Re: Opera DVDs
- From: Josep Vilanova <josepvilanova@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2007 10:16:44 -0700
On Aug 31, 3:45 pm, Doug McDonald <mcdonald@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I'm thinking of getting some opera DVDs. What do you folks
recommend for the list below? Note that I prefer traditional
stagings.
Die Meistersinger
I have the Met one with Ben Heppner and Karita Mattila and I really
love it.
Parsifal
Hmmm... The one I like is not traditional at all. Better ask someone
else for advice here.
The Ring, preferably whole as it's likely to be cheaper that way.
The traditional one is the one with Levine conducting. I far prefer
the one conducted by Boulez. It certainly was ground breaking when it
was first produced. Today, if we judge it with the current standards
for European opera houses, it is completely traditional and the
abilities to convert singers into actors by the director, Patrice
Cherau, are unrivalled. There are quibbles about some singers (the
Sigfried tenor is not good and G. Jones could be in a better voice),
but as an overall theatrical experience is, in my humble opinion,
unrivalled.
Aida (do we get elephants? :-) )
There is one from Barcelona with some delightful traditional sets. It
may be a bit too slow though. Why do you need elephants? They are
smelly, constantly defecating beasts and they don't have any role in
an opera house.
This is the reference for the Barcelona DVD
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aida-Stefano-Palatchi/dp/B000260R82/ref=sr_1_1/202-9600122-8933406?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1188579958&sr=1-1
Rigoletto
I remember seeing a production with Pavarotti long time ago. I liked
it at that time. Not much experience with more recent recordings.
There seems to be a tendency to f ilm ugly settings for Rigoletto, as
if Verdi was had Italian neo-realism in mind. Look up for that
production with Pavarotti.
La Boheme
I second the San Francisco production. Freni is unmissable as Mimi.
Turandot
I have great memories of a production I saw in TV with Carreras and
Marton, conducted by Mehta. I have the CDs but I have the feeling is
not available in DVD yet. It may be available at some point. Haven't
seen any of the modern DVDs, but I saw a trailer of the production
conducted by Gergiev and it was scary and, at least for me,
unappealing.
Boris Godunov
A Bolshoi production with Evgeni Nesterenko conducted by Alexander
Lazarev. Don't get confused with an older recording of the same
production, also with Neserenko, but with another conductor, who looks
like an Stalinist official and who conducts with a baton that is
something like 5 feet long. The one conducted by Lazarev has
something of charming and authentic in a way that the other
production, or also the production by my admired Tarkovsky in another
DVD, doesn't have.
j
.
- References:
- Opera DVDs
- From: Doug McDonald
- Opera DVDs
- Prev by Date: Re: Real post - Poll - your 5 favourite living pianists
- Next by Date: Re: Recommendations for early music neophyte
- Previous by thread: Re: Real post - Opera DVDs
- Next by thread: Re: Real post - Opera DVDs
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
