Monumental operas deserve epochal stagings. And ‘Les Troyens’ by Hector Berlioz is such a work. This grand opera, complete with ensembles and ballets, large choruses and orchestral set pieces, is given an appropriately grand treatment in this production by the renowned Catalan theater group ‘La Fura dels Baus’ recorded at Valencia’s Palau de les Arts. In this coproduction with St. Petersburg’s Mariinski Theater and Warsaw’s Wielki Theater, the Fura’s director, Carlus Padrissa, has gathered around him his faithful collaborators Franc Aleu (video), Roland Olbeter (sets), Chu Uroz (costumes) and Peter van Praet (lighting) who crafted Valencia’s sensational ‘Ring des Nibelungen’ (also available from UNITEL ). ‘That this is such a feast for the eyes, a veritable orgy of optical opulence, is due to the sheer inexhaustible fantasy and creativeness of the Catalan artist group’ (Das Opernglas).
La vida breve
Manuel de Falla’s short opera “La vida breve” is perhaps the greatest opera in the entire Spanish repertoire. Premiered in 1913, it is the tragic story of the poor gypsy Salud, whose lover Paco betrays her and plans to wed a wealthy young woman. In his production at Valencia’s Palau de les Arts “Reina Sofia”, director Giancarlo del Monaco creates a psychological drama in which Salud is on stage at all times, as if witnessing her own living nightmare of blood and shame. Conductor Lorin Maazel, whom national daily El Paìs hails as the “triunfador” of the evening, leads an exquisite band of soloists headed by Chilean soprano Cristina Gallardo- Domâs, Jorge de León Paco and María Luisa Corbacho.