Maria Stuarda (review)

Maria Stuarda: Edita Gruberova		Munich Radio Orchestra
Elisabetta: Carmen Oprisanu		Chorus of the Bavarian Radio
Leicester: Octavio Arévalo		Marcello Viotti, conductor
Talbot: Duccio dal Monte		Nightingale Classics (distributed by Koch International) NC 1902909-2 (2 CDs)
Cecil: Marcin Bronikowski
Anna: Michaela Lucas

I enjoyed listening to this performance, but I would have to classify it as "interesting," rather than as fully persuasive. One problem is that Maria Stuarda has already been fairly well served on records.

This new Nightingale Classics set is, by my count, the fifth recording of the opera to be distributed via the usual commercial channels. Its predecessors may be summarized as follows: (1) Beverly Sills (Maria), Eileen Farrell (Elisabetta), and Stuart Burrows (Leicester), conducted by Aldo Ceccato, the first studio recording of the opera, originally issued on LP by ABC Audio Treasury, reissued on LP by EMI, and most recently reissued on CD by Universal Classics/Deutsche Grammophon—originally as part of a boxed set that also contains Sills's complete recordings of Roberto Devereux and Anna Bolena (all three operas now also offered for sale separately); (2) Joan Sutherland, Huguette Tourangeau, and Luciano Pavarotti, conducted by Richard Bonynge, originally a London LP set, reissued on mid-priced CDs as part of Decca's Grand Opera series; (3) Janet Baker, Rosalind Plowright, and David Rendall, conducted by Charles Mackerras, recorded "live" during a run of English National Opera performances, and sung in an English translation (originally an EMI LP set, briefly available in the United States as an Angel LP set and on CD as a direct EMI import, recently reissued on CD by Chandos); (4) Edita Gruberova, Agnes Baltsa, and Francesco Araiza, conducted by Giuseppe Patané, a Philips CD set. A collector can supplement these sets with one or more of the several "live" recordings that have circulated over the years, on a variety of labels: these preserve such individual performances of merit as the Marias of Leyla Gencer and Montserrat Caballé, the Elisabetta of Shirley Verrett, and the Leicester of José Carreras.

The basic choice, I would say, is still between the Sills and Sutherland recordings. Sills is well cast as Maria: she can be meltingly feminine and vulnerable, but there can also be an aggressive quality to her vocalism that brings the Scottish queen's proud, defiant side excitingly to life. She finds a worthy opponent in Farrell's formidable Elisabetta. Sutherland is, of course, in a class by herself in terms of vocal opulence. She is paired, however, by Tourangeau, whose mezzo-soprano has a hollow, hooty timbre and a manufactured quality to its production—and she transposes some of her music down by as much as an octave (!), so that her Elisabetta can sound, at times, disconcertingly like a baritone in drag. (Note to Dominique Visse, Andreas Scholl, David Daniels, et al.: don't get any funny ideas, guys, about trying on a farthingale and assuming this role. There are limits.)

Baker is, in my opinion, magnificent; but the application of her highly individual timbre and manner to the bel canto repertory is perhaps an acquired taste. The fact that her performance is sung in English makes it, in a sense, not directly competitive with the others. (If, however, the idea of hearing Mary Stuart rather than Maria Stuarda appeals to you, do not hesitate to acquire the Chandos CDs.) Gruberova is very fine on the Philips recording: the principal drawback of that set is that, although both Baltsa and Araiza would seem to possess the basic requirements for their roles, they are heard at considerably less than their vocal best.

Nightingale doesn't bother to inform us anywhere on its box that this is a "live" recording, made in conjunction with Bavarian Radio during concert performances of the opera in Munich (the information is buried on page 176 of the booklet). The audience explodes into applause only at the end of act 3—and this ovation isn't faded out promptly, as one might expect, but continues for...