was so similar or practically the same that things became confusing which really undermined the conflict.

Where the production really underwhelms is the production values. The sets are stark, especially for an opera in desperate need of pomp, grandeur and royalty, and time and place is very hard to make out, in fact indecipherable. The updated 1940s(?) costumes are just too at odds with the story, one doesn't mind different bit it has to have a reason or make sense (neither is the case here), make the drama confusing too often and don't look appealing at all. A particularly big miscalculation are the projections, which give low-budget a bad name and don't just add little, they add absolutely nothing.

All in all, has a good deal to like but there are some big and glaringly obvious flaws here too. Only partially recommended, and that's really for the musical values, the cast and to see how a different depiction of Abigaille comes off. 6/10 Bethany Cox