King of the Castle: Verdi’s Macbeth at the Savonlinna Opera Festival

“This castle hath a pleasant seat.” Fateful words from Shakespeare’s King Duncan, who failed to survive a single night in Macbeth’s castle in Inverness. A “pleasant seat” is an understatement for Olavinlinna, also known as St Olaf's Castle, the northernmost medieval stone fortress still standing. Built in the 15th century, it is a touch modern for Verdi’s operatic setting of the “Scottish play” but the spectacular three-tower castle located on an island provides an atmospheric setting for Macbeth to open this year’s Savonlinna Opera Festival.

Ralf Långbacka’s production is from 1993, revived here by Vilppu Kiljunen. With the castle walls as an imposing backdrop, it’s unsurprisingly a traditional, largely period staging, although the Macbeths’ regal robes take shoulder pads into the realms of sci-fi. A giant crown, bejewelled with coloured lights, looms over the stage. During the prelude, fog is pumped in and thunder effects prepare the audience for the blasted heath and the chorus of witches.

Flip-top wooden thrones enable a quick scene change from inside the castle to without for Banquo’s murder, the hooded assassins turning their backs to create lurking shadows. A trapdoor enables his body to be bundled away, to rise again as a ghost – wreathed in fishing net – to haunt Macbeth’s banquet. The appearance of the apparitions is deftly handled, but undermined by the cackling of the witches.

The wide stage means that singers sometimes have to move very swiftly – Lady Macbeth really has to sprint to do the business with the daggers and then show Macbeth her bloodied hands. The only real directorial misfire is Macduff being handed the body of one of his dead children (presumably to inform him of their murder), then having to sing “Ah, la paterna mano” whilst clutching a grisly doll. And when the chorus floods the stage on the discovery of Duncan’s assassination, surely some of them shouldn’t be emerging from the king’s bedchamber? There was no ballet and the interval came, strangely, after Act 1, meaning the remaining three acts played back-to-back.

The cast was led by the excellent pairing of Gabriele Viviani and Saioa Hernández as the murderous Macbeths. Viviani stamped his authority on the title role, his strong baritone having plenty of bite, but also the requisite legato for “Pietà, rispetto, amore” in Act 4. After this aria, conductor Lorenzo Passerini switched to Verdi’s original 1847 ending; several baritones like to insert Macbeth’s death aria “Mal per me” into the 1865 revision, but here we also had Macbeth’s more extended reflection on his wife’s death (based on Shakespeare’s “Life’s but a walking shadow” soliloquy) and the battle scene with Macduff, thus avoiding the usual trite victory chorus.

Verdi asked for a “brutta voce” (an ugly voice) for the role of Lady Macbeth. Hernández’ steely soprano and forceful attack aren’t “ugly” but they gave her character just the right attitude, aided by her attention to the text. She tobogganed down some of the runs in her cabaletta, but has a decent trill and took some sensitive dynamic changes in the second verse. Her Sleepwalking Scene was superbly done.

Croatian bass Goran Jurić was a fine, dark-toned Banquo, singing “Come dal ciel precipita” nobly. Finnish tenor Johan Krogius sang Macduff’s aria with foursquare phrasing, but his decibels made it an exciting listen. In contrast, Andrea Galli’s Malcolm was underpowered.

The 80+ members of the Savonlinna Opera Festival Choir made a glorious sound, bringing real impact to the concertato finales. Entering through the Stalls as Scottish refugees, “Patria oppressa” was powerfully moving (it would have been more so without the hysterical sobs).

In the pit, Passerini conducted a spirited account of Verdi’s score from the Savonlinna Opera Festival Orchestra. Brass had plenty of rasp and the woodwinds bags of character, especially first clarinet and cor anglais in the Sleepwalking Scene. The off-stage banda was miked (too loudly). Passerini often got caught up in a passionate whirlwind, accelerating through closing bars of a number, leading to an exhilarating performance.

The curtain call brought an interesting local touch, the cast presented with birch branches, used by the Finns to beat the skin during sauna bathing.

Mark’s press trip was funded by the Savonlinna Opera Festival