(Photo: Luca Casadio)

The Ravenna Festival, which takes place each year during the months of June and July, stages a wide variety of events ranging from opera to concerts, theatre and dance. It is also active in commissioning new works, which this year included a sacred oratorio for chorus, soloists and a small instrumental ensemble, composed by Mariana Acito to a libretto by Francesca Masi, entitled “Rut, raccolti di speranza,” which can be translated as “Ruth, harvests of hope,” taken from the Book of Ruth found in the Old Testament. As befitting the narrative of the work, it was performed in Ravenna’s Basilica di San Giovanni Evangelista, its origins of which date back to 424 AD.

It is only a short book consisting of four chapters and follows Ruth’s struggles to survive in a foreign country following the death of her husband and a famine that plagues the land. She is also determined to support her mother-in-law, Naomi, who has lost her own husband along with her two sons and has no one to support her. They travel to Bethlehem, where she meets Boaz while gathering grain from one of his fields and ends up marrying him. They have a son, whose line gives birth to King David.

A Narrative with Hope at Its Center

Throughout the narrative, Ruth is sustained by her hope in the future, a theme that weaves its way through her story, as she undertakes a transformative journey that takes her “from misfortune to grace, from death to new life, from sadness to joy, from lack to fertility.” Other related themes, based around fertility, specifically related to famine and childbirth, fill out the plot. In the final scene, the audience watches as Naomi enters the performance space carrying a baby inside a shawl, which she presents to Ruth. When, however, she draws back the shawl, it is not a baby that is revealed but a loaf of bread. It was an image that cleverly brought together all the themes. The fertility of the soil has been secured, and Ruth’s bloodline can flourish, which will result in the birth of Jesus.

The work was presented as a semi-staged production. The choir, wearing heavy, off-white-colored gowns, was positioned on a raised platform with the orchestral ensemble seated in front. The three soloists, who sang without a printed score, only appeared when required, singing in the space between the audience and the ensemble. There was no scenery, not that it was necessary; the splendid environment of the old basilica was more than adequate for creating the necessary atmosphere. Props were restricted to a bundle of wheat that was laid on the floor in front of the singers. The singers were provided with costumes designed by Manuela Monti to reflect a story set in biblical times. Ruth was attired in black, white and light purple with a white head scarf. Naomi was dressed in black and blue with a dark head scarf, while Boaz was given a more resplendent red and brown costume to reflect his higher status.

The soloists acted out their parts with a delicate sensitivity and a definite tendency to err on the side of understatement, which complemented Acito’s music, along with the reflective pace of the drama and the calm, religious ambience of the basilica. The love between Ruth and Boaz, for example, was physically expressed by the simple, delicate touching of hands that successfully caught the depth and tenderness of their feelings.

In her program notes, Acito explained that her “music does not accompany the word: it amplifies it, inhabits it, precedes it,” and that its purpose was to create a “narrative fabric, capable of giving body and breath to the biblical story” so that it is able to “embody a musical spirituality which speaks to those who listen today.” To this aim, she created a sound world that attempted to capture the themes of the drama and the emotions of the characters. If this appears to be a complex, even intellectual, approach to composing the score, in practice, it translated into a fairly pleasing piece of music that was allied closely to the emotions of the characters, which lay easily on the ear, although its melodies were not particularly memorable. She was imaginative in her use of the ensemble, which consisted of a string quartet, oboe and horn, to create textural contrasts and displayed skill in the way she was able to allow a melody to grow naturally out of the musical fabric. The choral parts had a clearly defined shape and successfully brought the religious nature of the piece to the fore, while the solo pieces were neatly fashioned to capture the emotions of the characters.

Mattia Dattolo Oversees a Musically Strong Performance

The musical director, Mattia Dattolo, produced a well-paced and balanced reading from the Ensemble La Corelli, whose playing was elegant and always sensitively attuned to the dramatic changes of the narrative. Although the sound could shift fairly rapidly on occasions, there was always an air of calm that reinforced the religious, refined atmosphere of the church. His ability to integrate the vocal and orchestral elements was beautifully managed to create a fine balance.

Soprano Laura Zecchini essayed the title role of Ruth, a part with a high lying tessitura at the edge of her comfort zone, which was probably not an ideal fit for her voice. Yet, listening to her beautifully fashioned phrasing, the ease with which she moved her voice and the confidence and sense of security with which she attacked the role, one would be forgiven for thinking otherwise. It was a splendid performance, in which she managed to bring out Ruth’s emotional anxieties and convincingly engaged with the other characters. When necessary, she was able to dominate the stage, pushing her voice powerfully above the combined forces of the chorus and ensemble. It was her softer singing, however, in which the beauty of her tone and sensitive phrasing really caught the attention.

Naomi was given a sympathetic and emotionally convincing performance by mezzo-soprano Daniela Pini. Her concern for Ruth was sincerely expressed in her carefully crafted lines, imbued with pleasing, colorful and dynamic contrasts, in which she also captured her own suffering. Her singing was also clearly articulated, displayed an ease of movement and possessed a depth and dark coloring that contrasted beautifully with Zecchini’s bright soprano.

Tenor Angelo Testori singing the part of Boaz portrayed him as a fine, upstanding and decent man with sincere, tender and loving feelings for Ruth. He possesses a lyrically strong and attractive voice, which he used effectively to express his ardent feelings for Ruth. Their duet, sung to an orchestral and choral background, in which the two voices sensitively combined in an elegant expression of their love, was one of the high points of the work.

The choir, Gruppo Vocale Heinrich Schütz, produced an engaging and evocative performance, which filled the church with its rich harmonies, sensitive phrasing and beautifully managed dynamic contrasts.

Overall, it was a work that one would find it difficult to object to: it was easily accessible and well-presented; the soloists and the choir sang well, and the ensemble was in fine form. Moreover, the venue was perfect for the subject matter.