Giordano - Fedora

Giordano - Fedora

Giordano - Fedora
List Price: $29.99
Our Price: $20.53
You Save: $9.46 (32%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $14.99 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases


(Click here)
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD Cover Information

Actor: Alessandro Corbelli, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Mirella Freni, Olga Sukarev, Placido Domingo
Brand: Naxos OF America INC
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); Italian (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Classical, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 113 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-10-31
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Tdk DVD Video

Movie Reviews of Giordano - Fedora

Movie Review: A Role Made for Freni
Summary: 4 Stars

There is another DVD of 'Fedora' starring Mirella Freni and Plácido Domingo and I think it was made within a year or two -- in the mid-1990s -- of this one; that one was at the Met and was conducted by Roberto Abbado. This one is a live performance at La Scala Milan and is conducted by the 82-year-old Gianandrea Gavazzeni, an acknowledged master in this repertoire. I've not seen the Met DVD and cannot make a direct comparison of the two versions. But I can say that I watched this one with great interest and found myself drawn into the highly melodramatic goings-on of Fedora and her lover Loris Ipanov, which requires a fair suspension of disbelief. Freni plays the haunted Fedora with passion and verisimilitude. It is unfortunate that there is no great soprano aria in the opera, or at least nothing to compare with Loris's 'Amor ti vieta' in Act II. Domingo gets a huge ovation at the end of the aria, enough that the stage action simply can't go on for quite a long time. And for good reason -- it's a spectacular performance.

Still, the show is Freni's. She is very much the passionate verismo heroine and she brings out every nuance of the part. Her voice is in fairly good estate; her high notes are intact, and thrilling, but the low voice has become just a bit thready.

One novelty in this opera is the Chopinesque étude Giordano wrote for the 'nephew of Chopin' to play in Act II. It does indeed sound like Chopin and is played well by Arnold Bosman as 'Boleslao Lazinski'. But in the Met DVD Lazinski is played by Jean-Yves Thibaudet! (I wonder if he wore his trademark red socks?)

The stage decor is beautiful and traditional. The designer, Luisa Spinatelli, clearly had great fun designing three completely different scenes. Act I takes place in a Russian salon, Act II in a Paris salon, and Act II at a mountain-side villa in Switzerland. In each case the scene begins with a back-projection of architectural scenes that tell us the setting (e.g., buildings along the banks of the Neva in St. Petersburg in Act I). Stage direction is also traditional; no Konzept issues here!

Alessandro Corbelli is very good as De Siriex, Adelina Scarabelli a bit less so as Olga. The other minor characters are unexceptionable. Orchestral accompaniment is excellent. (I was particularly struck by the fine horn section, especially in the alpine scene.)

'Fedora' is not a great opera musically, even though Giordano is a talented scene painter, but it is dramatically effective one that deserves reviving from time to time, particularly for a dramatically compelling singing actress of the quality of Mirella Freni.

Scott Morrison

Summary of Giordano - Fedora

FEDORA - DVD Movie
Similar DVD Movies
Beethoven: Fidelio ImageBeethoven: Fidelio
Release date: 2011-08-02; Music CD
Best price: $22.69
Price in other shops: $35.98
Werther ImageWerther
Release date: 2010-10-25; DVD
Best price: $22.44
Price in other shops: $39.98
Wagner: Lohengrin ImageWagner: Lohengrin
Release date: 2010-06-21; DVD
Best price: $25.38
Price in other shops: $39.98
Bizet: Carmen (The Metropolitan Opera LIVE in HD) ImageBizet: Carmen (The Metropolitan Opera LIVE in HD)
The Metropolitan Opera; Release date: 2010-09-21; DVD
Best price: $26.64
Price in other shops: $39.98
Bizet: Carmen ImageBizet: Carmen
Universal Studios; Release date: 2008-10-28; Published: 2011-10-24; DVD
Best price: $14.72
Price in other shops: $29.98
Giordano - Fedora / Freni, Domingo, Croft, Arteta, Thibaudet,  Abbado, Metropolitan Opera ImageGiordano - Fedora / Freni, Domingo, Croft, Arteta, Thibaudet, Abbado, Metropolitan Opera
Universal Studios; Release date: 2004-09-14; DVD
Best price: $14.39
Price in other shops: $29.98
Compare prices and read customer reviews for more than one million DVD titles.
Oscar 2005 Winners