Les Vêpres Siciliennes

This 2010 staging by De Nederlandse Opera of Giuseppe Verdi's 1855 grand opera is a rarity, presenting the complete, original French version (even including the third-act ballet demanded by 19th-century Parisian taste) rather than the later Italian translation. The work takes its title from a 1282 uprising in which the citizens of Palermo rebelled against their hated French occupiers, but the plot leading up to that finale is entirely fictional, centering on Henri, who is torn between his love for the rebel Hélène—whose brother was executed by Governor Guy de Montfort—and his desire to prevent de Montfort's assassination because Henri has just learned that the Frenchman is his father. Director Christof Loy hews closely to the libretto but stages the piece against minimalist settings (with occasional back projections) in modern dress. Loy also transforms the dance interlude, originally a purely ornamental exercise devoted to “The Four Seasons,” into a flashback of Henri's childhood and his mother's dalliance with de Montfort. This re-imagining works surprisingly well, and the performance is musically exceptional, with strong vocalism from Burkhard Fritz (Henri), Barbara Haveman (Hélène), and Alejandro Marco-Buhrmester (de Montfort), and superlative playing by the Netherlands Philharmonic under Paolo Carignani. Presented in DTS 5.1 (DTS-HD 5.1 on the Blu-ray release) and LPCM stereo, extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette and a cast gallery. While not a great work, Les Vêpres Siciliennes is still a good one, and it is well performed here. Highly recommended. (F. Swietek)