Christof Loy’s production of Verdi’s Macbeth filmed at the Liceu in Barcelona in 2016 is grey, very grey.  Costumes and lighting are such that one might think one is watching a black and white film.  The first, brief, touch of colour; some lights and bunches of flowers appears at the beginning of Act 4.  Beyond the greyness the vibe is essentially late 19th century and it’s pretty sparse.  It’s also very dark; at times almost unwatchably so on video (even Blu-ray).

Musically and dramatically it’s rather interesting and good.  It’s the 1865 Paris version including the ballet but in Italian with the 1847 conclusion (Macbeth dies on stage).  There are some interesting touches.  The witches are basically the Macbeth’s household staff with the addition of facial hair.  The two witch scenes are both also a bit mad, especially the potioning in Act 3.  The apparition scene is nicely done with the future kings in dress uniform in glass display cases emerging from the stage floor.  The ballet (choreography by Thomas Wilhelm) looks like it’s going to be like, say, a conventional production of Les Sylphides but it gets a bit more sinister.  The dancers are bare foot and several are men in drag.  It’s effective.

The performances are very good across the board.  Ludovic Tézier is a very strong Macbeth; his “Pietà, rispetto, onore” is stunning.  He’s well matched by Martina Serafin as his wife who goes convincingly from connivingly evil to cracked.  She has power and excellent coloratura.  They sing well together too.  Vitalij Kowaljow, as Banco, is a proper bass.  Saimir Pirgu, as Macduff, has thrilling high notes heard to good effect in “Ah, la paterna mano” and Albert Casals is a very solid Malcolm.

The house chorus really throws itself into the action and sings splendidly and Giampaolo Bisanti gets excellent, red-blooded, playing from the orchestra.  It all sounds really exciting where it’s supposed to and eery where that’s required.

This must have been a bit of a nightmare to film and it’s not entirely successful as a video because of the sense of vague shapes flitting around in semi-darkness but I think Fabrice Castanier does a decent job in the circumstances.  Video quality is good on Blu-ray and both DTS-HD and PCM stereo sound tracks are excellent.  The booklet has some bare bones information about the work and the production plus a track listing.  Subtitle options are Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, Catalan, Japanese and Korean.

The real problem with this disk is that, despite fine performances, the dark and grey production is hard to watch on video.  Alternatives include the straightforward Covent Garden version and the rather more conceptual Warlikowski production which features a typically intense performance from Asmik Grigorian.

Catalogue information: C Major Blu-ray 768804