'Luisa Miller' is not quite one of Verdi's strongest plot-wise, it's not always plausible and is occasionally staid.
However, out of Verdi's early operas, which generally are unfairly overshadowed by his middle period and late operas (though on the most part there is a preference to the operas from those periods), 'Luisa Miller' is one of his better ones along with 'Macbeth'. The story is still compelling stuff mostly, especially in the very dramatic confrontations (the highlights of these confrontations being the Act 2 one between Luisa and Wurm and the Act 3 father/daughter duet) and the intensely moving final scene (it's also easy to follow unlike 'I Lombardi' and especially the notoriously convoluted 'Il Trovatore', and doesn't feel sprawling like 'I Vespri Siciliani' and 'La Forza Del Destino').
And the music with Rodolfo's "Quando Le Sere Al Placido" and Miller's "Sacra La Scelta...Ah Fu Giusto" being the most famous arias is tuneful, catchy and beautiful. 'Luisa Miller' is well served on record, like with the Moffo and Caballe recordings, and on DVD (the weakest is the June Anderson one and even that has its great points). This Swedish production is for me the second best after the treasure that is the 1979 production with Renata Scotto, Placido Domingo and Sherrill Milnes, which saw some of the finest performers at the Met at that time at the top of their game. It is also the best one since that production, even beating the excellent one in the "Tutto Verdi" series (if remembered correctly from Parma).
Visually, the production is very attractive with lovely detail, beautiful use of colour and great atmosphere. The giant hands don't always add as much as they could have done, but they also aren't too much of a distraction. The staging is traditional, and always interesting and with plenty of emotional impact and drama. All the confrontations are wonderfully done, the father/daughter duet and the end of Act 1 being especially intense and exciting, the last scene raises a lump in the throat as well. Nothing is irrelevant, nothing is anachronistic, nothing is overdone, nothing is under-cooked, nothing is static, nothing is distasteful and nothing is incoherent.
Musically, this 'Luisa Miller' is pretty perfect. Apart from the odd occasion where there could have been more attack and a little less delicacy, the orchestra display some lovely playing and play with energy, sensitivity and depth. The chorus are involved and sound terrific too, especially at the end of Act 1. Michael Guttler conducts with high-voltage energy, dramatic intensity and is alive to nuances, the dramatic bits being aptly very dramatic.
Of the top-notch performances from all six principals, Olesya Golovneva in particular is a revelation, meeting all the lyrical and dramatic elements without ever sounding too heavy or mature, it's a very girlish and agile timbre actually (not always usual for a Russian soprano, no offence meant). She's a very, very good actress too, her acting in the father/daughter duet, the last scene and "La Tomba è un Letto Sparso Di Fiori" being tender and intense. Luc Robert does lack heft sometimes, but is an ardent and honeyed-in-sound Rodolfo, his "Quando Le Sere Al Placido" is very moving.
Vladislav Sulimsky sings Miller with poignant sincerity, his love for his daughter always shining through. His "Sacra La Scelta...Ah Fu Giusto" is brilliantly sung and suitably sincere and vengeful, is potentially problematic tempo-wise with its long phrasing and little room to breathe without having to snatch but the tempo is more than suitable.
Taras Shtonda is an authoritative and dark-voiced and never woolly Count Walther. As Wurm, along with Iago ('Otello') a Verdi villain with no redeeming merits at all, Lars Arvidson is an absolute snake in the most positive of ways with a suitably sinister sound to his voice. Ivonne Fuchs certainly makes much of little in the role of Federica, shining in particular in the second scene of Act 1.
All in all, wonderful production with very few flaws, and a very close place to the 1979 Met performance. 9/10 Bethany Cox
However, out of Verdi's early operas, which generally are unfairly overshadowed by his middle period and late operas (though on the most part there is a preference to the operas from those periods), 'Luisa Miller' is one of his better ones along with 'Macbeth'. The story is still compelling stuff mostly, especially in the very dramatic confrontations (the highlights of these confrontations being the Act 2 one between Luisa and Wurm and the Act 3 father/daughter duet) and the intensely moving final scene (it's also easy to follow unlike 'I Lombardi' and especially the notoriously convoluted 'Il Trovatore', and doesn't feel sprawling like 'I Vespri Siciliani' and 'La Forza Del Destino').
And the music with Rodolfo's "Quando Le Sere Al Placido" and Miller's "Sacra La Scelta...Ah Fu Giusto" being the most famous arias is tuneful, catchy and beautiful. 'Luisa Miller' is well served on record, like with the Moffo and Caballe recordings, and on DVD (the weakest is the June Anderson one and even that has its great points). This Swedish production is for me the second best after the treasure that is the 1979 production with Renata Scotto, Placido Domingo and Sherrill Milnes, which saw some of the finest performers at the Met at that time at the top of their game. It is also the best one since that production, even beating the excellent one in the "Tutto Verdi" series (if remembered correctly from Parma).
Visually, the production is very attractive with lovely detail, beautiful use of colour and great atmosphere. The giant hands don't always add as much as they could have done, but they also aren't too much of a distraction. The staging is traditional, and always interesting and with plenty of emotional impact and drama. All the confrontations are wonderfully done, the father/daughter duet and the end of Act 1 being especially intense and exciting, the last scene raises a lump in the throat as well. Nothing is irrelevant, nothing is anachronistic, nothing is overdone, nothing is under-cooked, nothing is static, nothing is distasteful and nothing is incoherent.
Musically, this 'Luisa Miller' is pretty perfect. Apart from the odd occasion where there could have been more attack and a little less delicacy, the orchestra display some lovely playing and play with energy, sensitivity and depth. The chorus are involved and sound terrific too, especially at the end of Act 1. Michael Guttler conducts with high-voltage energy, dramatic intensity and is alive to nuances, the dramatic bits being aptly very dramatic.
Of the top-notch performances from all six principals, Olesya Golovneva in particular is a revelation, meeting all the lyrical and dramatic elements without ever sounding too heavy or mature, it's a very girlish and agile timbre actually (not always usual for a Russian soprano, no offence meant). She's a very, very good actress too, her acting in the father/daughter duet, the last scene and "La Tomba è un Letto Sparso Di Fiori" being tender and intense. Luc Robert does lack heft sometimes, but is an ardent and honeyed-in-sound Rodolfo, his "Quando Le Sere Al Placido" is very moving.
Vladislav Sulimsky sings Miller with poignant sincerity, his love for his daughter always shining through. His "Sacra La Scelta...Ah Fu Giusto" is brilliantly sung and suitably sincere and vengeful, is potentially problematic tempo-wise with its long phrasing and little room to breathe without having to snatch but the tempo is more than suitable.
Taras Shtonda is an authoritative and dark-voiced and never woolly Count Walther. As Wurm, along with Iago ('Otello') a Verdi villain with no redeeming merits at all, Lars Arvidson is an absolute snake in the most positive of ways with a suitably sinister sound to his voice. Ivonne Fuchs certainly makes much of little in the role of Federica, shining in particular in the second scene of Act 1.
All in all, wonderful production with very few flaws, and a very close place to the 1979 Met performance. 9/10 Bethany Cox