Here’s a splendid idea
for a Christmas present. A compilation
of operatic favourites but spiced enough
with less familiar fare to captivate
the interest of even the most jaded
opera buff.
The list above is self-commending;
customers will be drawn by its content.
It is assumed that all these selections
have been drawn from the ever-expanding
NVC Arts video opera catalogue.
The Puccini excerpts
have been artfully selected. They begin
with a winsome performance of the ever-popular
big Act 1 romantic duet from Madama
Butterfly with Kabaivanska and Antinori
looking somewhat lost in the large Arena
di Verona. It is pleasing that no less
than five excerpts have been included
from the sumptuous Covent Garden production
of Manon Lescaut. The ardent
but vacillating Placido Domingo is putty
in Kiri Te Kanawa’s hands in the Act
2 duet under Sinopoli’s intensely romantic
direction.
Te Kanawa features
strongly in this compilation: tragically
affecting in her Otello (Verdi)
‘Willow Song’ and, as Rosalinde, cheerily
dismissive of her philandering husband,
Eisenstein, in the Act I trio from Die
Fledermaus with a cockily debonair
Hermann Prey and a very cheeky Adèle
as portrayed by Hildegard Heichele.
Domingo also features
in a number of excerpts including three
lusty numbers from Offenbach’s The
Tales of Hoffmann with Domingo
in the title role first seen drunkenly
singing the ballad about a grotesque
dwarf but then drifting off into a reverie
about a beautiful woman before returning
to the song about the dwarf. He is gallant
in Verdi’s Ernani, soulful in
his duet ‘Ah, morir potessi adesso’
with Mirella Freni.
Returning to Puccini,
Domingo is remorseful and self-sacrificing
in Dick Johnson’s big aria ‘Ch’ella
micreda’ from La Fanciulla del West
and winsome in his pursuit of Minnie
(Carol Neblett) in their duet ‘Non potro
mai capire’. The Il Tabarro excerpt,
from Puccini’s Il Trittico, is
most welcome, Sass and Martinucci splendidly
expressive as the murderous, adulterous
pair. La Bohème eschews
the popular Act 1 duet in favour of
the subtler but more affecting romantic
exchange of Act 3 where Mimi gently
tries to withdraw from her romance with
Rodolfo and her Act 4 death scene. Ileana
Cotrubas as Mimi is most affecting.
A popular compilation
of 1980s opera productions with enough
less familiar selections to interest
the cognoscenti. The Covent Garden
sets are lavish. An ideal Christmas
present.
Ian Lace
WARNER/NVC
ARTS DVD Video 0630-18771-2 [111:00 approx]
