I Pagliacci

"Pagliacci" is often celebrated as one of the finest examples of verismo, or realist opera. It is even based on a true story: Leoncavallo's father, a judge, once presided over the trial of an actor who, in a fit of jealousy, murdered his wife immediately following a performance. "Pagliacci" is frequently performed along with Mascagni's one-acter "Cavalleria Rusticana". Director and conductor Herbert von Karajan does not simply recreate a standard work; rather, he examines, it, psychoanalyzes its protagonists, lays bare the people behind the masks. In the process, he also makes a magnificent musical statement. Karajan is obsessed with faces - open, shadowed, distorted - suggesting his belief in the adage that eyes are the windows of the mind and the soul. Through elaborate intercutting from four or five cameras, he moves stealthfully from members of the crowd to his principals and back, gradually tightening the dramatic knot which binds them all together in this tale of love, hate and retribution. Joining the superb Jon Vickers is soprano Raina Kabaivanska as Nedda. Hers is a brilliant, multi-faceted performance of fascinating detail. The fine Tonio is Peter Glossop; George Wakhevitch designed the elaborate setting, the square of an Italian village.