Verdi - Macbeth / Sinopoli, Bruson, Zampieri, Deutsche Oper Berlin
by Brian Large
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: David Griffith (VIII), Dennis O'Neill (II), James Morris (IX), Mara Zampieri, Renato BrusonDirector: Brian Large
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Italian (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Classical, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 149 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-04-10
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Image Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Verdi - Macbeth / Sinopoli, Bruson, Zampieri, Deutsche Oper Berlin
Movie Review: A rare operatic treat on DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
It is not often that I enjoy watching an opera on DVD from beginning to end, but this one offered truly a unique experience. Filmed during live performances, one has a sense of being part of a live event. The production is somewhat conservative but visually impressive and always stimulating. Sinopoli's conducting is totally electric and one forgives the occasional excursions of the camera away from the stage to the conductor's face which appears to animate everything else. Tragic but not altogether hard to believe that this fascinating conductor would be dead of a heart attack a few years later.
Zampieri - a real comet; she came, dazzled and disappeared. I have no knowledge of any singer who could perform Lady Macbeth like her today.Vocally her performance is stunning. A tight voice, highly focused that seems to come from the core of her being, always a whisker from disaster, it creates the perfect impression of a woman on edge; a frustrated, a brilliant, a childless woman, who can only reach fulfilment through her husband's grasp of power. It is also a sexy voice, a quality one very rarely encounters in a soprano (not so rarely in a tenor of Corelli's ilk). Having heard the CD version (also very impressive) and not seen Zampieri, I was interested to see what she looked lile on stage. The answe is that she is quite magnificent. The facial expressions are full of different nuances, fear, anger, ambition, contempt, hate, pride - she can do them all to perfection. Here the DVD comes into its own since the facial close-ups, even when she singing, are really thrilling. You really want to see what this woman does next.
Renato Bruson is the perfect Macbeth to Zampieri's Lady. A weak, troubled man, whose touch with power unleashes great change inside him, he sings and looks the part and rises to real greatness in his moment of destiny, after the death of his lady. His singing is peerless - the legato perfect (the product of incredible breath control), the pianissimi rounded, quiet and audible and the outbursts of anguish always musical and psychologically convincing. I have never seen a singer sweat on stage as much as he does during this performance - this is totally appropriate and the sweating never seems to interfere with his vocal production. A real masterclass of baritone singing.
The other parts are very well sung (including the witches). A minor complaint is that the sound quality could have been better. All in all, this is a special treat.
I am concerned that US opera lovers can only acquire this at a very inflated price. I notice that UK Amazon offers it at more reasonable prices and maybe US readers should try to acquire it that way.
Summary of Verdi - Macbeth / Sinopoli, Bruson, Zampieri, Deutsche Oper Berlin
Macbeth" was Giuseppe Verdi's first attempt at music drama and also the first manifestation of his profound love for Shakespeare's work. Verdi took great pains with this opera, displaying special enthusiasm for it as he concentrated on the main characters of Lady Macbeth, Macbeth and the witches. This recording of Luca Ronconi's production is conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli, who brings fresh color to Verdi's score. The cast, headed by Renato Bruson and Mara Zampieri, are strongly supported by a fine-toned and adaptable chorus who ably meet the demands of Verdi's great "chorus opera.In English-speaking countries, we tend to look at Verdi's Macbeth, think of Shakespeare, and shake our heads a little sadly. Yes, it is a fine Italian opera, but it lacks the verbal richness, the psychological depth, the symbolic resonance, and the subtle characterizations of Shakespeare's tragedy. Dissatisfied with it himself, Verdi revised the 1847 original in 1865 but remained unhappy; it's not easy to stack yourself up against Shakespeare. He did better at the end of his career with Otello and Falstaff, aided by superior librettos.
Still, taken on its own terms, as an Italian opera of the mid-19th century, Macbeth stands out. It is a powerful look at ambition, violence, remorse, the dark doings of witches, and the spooky torments of a guilty conscience. The late Giuseppe Sinopoli conducted vigorously, and his numerous fans will specially treasure this recording, which focuses its cameras on him frequently. Renata Bruson and Maria Zampieri are both at home in their roles and they exult in the opera's many opportunities for melodrama. There is not much subtlety in this production, but that is true to the spirit of the opera. --Joe McLellan
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