It’s quite rare nowadays to stage all three Il Trittico operas in one evening and it will probably get rarer as financial pressures force shorter shows.  Nonetheless it was done in Salzburg in 2022 in productions by Christof Loy.  The USP was having Asmik Grigorian sing all three principal soprano roles so, not unreasonably, the usual order was switched up with Gianni Schicchi coming first and Suor Angelica closing things out.  Unsurprisingly, and as intended, the evening increasingly became the Grigorian show as each opera succeeded the previous one.

All three productions were careful, but essentially straightforward, modern dress productions with just one twist right at the end which I’m not going to fully reveal.  The Gianni Schicchi is pretty effective.  Misha Kiria suits the title role well.  His comic timing is good without going into over the top buffo and his singing is excellent.  Alexei Neklyudov as Rinuccio is also really excellent.  He has super chemistry with Grigorian and he sings a lovely “Firenze è come un albero fiorito”.  There’s an excellent cameo from Enkeljda Shkosa as a rather vinegary Zita.  Grigorian, for once, doesn’t dominate the stage but she does sing a nice “O mio babbino caro” and she manages to portray a really young girl very well.  The one directorial touch is some really quite funny make out action between Lauretta and Rinuccio just before Schicchi’s confession to the audience.  All n all, a perfectly acceptable, if not exactly revelatory Schicchi.

Things hot up a bit in Il Tabarro.  The love triangle of Michele (Roman Burdenko), Luigi (Joshua Guerrero) and Giorgetta (Asmik Grigorian) has good chemistry and tension.  Grigorian is extremely sexy while exuding a sense of quiet despair.  She also reveals herself as a rather good dancer.  Guerrero’s “Hai ben ragione” is both powerful and deeply sad.  Grigorian captures the essence of Giorgetta in “Come è difficile esser felici”.  There’s nothing very fancy about the production but with a good supporting cast and an excellent trio of principals it works.

The star of the trio is left for the end.  Now, I’m almost allergic to Suor Angelica but I found this version spellbinding.  And it’s mostly about Grigorian who exudes a deep, sad calmness until her aunt, sung here by the redoubtable Karita Mattila shows up.  The confrontation scene winds up the drama beyond anything we have yet seen.  Mattlia portrays the Principessa as a deeplky unpleasant, vindictive and bitter woman.  The two women interact sensationally and when the aunt storms out Grigorian really turns it on in a display of a woman on the edge going right over it; all while being deeply musical except when she doesn’t want to be.  There’s a twist here too.  The Principessa has brought a suitcase with a photograph of Angelica’s son and some of her clothes plus a pack of cigarettes.  So Angelica sings the final scene in a slinky black dress and heels smoking a cigarette.  The whole scene from “Senza mamma” on has sensational singing and acting from Grigorian and there’s a twist at the end!  In an odd way it makes sense to set this piece in the present.  If locking your daughter up for having an illegitimate child doesn’t happen much nowadays at least the theology makes more sense post Vatican 2!  So, a really good Suor Angelica and the pick of the trio.

All three pieces feature the Vienna Philharmonic and the orchestral sound, under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst, is both dramatic and refined.  It’s a big part of the musical success of the evening.  The Vienna State Opera chorus is also good, especially in Suor Angelica.

Video direction by Michael Beyer is straightforward and unobtrusive.  The usual sound options on Blu-ray are excellent; perhaps slightly better than average which may have something to do with the acoustics in the Großes Festspielhaus.  The picture is also excellent hough Il Tabarro is quite dark so may not read so well on DVD.  The booklet has a useful essay, synopses and full track listings.  Subtitle options are Italian,English, German, French, Spanish, Korean and Japanese.

The competition for this disk is clearly the 2011 Covent Garden version which is pretty good.  I think though that having the same soprano in all three operas is a plus and Asmik Grigorian out acts Ermonela Jaho as Angelica though there’s little to choose between them in the singing department.  For me, making Suor Angelica more credible as drama decisively tips the balance to the newer recording.

Catalogue number: Unitel Blu-ray 809004