Donizetti: Maria Stuarda [Blu-ray]

Elizabeth (Ganassi) wins again!
The previous reviwer has already noted that this is a "psycho" drama between two "ladies" and a dull-witted tenor in a Schiller play that has no connection to historical veracity. That said we can turn to the battle of the sopranos. Sonia Ganassi belted out an Elizabeth in a DVD made at Bergamo in 2001. Her rival that time was Carmela Remigio as Maria Stuarta. Remigio simply does not have the voice or the technique to carry off the blazing confrontation scene or the quiet, noble, final prayer. Ganassi in a quieter portrayal than the present one easily came off the winner. It should be noted that the tenor in that production was Joseph Calleja who looked the part and sang the part exceptionally well. In the present recording Ganassi is again in top form and is even more on spot while singing the blazes off everyone else on stage. The Maria is Fiorenza Cedolins. She comes with a reputation in standard Italian repertoire of which I've heard a few selections. Thus I was looking forward to...

The battle of the ladies
Donizetti's opera Maria Stuart is based on Schillers version, where Elizabeth and Mary are seen to be in love with the Earl of Leicester and have an angry encounter(never happened). Commissioned for the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.It is suspected that following a dress rehearsal the singers playing Elizabeth and Mary came to blows so absorbed were they in their parts. The royal patrons stepped in to stop the opera being performed.A year later it resurfaced at La Scala, Milan.A revival of this opera 20 years after Donizetti's death formed the basis of the opera when rediscovered in 1958. A newer version is the one chosen for this production which opened in April 2009 at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. It had burned down in 1996 and was restored.

For Denis Krief stage director etc,the work is a psychodrama,a love triangle and he uses colour to signify ideas,the yellow of jealousy,deep blue of purity. The final scene is bathed in red. The staging is a maze which changes colour...

Krief brings Grief
Who is Krief? He is the guy who is overall in charge of what happens on stage with the thankful exception of the music. Thank heavens for such mercies.

If one wants to 'see' what Anachronism means, they only have to see the Stage Direction, Sets and Lighting Design of this otherwise great production of Maria Stuarda.

Whatever I want to comment on the singing, conducting and sound and video etc has already been elucidated beautifully by the two persons who wrote the comments ahead of me, Keris Nine and Dr.Rippon. They are on the dot.

I want to really comment on the Staging.
There is nothing imaginative here. The whole thing looks like a maze or labyrinth through which the actors scamper about like rats. It represents nothing... not even the so called 'trap' that both the ladies are supposed to be in. Ultimately it slides and exposes what looks like an exoskeleton of some monster or just plain scaffolding prior to concreting a slab of a construction...

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