Cecilia Xuereb delves into the production of La Bohème, the highlight of Gaulitana 2024, inviting aficionados to immerse themselves in a timeless musical experience in a Puccini celebratiobn.
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“An All-Round Enjoyable Performance”
Starting on the 23rd of March the Gaulitana:A Festival of Music has been leading through a series of nearly daily mostly chamber music concerts to the production of one of the most popular operas in the repertoire by one of the most loved Italian composers: Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème.
I have always thought that the proof of a great work of art is the fact that no matter how many times one goes back to, it never palls, and such a work is La Bohème. Every time I watch a new good production I discover new riches that I had previously taken forgranted. During Gaulitana’s production of the opera on Saturday my ears kept focussing on the way that Puccini uses the same musical themes, or variations of them, in different parts of the opera, but placed in a different orchestral setting and dramatic context these project a different message to the listener. All the lovely arias were there, but that was not all – the feeling was not just in the melodies but more so in the score. This I felt, says something for the performance of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra under the sensitive and energetic direction of Colin Attard.
This was an all-round enjoyable performance with all the elements, visual, vocal and instrumental, working together as plot and music passed through a variety of emotions to lead from the high jinks of Parisian Christmas celebrations to the heart-wrenching death of the protagonist and the sorrow of all her friends.
Having quite recently watched a production of the opera in Berlin in which the opening scene was a real romp this struck me as rather tame, but only until the arrival of Schaunmard, the musician (bass Constantino Finucci) who came in with the goodies after having been commissioned to perform until the bird falls dead. At this point the scene came to life and the comedy kept rising to climax in the scene with the landlord. The departure of the friends for the revelry of the Cafe Momus leaving Rodolfo, the poet (tenor David Junghoon Kim) alone leads to one of the most beautiful love duets ever written following the entrance of Mimi (soprano Federica Vitali). It is love at first sight for the couple and Puccini gives them two of the most lovely arias ever written: Mi chiamano Mimi and Che Gelida Manina. Junghoon Kim has a fine voice but he has some problems with his diction (thank God for the surtitles in this context) and his singing does not have the same expressive quality of the soprano. Mimi came out as being more of a poet than him.
The revelry of the second act at the Cafe Momus had the blessing of a prelate who joined the people – children, vendors, musicians, ordinary citizens. Everybody was having so much fun. The stage might have been overcrowded but the artistic director, Enrico Castiglione, made sure that the main characters were never engulfed by the crowd. At this point Musetta comes in. I had been looking forward to soprano Nicola Said’s performance and I was in no way disappointed. The rich texture of her voice and her vibrant personality were a marked contrast to the sensitive Mimi. But we really see what lies beyond the surface of Musetta in the last act when after giving Marcello (baritone Yuriy Yurchuk) her earrings to pawn in order to get medicine for Mimi she very sensitively decides that the money should fulfil Mimi’s last desire and get her a warm muff for her hands. Even Mimi recognises that beneath Musetta’s carefree ways there was real goodness.
With Act III the mood changes completely. The cold winter morning is nothing but a reflection of the coldness that has caught up with the main protagonists. Mimi is worried about Rodolfo’s jealousy, but this is not the real thorn in Rodolfo’s heart: Mimi is ill and he lacks the means to have her cured. So the two decide to part – at least until the spring, they hope, the re-birth of life. Once again in this act the vibrancy of the couple, Musetta and Marcello, acts as a foil to the submissive Mimi and Rodolfo – a contrast that was beautifully expressed in the quartet close to the end of the act.
Act IV reminds us that the four friends are still finding it difficult to make ends meet but they are young and still determined to get as much as they can out of their lives: but only until Musetta enters to announce that having reached her deathbed Mimi has decided to come back to Rodolfo. Henceforth the music and drama are a roller-coaster of emotions – all are concerned, all are suffering – they are all one. The pathos in Colline’s (Romano dal Zovo) farewell to his coat with which he is parting after a long time in order to raise money for Mimi was heartfelt. The best that the friends can do is to leave the two lovers on their own. The music keeps building up right to Rodolfo’s final anguished cry of Mimi.
An opera like La Bohème needs a realistic stage-set and Enrico Castiglione’s sets struck the right note. While they were attractive and mirrored very well what was happening in the drama, they never drew too much attention on themselves. The result was subtle but effective.
Congratulations also go to the minor characters, the chorus and the extras all of whom contributed to this successful production.
Cecilia Xuereb
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