Rossini - La Pietra del Paragone
by Giorgio Barberio Corsetti
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Francois Lis, Jennifer Holloway, Jose Manuel Zapata, Laura Giordano, Sonia PrinaDirector: Giorgio Barberio Corsetti
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: Italian (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: DTS Surround Sound, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 161 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-11-20
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Naive
Movie Reviews of Rossini - La Pietra del Paragone
Movie Review: now here is a true collectible!
Summary: 5 Stars
Not only do we have great music by a most inventive composer, Rossini- it is produced by a group of a wonderfully inventive production team, dripping with inventive talent. No expense was spared in this production. The first surprise when you receive it, is that it is not in a flimsy jewel case, or fragile box-but is packaged in a hard cover book! Inside are highest quality photos, and thorough historical notes that place this happy work in context. I have never seen a more thorough treatment of an opera in my life. Words are not enough to express all that you will find here. I have to say that the two principle love objects are beyond superb. I have no doubt at all that you will see and hear more from each of them. Sonia Prina-who portrays the only woman with a sincere heart in this romantic romp- is adorable! This DVD is worth the price alone for her performance. ( Incidentally, this production has a price that is very reasonable compared to the ridiculously overpriced boxed audio only sets from Opera Rara. Take a hint, Opera Rara- those sets are way overpriced, when you realize you can get a DVD performance and a stunning book with the visual show, such as this one for half the cost of an Opera Rara audio only edition. ) You will fall in love with Sonia Prina too. There is a lot of silliness and mawkish ( overly sentimental ) mugging; but this is why it is so endearing. When we see an old Charlie Chaplin film, we encounter a lot of the same overacting absurdity. This sort of convoluted absurdity had the same purpose early in the 1800's as Chaplin's works had-which was mainly to distract from the more grave socio/economic/wartime darknesses on the horizon then as now. Even if you find yourself profoundly annoyed by the overacting, it has already acheived its purpose-to distract you from world events that are far more disturbing.Hence, the Chaplinesque clowning around stupidity.
I must insert here how keen was Rossini's perception of human behavior at this early age ( in his 20's ? ) of composing. We see here his life long irreverence for hoighty toighty sycophancy which he maintains throughout his career. We see it again in the Cinderella story, and in Puccini's "Gianni Schichi"...flattering self seeking suck ups pretending sorrow at a funeral of a rich relative hoping to grab a big chunk of that money. This opera and Il Viaggio a Reims, and Gianni Schichi, all point to the ugliest aspect of human nature in the entire world - sucking up to someone rich and powrful, and abandoning them to poverty the instant you discover they have lost their fortune! This is still with us today. One only has to turn on any TV show to see it in spades. Think of "The Bachelor" when they chose a working stiff and presented him as fabulously wealthy, and brought in the bimbos to cat fight over him...only to discover that they had all made gigantic fools of themselves before millions of viewers. But does this stop bimbos from stabbing each other in the back for the rich guy? Absolutely not. The really deplorable thing?..you will find this behavior in just about any large church ...people thinking they are taking on an aura of 'goodness', while all they are thinking about is being in the 'inner circle' concerned about who they are seen with, what they are wearing and driving and where they live-thinking they are 'advancing their token to boardwalk' by joining the 'richest church in town'! Any TV show...any church...there you will find this behavior so comically displayed here in this opera...only it isn't a damn bit funny, is it?
The fabulous printed matter helps us understand all this much better. My sincere hope is that opera productions in future will take a cue from this production here. It is revolutionary. The entire genre can only benefit from such a deluge of talent like this. This edition will increase in value over time. You may find numerous things you would do differently. In my case, I would not show so much 'how this thing is done technically', with stage hands clearly standing or moving about with props. And also when the singers are distant from the microphones, it is way too obvious...they sound distant and hollow. All this is way too distracting from an otherwise good performance by the players. I also like the tenor role of Giocondo, played by Jose Zapata ( Joe Shoe ). He has a beautiful voice, which gets quite lost among all the zany antics, and distracting stage hand stuff. He deserves a serious role, and so does Sonia Prina, with the enormously pleasant contralto voice she has, along with her stupendous acting abilities. You might hate this at first...but you will watch it again, I'm sure. I did, in spite of my objections.
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