Donizetti: La Fille du Regiment.(Video Recording Review)

[] Devia, Podles; Kelly, Pratico, Borioli; Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Renzetti. TDK DVD DVUS OPLFDR (Naxos, dist.), 135 mins.

In recent years, opera houses often have offered radically updated stagings paired with historically informed musical performances. This 1996 La Scala production is quite the opposite: resolutely old-fashioned painted scenery surrounds singing that demonstrates what is wrong with modern bel canto practice. It's a big-house performance, never light or subtle, with leaden dialogue and orchestral playing that doesn't breathe. Conductor Donato Renzetti, "after a fine reading of the overture, frequently sets pushed tempos that cannot he mainrained for a whole piece, and there's no verve to "Saint a la France."

Mariella Devia's Marie is well-voiced in the abstract, but she is monochromatic as the evening wears on. Too mature of tone for the role, she is hampered by an uncontrolled vibrato in the Act I "C'en est donc fait," though "Il faut partir" is a fine, sustained bit of singing. Her face is distressingly blank, especially during her coloratura flights. The Tonio, Paul Austin Kelly, sports a very i980s wig and sideburns but gives a more pleasing vocal performance. He alone among the singers enjoys the French text. Ewa Podles one of ...