Otello

Otello is one of my favourite Verdi operas, the music is magnificent, it is dramatically his most concise opera and I think it even improves on Shakespeare's play in regard to Iago's villainy. Don't let the fact that this Otello's in German put you off, musically, dramatically and even visually it is superb in every way. The way it is shot like the haunting start and atmospheric camera work is very like watching an Ingmar Bergman film, and the production values are sumptuous. The orchestral playing and chorus are powerful and robust, and Argeo Quadri's conducting sensibly judged and taut. Musically the only let down is the cutting off of music at the end of acts. Wolfgang Windgassen's voice mayn't have been the largest in size but it was always musical and intelligent, and that is the case with his intense yet heartbreaking performance in the title role. His Esultate rings out and he is very moving in the final scene. Sena Jurinac's Desdemona is touching and vulnerable and her singing(and looks) is very expressive in her final act arias, which always reduce me to tears and does here. Norman Mittelmann as Iago is the very definition of the devil in disguise, which essentially is what Iago, the false confidante yet evil-incarnate villain, is. He sings wonderfully, and his gestures and facial expressions throughout the whole of Act 2 are truly frightening. Adolf Dallapooza's Rodrigo is youthful in tone and William Blackenship sings heroically yet tragically as Cassio, another victim of Iago's scheming. Walter Kreppel is good as Ludovico also. All in all, a superb Otello in every way imaginable. 10/10 Bethany Cox