Verdi - La Traviata / Gheorghiu, Lopardo, Nucci, Solti, Covent Garden (Special Edition with Highlights CD)
by Humphrey Burton, Peter Maniura
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Angela Gheorghiu, Frank Lopardo, Gillian Knight, Leah-Marian Jones, Leo NucciDirector: Humphrey Burton, Peter Maniura
Producer: Jan Younghusband
Producer: Jane Pleydell-Bouverie
Producer: Stephany Marks
Writer: Francesco Maria Piave
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); German (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Classical, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 134 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-06-14
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Decca
Movie Reviews of Verdi - La Traviata / Gheorghiu, Lopardo, Nucci, Solti, Covent Garden (Special Edition with Highlights CD)
Movie Review: Angela Assoluta!
Summary: 4 Stars
The reason to own this Traviata is for the spellbinding performance of Angela Georghiu. This is the role and the performance that thrust her into the international spolight, and rightfully so. Georghiu owns this role in every aspect, and I cannot think of another soprano in recent years who so perfectly conquers all the demands of this daunting role as well as Georghiu does. Firstly, Georghiu has the vocal goods in abundance to sing Violetta, a role which is often described as needing three sopranos, encompassing the coloratura demands of Act I, and requiring a lyric and dramatic soprano for Acts II through IV. Georghiu's voice is perfectly suited to all the demands Verdi places on the soprano, with her ravishing dusky timbre, her top notes which hit the listener like thunderbolts of molten gold, and her imppeccable fioratura in one of the soprano's greatest challenges, "Sempre Libera." It hardly matters that she avoids the E flat "in alt" at the end of the aria, as Verdi did not specify it his score. Visually and dramatically Geoerghiu is the Violetta of one's dreams. Her physical beauty is incandescant, perfectly matching her vocal abilities, and her acting is sincere, restrained and affecting. All in all a most remarkable achievement, and Georghiu sets a very high standard for her contemporaries, Netrebko and the like. Georghiu will undoubtedly rank as one of the great Violettas. I have always loved Anna Moffo in this role, another woman with great physical and vocal beauty, and of course, Callas is the gold standard to which other Violettas are compared. Georghiu is certainly in Callas' league, both vocally and dramatically, in her sense of attention to the text and her impeccable phrasing. In terms of sheer vocalism in this role, I truly love Caballe's RCA recording made in the 1960's, for it is divine. I sincerely hope that Georghiu preserves her wonderful voice and that she doesn't let the reputed onstage and offstage histrionics of recent past and present shorten her estimable career.
This DVD of the famous Covent Garden production plays well in all aspects, musically, dramatically and visually. Kudos to Sir Georg Solti for a beautifully restrained reading of Verdi's great score. The scenery is elegant and opulent without being over the top, as compared to the Met's current Zefferlli production, and the acting is direct, simple and tasteful throughout. The other principal singers, Frank Lopardo as Alfredo, and Leo Nucci, as Germont pere are servicable, if not in Georghiu's league. Clearly the reason to own this DVD is for Georghiu and Solti's masterful performances. I'm curious to order the newer DVD of Georghiu as Violetta with Maazel conducting. The reviews are varied and sometimes controversial, but as the great soprano Renata Scotto once stated, and I paraphrase: "It's not the talk that bothers me. It's when they stop talking about me that I'll be worried."
More Verdi - La Traviata / Gheorghiu, Lopardo, Nucci, Solti, Covent Garden (Special Edition with Highlights CD) reviews:
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Summary of Verdi - La Traviata / Gheorghiu, Lopardo, Nucci, Solti, Covent Garden (Special Edition with Highlights CD)
Angela Gheorghiu is the definitive Violetta of her generation, the standard-setter against whom all other exponents of this role must be judged for the foreseeable future. Her affinity for Verdi's fragile, gentle-hearted courtesan is rooted in a fine balance of acting and singing skills. She looks right, her body language is eloquent without overstatement, and her voice is limpid, expressive, open to a variety of subtle shadings and used gracefully and intelligently. For this, her first Traviata, Covent Garden put together a production in 1994 that is solid and straightforward but otherwise unspectacular--a fairly subdued background against which her performance stands out all the more clearly. Though lacking the vocal splendor and personal magnetism of Placido Domingo, Frank Lopardo gives a sensitive performance as Alfredo, and Sir Georg Solti paces and accents this performance with a thoughtful subtlety that is relatively rare in his work. The result is deeply satisfying. --Joe McLellanMusic Video & Concerts DVD Video
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