The latest Opera Vision Youtube recording to catch my attention is a recording from L’opéra nationale de Paris of Spontini’s La Vestale.  Productions of La Vestale are rare and most Opera Vision streams come from considerably less prestigious houses so this is particularly welcome.  I reviewed a Palazetto Bru-Zane audio recording of this work in 2023 and I’m not going to repeat what I wrote about the performance history and the plot.  Here I shall concentrate on the Paris performance.

Unsurprisingly Lydia Steier’s Paris production has very high production values with rather striking sets and costumes with a decidedly 1930s Fascist vibe.  There are also rather interesting projections including Riefenstahl-esque ones during the Triumph scene.  It doesn’t pull any punches either.  This is the sadistic side of Republican Rome.  An impure Vestal is buried alive, Julia is flogged brutally by the head Vestal and Licinius’ Triumph features naked, chained prisoners on their way to execution.  There’s lots of fairly gratuitous violence and blood all over the place.  I think though that the Republican Rome/Fascist Italy parallel works rather well in ways that neither Mussolini nor Livy would have appreciated.

The performances are excellent.  The singers all have the proper French style and Bertrand de Billy conducts with a certain briskness and tight rhythmic phrasing which this music needs if it isn’t going to come over as second rate Puccini.  Julia here is Elza van der Heever and she is excellent on all counts.  She is well matched by Michael Spyres as as Licinius.  I don’t think there’s anyone currently around who is better in these “grand” French tenor roles though Julien Behr, singing Cinna, is also excellent.  Both Jean Teitgen as le Souverain Pontif and Eve-Maud Hubeaux as la Grande Vestale are excellent singers and act with a real edge; actually quite scarily unpleasant at times.  The chorus is well drilled and fully into the action.  The orchestra plays modern instruments I think but produces a sound appropriate to the work.

It was filmed in Paris in June 2024 and is currently available for free on the Opera Vision channel on Youtube where it will run until mid March 2025.  After that it will be available on L’opéra de Paris’ subscription streaming service.  The video is 1080p which is good as much of this is seriously dark.  The audio is excellent stereo and there are English subtitles available via the closed caption feature.

La Vestale is a really good opera and should be seen more often.  Director, conductor and cast make a compelling case for it here.