Verdi: I Due Foscari. (Video).(Video Recording Review)

[] Pendatchanska; La Scola, Nucci, Rigosa; Orchestra and Chorus of San Carlo, Naples, Santi. Optional subtitles, no extra features. TDK DVD DVUS-OPIDF (Naxos, dist.), 114 mins.

Although it is a later opera than Nabucco or Ernani, somehow I Due Foscari has never made it to the Met. More's the pity, because the Venetian setting of this Byron adaptation inspired Verdi to some evocative woodwind writing it la Simon Boccanegra, and there is a remarkable passage for solo viola and solo cello like nothing else he wrote. The dramaturgy is stiff. Act I consists of little more than three entrance arias (the writing attractively varied) before a soprano--baritone duet brings down the curtain. Act II builds from a solo, through a passionate duet and trio, to a rousing quartet. Act III features a nautical departure scene for the tenor that is as elaborate as any a Bellini heroine has been accorded. It's a quick opera, yet it does not feel superficial. Verdi's lifelong engagement with the theme of rulers hiding their private grief while in public view reached first maturity here. This is a rewarding piece, ripe for an imaginative production.

It does not receive that in this Naples production (2000), but Leo Nucci's performance as the Doge Francesco Foscari makes this recording worthwhile. Listening to the soundtrack alone, one is struck by the generous amount of voice he still has, his firm link to the old style, and the way his fine legato enables him to ...