Netrebko and GarančaSing Rare Bellini

Why Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi (The Capulets and the Montagues) is so infrequently staged becomes apparent once you hear Deutsche Grammophon’s new recording. Although the beautifully sung performance stars the enticing triple bill of soprano Anna Netrebko (who next month returns to San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House in Verdi’s La Traviata) as Giulietta, fast-rising mezzo-soprano Elina Garanča (just seen in the Met’s La Cenerentola) as Romeo, and tenor Joseph Calleja as Tebaldo, the music as a whole is not the most inspiring.

Parts of the opera are not only beautiful, but also marvelous vehicles for the female voice. The Act 1 section that begins with Giulietta’s gorgeous recitative and aria, “Eccomi in lieta vesta … Oh! Quante volte” (Here I am dressed for a celebration … Oh, how many), and picks up steam as the two women go to it for all it's worth, is one of the most arresting in the opera. So too is Act 2’s final tomb scene, when Romeo and Giulietta pour out their grief. But the choruses are often workmanlike, and the men’s music less than memorable.

Netrebko, with whom I chatted briefly last week, believes that I Capuleti e i Montecchi is “one of the most beautiful operas ever written.” Yet even she acknowledged that the libretto, based on an Italian play by Luigi Scevola (1818) rather than Shakespeare’s classic, is best performed in concert rather than fully staged because some of it is “boring.”

Only stellar artistry can bring this opera to life. Certainly Netrebko has a beautiful voice that speaks with utmost sincerity. If you didn’t hear other sopranos in the role, she might fool you into thinking that her generalized interpretation says it all. But if you compare her rendition of Giulietta’s great recitative and aria with a rare 1968 recording by Beverly Sills featuring the Köln Opern Chor and Köhn Radio Sinfonie Orchester conducted by Ernst Marzendorfer, or even to Sills’ live Boston performance from 1975, when she was well past her best, you will discover what’s missing. In additional to all of the Brooklyn soprano’s technical accomplishments — an astounding trill; shimmering, iridescent head tones that ravish the senses; and ease of embellishment — there is an emotional depth and specificity of character to which Netrebko can only aspire.

Garanča has a great voice with all the thrust that Romeo requires. But compared to Tatiana Troyanos, whose voice is too sensually voluptuous for this trouser role, Garanča does not portray suffering in ways that rip you apart. Calleja’s voice is as sweetly perfect as any I’ve heard, but often too light to fully express Tebaldo’s feelings. Why is there a frequent smile on the voice of Robert Gleadow (Lorenzo) when he is supposed to express something very different? Fabio Luisi does a fine job conducting the Wiener Symphoniker, but the men of the Wiener Singakademie sometimes sound too wimpy. Conclusion: It’s a fine recording, extremely well sung, but not all the way there.