Verdi - Aida / Levine, Domingo, Millo, Metropolitan Opera
by Brian Large
List Price:
Our Price: $16.47
You Save: $13.51 (45%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $14.88 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Aprile Millo, Dolora Zajick, Paata Burchuladze, Plácido Domingo, Sherrill MilnesDirector: Brian Large
Producer: Peter Gelb
Writer: Antonio Ghislanzoni
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown), PCM Stereo; English (Subtitled); German (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Chinese (Subtitled); English (Original Language), PCM Stereo
Format: Classical, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 157 minutes
Published: 2011-10-24
DVD Release Date: 2000-12-12
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
Movie Reviews of Verdi - Aida / Levine, Domingo, Millo, Metropolitan Opera
Movie Review: Ancient Egyptian razzmatazz and some great singing
Summary: 5 Stars
Of all the 'Aida' productions I've witnessed, this version is my favorite. If you are searching for your first 'Aida' it should be this Metropolitan Opera production with its balance of great and good singers, and its grandiose Egyptian backdrops of sandstone, bronze, linen and gold. It has one of the better triumphal marches, too. No elephants (except for a few tusks), but scads of soldiers, dancers, Ethiopian prisoners, leopard skins, and gaily caparisoned horses.
Aprile Millo's Aida sings well, especially her celestial pianissimos, but she is a cold princess-slave. She seems to be perpetually annoyed--perhaps because Amneris got the best costumes---but her tomb scene with Placido Domingo is to die for. It is only when she has to crank up the volume that she sounds a bit pinched.
Dolora Zajick's Amneris is why you need to hear this production. She is a luscious, spoiled, intensely feminine, young Pharaoh's daughter. She is also a true Verdian mezzo with a voice as rich and seductive as her appearance. This is one of those 'Aidas' where the Pharaoh's daughter almost steals the show.
Paata Burchuladze sings a Slavic, wa-wa trombone of a Ramfis, lisping, loud, and satisfactorily menacing at the fore of his priestly chorus. I really enjoyed the stentorian booming of the priests, thundering away at the lower levels of 'Ritorna Vincitor,' demanding the deaths of the Ethiopian prisoners, and snarling out their 'tradditores' beneath Amneris's frenzied pleading in the judgement scene.
Placidio Domingo is a soldierly Radamès and his 'Celeste Aida' is sung with a silken vigor that doesn't require the interpolated, often-bleated high B flat at its climax. His nobility does make it difficult to believe his sudden decision to desert his soldiers and run away with Aida in the Nile scene, but make no mistake, this is a great tenor in his prime. If you don't shed a tear during 'O Terra Addio' maybe you should be listening to something other than opera.
Greek bass, Dimitri Kavrakos is a suitably dignified pharaoh with slightly less wa-wa than his priestly colleague, but with enough volume to be heard in the crowd scenes.
Sherrill Milnes is a ferocious, glowering Amonasro, although his baritone has definitely begun to show signs of dryness. His scene with Aida is dramatic rather than beautifully sung.
There is one fairly serious problem with this production--I've played it on two different machines, so it isn't my equipment: I can barely hear the male chorus at the beginning of the Temple of Vulcan scene. The priestess and the women's chorus come through fine, but no matter how much I crank the volume, the men's unaccompanied chorus is nothing but a distant muttering.
Even so, I think you'll love this 'Aida', right down to the last 'pace' of Amneris, quietly grieving above the tomb.
Summary of Verdi - Aida / Levine, Domingo, Millo, Metropolitan Opera
Brand New- Factory Sealed! fasr First-class Shipping!Similar DVD Movies
Verdi - La TraviataUni; Release date: 2007-10-30; Published: 2011-10-24; DVD
Best price: $15.51
Price in other shops:
Mozart: The Magic Flute (Metropolitan Opera)Release date: 2011-08-16; DVD
Best price: $11.21
Price in other shops:
CarmenRelease date: 2011-08-30; DVD
Best price: $18.47
Price in other shops:
Mascagni:Cavalleria Rusticana/ Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (Metropolitan Opera)Release date: 2011-08-16; DVD
Best price: $11.26
Price in other shops:
Verdi: Otello (Metropolitan Opera)Release date: 2011-08-16; DVD
Best price: $10.57
Price in other shops:
Puccini: Madama ButterflyRelease date: 2011-01-25; DVD
Best price: $16.98
Price in other shops:
Puccini - La Boheme / Pavarotti, Scotto, Niska, Wixell, Plishka, Levine, Metropolitan OperaUniversal Studios; Release date: 2005-10-11; DVD
Best price: $10.45
Price in other shops:
Puccini: Turandot at the Metropolitan OperaUniversal Studios; Release date: 2003-08-12; DVD
Best price: $15.51
Price in other shops:
Bizet: Carmen (The Metropolitan Opera LIVE in HD)The Metropolitan Opera; Release date: 2010-09-21; DVD
Best price: $26.66
Price in other shops:
Verdi - Rigoletto / Luciano Pavarotti, Ingvar Wixell, Edita Gruberova, Victoria Vergara, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Riccardo ChaillyUniversal Studios; Release date: 2006-07-04; Published: 2006; DVD
Best price: $16.44
Price in other shops: