The most striking feature of Yannis Kokkos’s production of Lucia di Lammermoor, originally intended to open the 2020–21 season but postponed until 2023 because of the pandemic, is its reverent, almost religious fidelity to Donizetti’s original conception. The critical edition by Gabriele Dotto and Roger Parker is presented complete, without any of the traditional cuts. Conducting her second opera at La Scala (after Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi in 2022), Speranza Scappucci confirmed her profound understanding of Italian bel canto, making the music seem almost human, breathing and sighing in every phrase.
The La Scala Orchestra responded magnificently to her meticulous, intensely focused direction, producing beautiful orchestral colours with crystalline precision and elegant phrasing. Scappucci cued every vocal and instrumental entry, shaping each melody with her baton, carving the air with firm, energetic gestures to keep singers and chorus perfectly together in ensembles. She maintained dramatic tension throughout, never yielding to the saccharine or superficial effects that Donizetti’s score can occasionally invite. She was a spectacle in herself.
Kokkos’s production remains dark and sombre, entirely appropriate for an opera inspired by a Gothic novel. His Personenregie is detailed and effective, and he once again demonstrates an excellent instinct for moving the chorus in dramatically convincing ways. The La Scala Chorus delivered a superb performance, combining remarkable precision – even at Scappucci’s frequently brisk tempi – with intelligent phrasing.
In the title role, often associated with the dazzling agility of a traditional coloratura soprano, Rosa Feola offered a compelling alternative. Her lyric voice possesses a warmer, fuller core, transforming Lucia from a fragile victim into a figure of profound emotional intensity. Crucially, this richer vocal colour came at no cost to her upper register, which remained brilliant and secure throughout. Although the critical edition used by Scappucci omits some of the familiar virtuosic variations, particularly in the Mad Scene, Feola still crowned the performance with several spectacular high notes, including a thrilling top E flat. The Mad Scene was accompanied by the glass harmonica, as originally prescribed by Donizetti, whose eerie sound lent the scene an unmistakably supernatural atmosphere, beautifully illuminating Lucia’s shattered state of mind.
Her lover Edgardo was sung by Piero Pretti, whose bright lyric tenor met the considerable vocal demands of the role, even if his interpretation somewhat underplayed the character’s Romantic heroism. Emotionally engaged throughout, he was equally convincing as the passionate young lover and the aristocrat consumed by vengeance. His Act 3 duet with Boris Pinkhasovich’s Enrico, so often omitted, was a particularly welcome restoration, with both singers creating an atmosphere charged with conflict and mounting tension. His final aria, "Tu che a Dio spiegasti l’ali", was moving and heartfelt, crowned by centred, powerful high notes.
As Lucia’s villainous brother, Pinkhasovich’s smooth baritone combined nobility with power, his vocal production thoroughly Italianate and firmly rooted in the bel canto tradition. Kokkos suggests an incestuous undercurrent in Enrico’s feelings towards Lucia, an aspect Pinkhasovich conveyed with admirable restraint, avoiding both vulgarity and exaggeration. His Act 1 aria, "Cruda, funesta smania", possessed an attractively traditional, almost old-fashioned grandeur, while in the Act 2 confrontation with Feola he vividly conveyed the manipulative cruelty of a profoundly selfish man.
Michele Pertusi lent his noble, elegant bass to Raimondo, the clergyman who, despite his genuine sympathy for Lucia’s plight, ultimately persuades her to marry the powerful suitor favoured by her brother. Pertusi’s phrasing was stylish and eloquent, while his narration of Arturo's murder was deeply moving and sincerely felt.
Arturo, Lucia’s ill-fated husband, murdered on his wedding night, was Leonardo Cortellazzi, who sang the brief role with a well-projected tenor rich in squillo. Hyeonsol Park, from the La Scala Accademia, was Alisa, Lucia’s confidante. Her warm, bronzed mezzo provided an effective contrast to Feola’s brilliant soprano, and she made a valuable contribution to the magnificent sextet. The cast was admirably completed by Paolo Antognetti as Normanno, who also benefited from the restoration of the brief recitative following the Mad Scene – invariably cut – in which Raimondo sternly rebukes him.