Donizetti - Lucrezia Borgia / Bonynge, Sutherland, Kraus, Royal Opera

Donizetti - Lucrezia Borgia / Bonynge, Sutherland, Kraus, Royal Opera
by Brian Large

List Price: ~~$29.99~~
Our Price: $26.99
You Save: $3.00 (10%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $14.00 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases

Compare Prices for Donizetti - Lucrezia Borgia / Bonynge, Sutherland, Kraus, Royal Opera

Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD Cover Information

Actor: Alfredo Kraus, Anne Howells, Francis Egerton, Joan Sutherland, Stafford Dean
Director: Brian Large
Writer: Felice Romani
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Italian (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled)
Format: Classical, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 140 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-03-26
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Kultur Video

Movie Reviews of Donizetti - Lucrezia Borgia / Bonynge, Sutherland, Kraus, Royal Opera

Movie Review: Wretched production
Summary: 2 Stars

Lucrezia Borgia, while not one of Donizetti's best operas with a rather dopey libretto, is well worth hearing but not in this poor production. The camera work is at best routine, and tends to reveal the weaknesses of the staging, the stolid nature of the acting, and the rather inappropriate casting from a visual point of view of the two female leads. The subtitles are farcically incomplete and there is no libretto or any other useful information. Yes, the singing is distinguished, and Anne Howells is a delight, but as a whole this is highly disappointing. Since this DVD is not worth watching, and Lucrezia Borgia is given a much better performance in the 1977 recording (still available on CD transfer) with Sutherland and Bonynge in better form than here and with Aragall, Horne and Wixell vocally at least as satisfying as Krause, Howells and Dean, only a very devoted Donizetti fan will want this DVD. I shall not be watching it again.

Write your own review

More Donizetti - Lucrezia Borgia / Bonynge, Sutherland, Kraus, Royal Opera reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6

Summary of Donizetti - Lucrezia Borgia / Bonynge, Sutherland, Kraus, Royal Opera

Dame Joan Sutherland and tenor Alfredo Kraus star in Donizetti's tale of sixteenth century opulence and decadence. Joan Sutherland is unquestionably the unsurpassed Lucrezia of all-time, and this production at Covent Garden showcases her incomparable coloratura technique. Bel canto specialist Richard Bonynge conducts The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in this historic performance.

Cast - Lucrezia Borgia - Joan Sutherland
Gennaro - Alfredo Kraus
Maffio Orsini - Anne Howells
Alfonso d'Este - Stafford Dean
The Royal Opera Chorus
Chorus Master - John Barker
The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

This 1980 Covent Garden production of Donizetti's opera based on the infamous dramatic heroine was undertaken so that one of the few sopranos who would dare tackle the fearsome range of Lucrezia Borgia--Dame Joan Sutherland--could do so in a setting amenable to her talent. And tackle it she does. This might not be the definite Lucrezia (a slight nod would go to Montserrat Caballe's 1965 RCA audio recording), but Sutherland shows she has the sheer chops to overcome Donizetti's piling on of difficulty after vocal difficulty. From the prologue's "Com e Bello," Sutherland never lets up through her gripping final scene of intense anguish and melodrama. Richard Bonynge conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House with aplomb, and the supporting cast--Alfredo Kraus, Anne Howells, and Stafford Dean--performs ably in Sutherland's wake. --Kevin Filipski

Art House & International DVD Video

DVD Video

Movies most talked about in Home Opera: Donizetti, Part I

Donizetti: Don Pasquale [DVD Video]
Release date: 2008-02-26; DVD
Best price: $16.97
Price in other shops: ~~$32.98~~

Donizetti - Don Pasquale
Release date: 2007-09-25; DVD
Best price: $18.00
Price in other shops: ~~$29.98~~

Geatano Donizetti - Don Pasquale / Ciofi, Alaimo, Shankle, Giossi, Suisse Romande, Pido (Grand Theatre de Geneve 2007)
Release date: 2008-06-10; DVD
Best price: $33.65
Price in other shops: ~~$53.98~~

Donizetti - Don Pasquale / Valletti, Tajo, Noni, Bruscantini, Erede, RAI
Release date: 2005-04-05; DVD
Best price: $26.57
Price in other shops: ~~$39.95~~

Donizetti - Don Pasquale
Release date: 2007-05-29; DVD
Best price: $20.00
Price in other shops: ~~$32.98~~

Donizetti - Don Pasquale / Corbelli, Mei, De Candia, Siragusa, Gatti, Korsten, Teatro Lirico Cagliari
Release date: 2003-09-23; DVD
Best price: $19.99
Price in other shops: ~~$29.99~~

Donizetti - Don Pasquale
Release date: 2006-11-21; DVD
Best price: $13.11
Price in other shops: ~~$19.99~~

Donizetti - Lucrezia Borgia / Bonynge, Sutherland, Kraus, Royal Opera
Release date: 2002-03-26; DVD
Best price: $16.49
Price in other shops: ~~$29.99~~

Donizetti - Anna Bolena
Release date: 2007-02-27; DVD
Best price: $39.17
Price in other shops: ~~$53.98~~

Donizetti - Anna Bolena / Bonynge, Sutherland, Morris, Canadian Opera Company
Release date: 2001-03-13; DVD
Best price: $35.97
Price in other shops: ~~$39.95~~

Similar DVD Movies

Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin / Fleming, Vargas, Hvorostovsky, Gergiev, Carsen [Metropolitan Opera 2007]
Uni; Release date: 2007-12-18; DVD
Best price: $18.88
Price in other shops: ~~$39.98~~

Verdi: Ernani (1983)
Release date: 2008-01-08; DVD
Best price: $18.71
Price in other shops: ~~$39.98~~

Verdi - Luisa Miller
Release date: 2006-09-12; DVD
Best price: $18.20
Price in other shops: ~~$29.98~~

Verdi - La Traviata
Uni; Release date: 2007-10-30; DVD
Best price: $18.41
Price in other shops: ~~$29.98~~

Gaetano Donizetti - La Fille du regiment / Dessay, Florez, Palmer, Corbelli, French, Campanella, Pelly (Royal Opera House 2007)
Release date: 2008-04-15; DVD
Best price: $17.94
Price in other shops: ~~$24.98~~

Donizetti - Lucia di Lammermoor / Joan Sutherland, Alfredo Kraus, Pablo Elvira, Paul Plishka, Richard Bonynge, Metropolitan Opera
Release date: 2006-01-10; DVD
Best price: $13.90
Price in other shops: ~~$29.98~~

Donizetti - La Favorita
Release date: 2007-10-30; DVD
Best price: $27.04
Price in other shops: ~~$39.95~~

Bellini: I Puritani
Release date: 2007-12-18; DVD
Best price: $18.88
Price in other shops: ~~$39.98~~

Donizetti - Lucia di Lammermoor / Cillario, Moffo, Kozma
Release date: 2002-04-09; DVD
Best price: $26.57
Price in other shops: ~~$39.95~~

Delibes - Lakme / Joan Sutherland, Huguette Tourangeau, Henri Wilden, John Pringle, Richard Bonynge, Opera Australia
Release date: 2006-06-27; DVD
Best price: $16.22
Price in other shops: ~~$29.99~~