A musical marriage

Opera

Tom Aldridge

The Marriage of Figaro
Indianapolis Opera
Clowes Memorial Hall
March 10 and 12

Kirsten Gunlogson as Cherubino and Kevin Short as the famous barber, Figaro, in Indianapolis Opera's production of 'The Marriage of Figaro'

What is the world’s greatest opera? Indianapolis Opera suggests it may be Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), an excellent production of which the company gave us last Friday and Sunday.

There’s much cause to agree with this notion. In 1786, the supreme genius of 30-year-old Mozart was on a roll. Not only did he complete Figaro, far and away the best opera written by anyone to that point, but he simultaneously produced two of his greatest piano concertos (No. 23, K. 488 and No. 24, K. 491). Such a diverse output at such a high level has never been duplicated, before or since, by any composer.

Of course The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492, is a comic opera — an opera buffa — written in Italian like many others in that era’s genre for the Viennese court and aristocracy. Such a perfect confluence of plot (in this case daring to satirize both the court and the aristocracy) and continuous music at a white heat of inspiration resulted from the first collaboration of Mozart and his great librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. Within a year, the two would produce Don Giovanni for Prague, with da Ponte letting down a bit while Mozart, if anything, topped himself. Three years later, the reverse happened with Così fan tutte.

Cast in four acts, Figaro’s main break comes between Acts 2 and 3 and was IO’s only intermission. Still, this production exceeded the usual three-hour limit, ending about 11:15 p.m. Friday night. The extra time was well worth it. A cast of IO “returnees” featured baritone Kevin Short as Figaro and sopranos Lisa Saffer as Susanna, Jee Hyun Lim as the Countess and Kirsten Gunlogson as Cherubino.

Short, whom I felt had the best voice in IO’s Lucia di Lammermoor production last season, was perhaps less definitive in his title role as Figaro. Though showing his usual fine, well-projecting delivery, he lacked the comedic element so well-portrayed by Robert Orth: the Figaro in last season’s The Barber of Seville. Still, he sang as well or better than his fellow males in the cast; it was the women singers who outflanked him.

Saffer — singing Susanna, Figaro’s betrothed — projected a less controlled delivery in her opening duet with her intended, “Se a caso madama,” and continued to be upstaged by Jee Hyun Lim — the “Madame Butterfly” of a season ago — throughout the first two acts. However, by the time Saffer delivered her fetching fourth-act aria, “Deh! Vieni, non tardar,” her voice showed complete, even-centered control — a marvel to hear.

Though Lim’s Countess Almaviva tended to dominate the women throughout the production, her voice (and not her Asian heritage) seemed better suited to her more vibrant role as Butterfly. Gunlogson’s account of page-boy Cherubino reached its zenith in her second-act arietta, “Voi che sapete,” her voice ascending the chromatic scale while the violin pizzicati were descending a major scale. Mozart and Gunlogson made their own magic here.

Tenor Doug Jones, the only IO newcomer, sang both the roles of Don Basilio and Curzio. He characterized the two similarly enough that it was difficult to separate the two, especially considering that “both” sported shoulder-length gray hair while displaying a mock-comic voice. Baritone Stephen Powell’s portrayal of the Count succeeded in projecting his machinations against Figaro and Susanna, his voice carrying well off stage.

Still, all these are nits that critics, like yours truly, seem wont to pick on and emerge as minor in the scheme of an opera so overwhelmingly glorious that this or that voice — succeeding or failing in doing this or that — hardly detracts from the overall production.

IO artistic director and conductor James Caraher led the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra in an all-but-faultless reading, the winds beautifully integrating with the singers in a manner no one but Mozart could have provided for.