From around the world: Milan. (International).(Opera Review)

Verdi's I Due Foscari may be based on Byron, but the emotional depth and range encompassed by its central character is more reminiscent of Shakespeare. The final scene in particular, in which the elderly Doge, who has just lost his only surviving son, is forced to renounce all the trappings of power, is hardly less moving in a fine performance than the culminating scenes of King Lear--the tragedy Verdi long hoped to set to music. If the effect was less than overwhelming in the new Scala production at the Teatro degli Arcimboldi (seen May 18), it was above all because conductor Riccardo Muti seemed unwilling to face the full emotional implications of the opera, approaching I Due Foscari as if it were closer to Ernani than to Simon Boccanegra. Of course in a very real (chronological) sense it is closer to Ernani, and the thrusting brilliance he brought to the orchestral accompaniments in the strettas was undeniably striking, as was the exquisite blending of instruments during cantabile movements. Yet throughout, one sensed an underlying emotional detachment that prevented the singers from making the most moving effect they could.

In the role of Francesco Foscari, veteran baritone Leo Nucci invested ...