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Donizetti - L'Elisir d'Amore / Eschwe, Netrebko, Villazon, Wiener Staatsoper by Otto Schenk
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DVD detailsActor: Alfred Eschwe, Anna Netrebko, Ildebrando d'Arcangelo, Leo Nucci, Rolando Villazon Director: Otto Schenk Brand: DONIZETTI,G. DVD: Region Code 0 Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); German (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Italian (Subtitled); Italian (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.0; Italian (Published), Dolby Digital 5.0 Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC Picture Format: 1.33:1 Running Time: 130 minutes DVD Release Date: 2007-01-16 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Studio: Virgin Classics
DVD Reviews of Donizetti - L'Elisir d'Amore / Eschwe, Netrebko, Villazon, Wiener StaatsoperDVD Review: brilliant if you ignore the tiny faults Summary: 4 Stars
This production is lovely in almost every respect. The scenery, costumes, lighting and direction all are appropriate and most of the time are very effective. The cast they assembled for this performance is about as big a name cast as you could put together for a single opera these days. Netrebko, Villazon, Nucci and D'Arcangelo are all big names in the opera world now, and in the case of Nucci for several years.
Anna Netrebko as Adina is beautifully cast, she looks the part and acts the part well, and even if her voice doesn't always have the agility required for this role she places everything well and sings as sweetly as I ever heard her.
Leo Nucci as Belcore is surprising, he is no longer a young man, but sings and acts the role with as much energy and confidence as I have seen. He doesn't necessarily look the part of the strapping, young womanising soldier but you tend to forgive this in opera.
Ildebrando D'Arcangelo as Dulcamara for me is the highlight. He has a comic genius that has shone through many productions of many operas in the past, no more so than his Leporello at the Salzburg festival. In this his voice is supple and agile, as he always is. His gondolier song with Adina and his entrance aria should be held up as examples and models for the next generation of young singers... no patter here... a perfectly placed, and sung, not spoken, performance here.
For me, the weakest link in this cast was Villazon. No one denies that the man has an amazing voice and a wonderful energetic presence on stage, but for Nemorino, his voice just isn't right. His voice at times is far too heavy, or as another reviewer stated 'muscular'. The best he sound in this opera is towards the end where Nemorino becomes forceful, knowing what he wants and knowing he can get it; Villazon's power really works here. But in the lighter moments like the beautiful aria 'Una Furtiva Lagrima' his voice is too harsh and displays little nuance or affection for the material. He also has a bad tendency to scoop to notes towards to top of his range which takes away from the purity of the performance. The encore that is done after this aria was a surprise... I didn't think the performance was good enough to get an encore... stunt? Perhaps? I would have preferred either Juan Diego Florez or Roberto Alagna (although Alagna doesn't have the voice of Villazon or Florez)... but the commercial attraction of pairing Villazon and Netrebko (who have a very obvious, powerful onstage chemistry)would be too much to turn down for a company life the Weiner Staatsoper.
The musical direction of Eschwe is fine, tight, controlled and full of life an fun... what more do you want for L'Eliser.
I love this opera and I love this production... I don't think that anyone could walk away from it without enjoying some aspect of the performance. If you get it you wont be disappointed.
More Donizetti - L'Elisir d'Amore / Eschwe, Netrebko, Villazon, Wiener Staatsoper reviews: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Description of Donizetti - L'Elisir d'Amore / Eschwe, Netrebko, Villazon, Wiener StaatsoperNo Description Available No Track Information Available Media Type: DVD Artist: DONIZETTI,G. Title: L'ELISIR D'AMORE Street Release Date: 01/16/2007 Domestic Genre: CLASSICAL COMPOSERS Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore is one of the staples of the comic opera repertory. The plot hinges on whether earnest but dim-witted Nemorino will snag Adina, the flirtatious heroine. She's a tease who takes up with Belcore, an army sergeant, to make Nemorino jealous. After numerous (and humorous) plot twists that include a phony love potion, it all ends happily. Adina and Nemorino declare their love for each other, Belcore is dumped, and the fraudulent Dulcamara does a landslide business in love potions. It's all a fast-moving bundle of fun, especially with the star-filled cast of this 2005 Vienna State Opera performance. The leads are magnificent. Rolando Villazón as Nemorino exhibits a real gift for comic acting, manipulating his rubber face into dozens of hilarious poses, flawlessly turning stock comic gestures into laugh-out-loud moments, and even juggling apples with the panache of a circus performer. More important, he uses his lyric tenor to sing the part with impressive subtlety, suggesting Nemorino's desperation while singing of his love for Adina. His big show-stopper, "Una furtuva lagrima," features melting pianissimos and a breathtaking decrescendo in its final phrase. It literally stops the show, the audience forcing a welcome encore. Netrebko's Adina is every bit as good, with deft acting and a lovely lyric soprano voice that makes you understand why she's the only girl for Nemorino. Dulcamara is Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, whose ample bass joins a stage presence that puts him at the center of his scenes. His famous duet, "Venti scudi," with Villazón, is the highlight it should be. Veteran baritone Leo Nucci is Sergeant Belcore and while his singing tends to the dry and effortful, he's convincingly sleazy, adding to the laughs. Smaller parts and the chorus are fine and conductor Alfred Eschwé efficiently keeps the music bubbling along. Otto Schenk's production, with sets and costumes by Jürgen Rose, dates from 1980 but still looks fresh with a village square dominating the picture-postcard view of a provincial Italian village. The costumes are realistic, with predominantly pastel colors for the villagers, bright colors for Belcore and his soldiers, and relatively nondescript outfits for the others, though Netrebko can't help exuding glamour no matter what she wears. The video direction smoothly focuses on singers and the stage action, but the sound recording is overly resonant, with inconsistent dynamics and the chorus' words obscured. Still, this is the preferred L'Elisir d'Amore. --Dan Davis
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