Umberto Giordano is now best remembered for his Andrea Chenier of 1896. But his own favourite among his operas was a later work, Siberia, which was premiered in Milan in 1903. Revived as the third of this year's Wexford Festival productions, it impresses for its compactness, its sheer theatrical efficiency, and the scope it provides for that style of over-the-top singing which is now widely associated with verismo opera.
Siberia is a work in which, in the Wexford production by Fabio Sparvoli, not a moment seems wasted. Sparvoli and his designers, Giorgio Ricchelli (sets) and Alessandra Torella (costumes), carry this tale of a St Petersburg courtesan and her sacrifices for true love along with an immediacy to match Giordano's music.
Dario Volonte (Vassili) is a tenor who doesn't just want to give his all, he wants to do it all the time. He flinches at nothing Giordano's writing flings at him, unless it be the requirement to mix some quieter moments in with the vocal thrills for a little contrast. There was a similar insistence from the other major man in the courtesan Stefana's life. But in the case of the baritone Walter Donati's Gleby, the vocal pressure is altogether less attractive. The Stefana of the Azerbaijani soprano Elena Zelenskaia acquires depth as the work progresses, and she sounds at her most impressive in the third and final act. The festival chorus blended more successfully into the musical tapestry of the evening than in either of this year's other operas. And Daniele Callegari conducted the NSO as if he wanted to leave no nerve in any member of the audience untouched. And for the first time in this year's festival, the NSO responded with playing that was fully up to the task.
