Vivaldi - Ercole su'l Termodonte (Alan Curtis, Zachary Stains) - DVD9

Vivaldi - Ercole su'l Termodonte (Alan Curtis, Zachary Stains)
NTSC 16:9 (720x480) | MPEG-2 | PCM Stereo; Dolby AC3, 6 ch | Language: Italiano | Subtitles: Italiano, English, Fran?ais, Deutsch, Espanol | 136 min | 6.67 GB
Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis
Recorded at the Spoleto Festival 2006 | Released: 2007 | Label: Dynamic

The complete score of Ercole su'l Termodonte, Vivaldi's 1723 opera, was lost, but according to Alan Curtis, who conducts Il Complesso Barocco in this performance, arias from the opera keep being discovered and scholars now have enough of the recovered music to mount a four-hour production if they choose. But, as Curtis says with a smile in the commentary feature on the DVD, some "judicious cutting" was required; musicologist Alessandro Ciccolini made a setting of enough of the recitatives for the story to make sense and for the characters to come alive dramatically, and the resulting opera is a manageable length at a little over two hours.
The 2006 production for the Spoleto Festival was billed as the modern premiere of the work. Director John Pascoe sees the opera essentially as a struggle between the sexes -- the fierce Amazons and the Greek warriors led by Hercules. Needless to say, when the men and women meet, some romantic sparks fly, complicating what both sides had expected to be a straightforward military encounter. The elephant in the living room that has to be acknowledged is the production's sexual content and the extent of its nudity. Hercules, traditionally clothed only in a lion skin cape, is dressed according to tradition; only the front of his right shoulder obscured by a little patch of the pelt, and for one aria, he dispenses with the cape entirely. The Amazons wear sheer tops that leave nothing to the imagination, and both they and the Greek warriors sport skimpy leather skirts split up to the waistline on the sides. The virginal Martesia and the goddess Diana are the only characters with enough coverage to be able to walk down the street in Kokomo without being arrested. The issue is relevant because, this being undoubtedly the most nubile/muscular cast ever assembled for an opera production, the physical requirements must have placed some constraints on the casting. All of the leads are at least adequate vocally, but not all are consistently up to the standard one would expect for a major international festival.
The production can't be called an unqualified success, but Pascoe's direction is genuinely effective and the characters are realistically motivated. The sexual content is not shocking, but is startlingly frank for the operatic stage, and does in fact make sense as part of Pascoe's overall conception of the piece. The production is entertaining, and while the opera may not be a masterpiece, and not all the singers will bowl you over, the DVD could be of interest to fans of Baroque opera and of innovative staging. Stephen Eddins, All Music Guide


Libretto: Giacomo Francesco Bussani
Performer:
Ercole - Zachary Stains
Antiope - Mary Ellen Nesi
Martesia - Laura Cherici
Alceste - Luca Dordolo
Ippolita - Marina Bartoli
Teseo - Randall Scotting
Telamone - Filippo Mineccia
Diana - Mary-Ellen Nesi
Il Complesso Barocco
Conductor - Alan Curtis
Director Set & Costume designer - John Pascoe



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