Anna Netrebko - The Woman, The Voice
by Vincent Paterson
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DVD details
Actor: Anna Netrebko, Ararat Chinarian, Eric Assandri, Magdi Davidoff, Sophie BeyneDirector: Vincent Paterson
Brand: NETREBKO,ANNA
Cinematographer: Chris Weiss
Cinematographer: Günter Euringer
Writer: Vincent Paterson
Producer: Bernhard Fleischer
Producer: Michaela Noa
Producer: Paul Fenkart
Producer: Ute Fesquet
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); German (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Japanese (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; German (Original Language)
Format: Classical, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 52 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-11-23
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
DVD Reviews of Anna Netrebko - The Woman, The Voice
DVD Review: MTV meets Opera... with mixed results
Summary: 4 Stars
I hesitated for the longest time in getting this DVD because of all the conflicting reviews. Fortunately I chanced upon a copy going at bargain-price and just had to see what the hoo-haa was about. Now I understand why so many viewers disliked it. It's a collection of "music videos," much like what you'd see on MTV. Personally, I thought the videos were on the whole quite well done. My complaint is that there is so little here. The main programme is barely 49 mins long and consists of a sum total of just 5 "music videos," each preceeded by Anna's introductions and interspersed with interviews with her on her life and career. Together with 19 minutes worth of bonus clips, the DVD lasts just over an hour. The 133min running time stated on the back cover needs to be taken with a large pinch of salt because it involves various permutations of watching the videos - without the introductions or without the interviews or just watching the interviews without the videos etc.
The five music videos in order of appearance are:
1. "Les grands seigneurs ont seuls des airs...Ah! je ris de me voir" (Jewel Song) from Gounod's "Faust"
2. "Quando me'n vo' (Musetta's Waltz)" from Puccini's "La Boheme"
3. "Crudele? - Ah no, mio bene! Non mi dir" from Mozart's "Don Giovanni"
4. "Care compagne, et voi, ternei amici" from Bellini's "La Sonnambula"
5. "Mesicku na nebli hlubokem" (Song to the Moon) from Dvorak's "Rusalka"
These are all taken from her debut CD "Opera Arias" and she lip-synchs to them in the videos. The DVD looks more like a promo for her CD than a full-fledged operatic DVD. Which brings us to the pricing. If you want to make a music video, than price it like other music videos, not as a premium-priced opera DVD.
The real treasures here are the 3 bonus clips - live recordings of Anna as she appears onstage. My favorite is the exerpt from Glinka's "Ruslan and Lyudmila" recorded in 1995 at the Mariinsky Theater in her home city of St. Petersburg (Act I aria "Grustno mne, roditel' dorogoy!"). Of the 2 Traviata exerpts, the "E strano! ... Delirio vano e questo!" & the "Sempre Libera" aria (Act I Finale) from her 2003 Vienna State Opera debut performance are exhilarating and fully deserving of the thunderous bravos from the usually sedate Viennese audience.
Throughout the disc, Anna's singing is superb. She has a gorgeous and very expressive voice. And she is without doubt one of the most beautiful sopranos to have ever graced the stage.
Much of the vitriol of critics center around the videos themselves which bear little relation to the operas although most are inspired by the text of the arias being sung. Several are just simple updates to more modern settings. The "Jewel Song" video could be easily mistaken for any modern pop music video. The "Non mi dir" is impressionistic and rather avant-garde. Personally I found them creative and quite enjoyable. I still don't get the significance of the dancers with tree branches for limbs in the "Don Giovanni" aria (much like the mutilated Lavinia in Julie Taymor's avant-garde production of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus) but it was visually arresting and quite unforgettable. My favorite piece here remains Rusalka's "Song to the Moon." It is beautifully sung, quiet and restrained yet so full of longing and heartache that it brings a tear to the eye. Unfortunately that doesn't extend to the accompaning video which was, strangely, rather disappointing. For once the video gives a very literal interpretation of the aria. Rusalka is a water spirit who asks to be made human so that she can be near the Prince that she loves. The video opens with a lovely shot of the moon, followed by a pan down to gently lapping waves. What spoils the illusion is the sight of Anna lounging or clinging on to a plastic inflatable as she floats in a darkened swimming pool. Tacky doesn't even begin to describe it. Still, she is a pleasure to watch, no matter how insipid the setting.
The main programme comes in a 16x9 anamorphic widescreen (enhanced for widescreen TV) with very good picture quality and excellent surround sound. Three sound tracks are provided: DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM Stereo (CD quality). The sound has more presence than most classical music DVDs I've come across. Of the 3 bonus clips, the 2 Traviata exerpts are in 4:3 fullscreen while the Ruslan is in letterbox widescreen (Non-anamorphic). The "Traviata" exerpt from Bavaria looks rather shabby due to overly bright stage lighting but the "Traviata" from Vienna and the "Ruslan" from the Mariinsky both look very good indeed.
Grouses aside, credit should be given to all involved for attempting something new. Opera audiences are shrinking by the day. If this endeavor has even minimal success in bringing the MTV generation to the sublime joys of opera, kudos to it. For the sake of us fuddy-duddy old folk who have enjoyed opera for years, I hope Ms Netrebko releases another DVD of more traditional performances soon. Live performances, even short exerpts like that shown in the bonus clips would find a ready and deeply appreciative audience.
Description of Anna Netrebko - The Woman, The Voice
No Description Available.Genre: Music Videos - Classical
Rating: NR
Release Date: 23-NOV-2004
Media Type: DVD
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