Giuseppe Verdi’s 1846 opera plays fast and loose with the facts about the untimely death of the infamous titular 5th-century Hunnish chieftain, whose march on Rome was halted by the intervention of Pope Leo I. Following the lead of an 1809 tragedy by Zacharias Werner, librettist Temistocle Solera attributes the warlord’s sudden demise to assassination at the hands of Odabella, Attila’s intended Italian bride, whose father, the lord of Aquileia, he had killed. Others involved in the Machiavellian goings-on include Odabella’s lover Foresto, an Aquileian knight who also wants to kill Attila and temporarily doubts Odabella’s loyalty to the cause, and Ezio, a Roman knight who joins the conspiracy. This 2016 production from the Teatro Comunale di Bologna is musically the equal of an earlier one from Parma (VL-3/13), boasting a vigorous account of the score by the company orchestra and chorus under Michele Mariotti and powerful singing from bass-baritone Ildebrando D’Arcangelo (Attila), soprano Maria José Siri (Odabella), tenor Fabio Sartori (Foresto), and baritone Simone Piazzola (Ezio), although D’Arcangelo’s voice occasionally sounds a bit light for the role. As with the Parma production, the physical side of the staging is small-scaled, with spare sets and rather bland costumes, while Daniele Abbado’s direction is thoroughly conventional. But on the whole, this performance does a fine job of conveying the young composer’s style as it was developing during the 1840s. Presented in DTS 5.0 (DTS-HD 5.0 on the Blu-ray release) and PCM stereo, this is highly recommended. (F. Swietek)
Attila
(2016) 116 min. In Italian w/English subtitles. DVD: $31.99, Blu-ray: $41.99. C Major (dist. by Naxos of America). Volume 34, Issue 5
Attila
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