Le Nozze Di Figaro, K. 492
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VIDEOS 129 distance that way because the director feels the important action at the mo- ment to be the count eating his dinner! Nonetheless, this performance is a charming curio. Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's 1976 film is, of course, a whole different kettle of Figaro. The late regisseur is a master of the camera as well as of action, and this magical performance brims with theatrical and musical delights. The singers are "live" in the recitatives but "canned" in the musical numbers, lip-synching to their own voices. Sometimes, when the singing is thought process rather than utterance, they don't move their mouths at all. This enables the veteran performers to give their expressive bodies and (especially) faces free comic rein. Hermann Prey is a throaty but irresistible Figaro, Mirella Freni an insou- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/oq/article/8/3/129/1488632 by guest on 28 September 2021 ciant Susanna with a ripe voice that, though lacking crystalline purity and model steadiness, is still beguilingly beautiful. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a supercilious Count and almost never pushes his silken voice past mezzo fbrte into bluster; Kiri Te Kanawa acts vividly and sings lusciously as the Countess. Maria Ewing is a predictably fascinating Cherubino, but her attractive voice is terribly problematic (one note is free, the next is choked, most are fluttery). Heather Begg and Paolo Montarsolo mug delightfully as Marcellina and Bar- tolo (her chin does a veritable jig when the discovery that Figaro is her long-lost son triggers maternal tears). Karl Bohm's tempos can be snail-slow, but this is never bothersome because "the visuals" as it were, take up all the slack. William Albright Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492 Figaro: Knut Skram London Philharmonic Orchestra Susanna: IUana Cotrubas Glyndebourne Festival Chorus Count: Benjamin Luxon Conductor: Sir John Pritchard Countess: Kiri H Kanawa Director: Sir Peter Hall Cherubino: Frederka von Stadc Designer: John Bury Mjtrtdlma: Nucd Condi TV Director: Dave Heather Bartolo: Marius Rmtzler In Italian with English subtitles Basilic: John Fryatt Taped in performance, 197$ Curzio: Bernard Dickerson Video Artists International, 2 videocassettes Barbarina: Elizabeth Gale VAI 6900+, 168 minutes, color Antonio: Thomas Lawlor Glyndebourne's stylish and effervescent production of Figaro provides a model instance of the sort of production that deserves video immortality. Not only has a high-level cast been assembled, but its members have become accom- plished in their own interpretations and well versed in that of director Peter Hall. The production is ripe with felicities of delivery and action that consis- tently illuminate the opera. Those searching for metaphorical darkness and/or I3O VIDEOS class struggle will not find them here. Hall's treatment moves like a well-oiled Restoration comedy, spiced with considerable human revelation, proving that there is no substitute for belief in and love for the work itself. Knut Skram's Figaro, ruddy-voiced and benign in intrigue, seems no match for Benjamin Luxon's Count, portrayed as a man of aggression and sharp wit. Luxon sings mellifluously, as does his splendid consort: to see this perfor- mance is to understand why Andrew Porter hailed die young Kiri Te Kanawa as "such a Countess Almaviva as I have never heard before, not at Covent Garden, nor in Salzburg or Vienna."1 It is quite moving to watch her progres- sion from heartbroken desolation to magnanimity, and her beautiful delivery of the music can almost make one overlook the fact that mastery of the score Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/oq/article/8/3/129/1488632 by guest on 28 September 2021 was not yet hers. Deana Cotrubas is the cheerful, balletic Susanna, a sensible woman and a charming singer. As Cherubino, Frcderica von Stade conveys a shy, awkward, ardent young man, in a portrayal that is a far cry from the applause-mooching antics that this artist later descended to (nor is there any of that annoying hush-hush vocalism). The attraction between the Countess and Cherubino—which was to bear fruit in Beaumarchais's La mere coupable—is conveyed with touching understatement. Marius Bintzlcr is a robust Bartolo, one who cannot avoid a certain Germanic crudity, and Nucci Condd's Marcellina deserves fuller tones to match her comic style. The unduly nasal and epicene Basilio of John Fryatt would be more at home in reruns of Us, Minister, but Thomas Lawlor—his Antonio got up like a Shakespearean rustic—blusters impressively. The fleet- footed and trim leadership of John Pritchard is of a piece with Hall's sunny view of the opera. Deep-blue "grass" in die final act is the only eccentricity of John Bury's atmospheric designs. The postage-stamp size of the stage does cause problems when secret plots must be hatched right under the Count's nose, but better too much intimacy than too little. Pritchard cuts Marcellina's and Basilio's arias, and "Amanti, costanti" is assigned to Cherubino and Barbarina. TV director Dave Heather rarely misses a moment of connection among the performers, and smoothly works into his scheme the effective use of tracking shots (the cameras maintain a democratic, eye-level perspective). DavidMcKcc NOTE i. David Finglcton, Kiri Tk Kanawa (New York; Athcncum, 1983), p. 98..