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See Puccini – La Boheme / Pavarotti, Scotto, Niska, Wixell, Plishka, Levine, Metropolitan Opera On DVD From HOme.
Product: Puccini – La Boheme / Pavarotti, Scotto, Niska, Wixell, Plishka, Levine, Metropolitan Opera Amazon Price: Sale Price Too Low To Display Availability: In Stock |
La Boheme is certainly one of the top three performed Operas worldwide, along with Carmen and Aida. It is not my current Puccini Opera; that distinction goes to Manon Lescaut which, as opera critic Irving Kolodin so perfectly phrased it, is “the most of the promise, with the least cost of the fulfillment.” I don’t begrudge Puccini his popularity: his music is often comely, the emotions teach and heartfelt. His librettos seem designed to tug the heartstrings in a plebian grab for popularity, like a television prove tested by a focus group. But that’s OK. So when I observe a production of any of Puccini’s most current operas, I tend to concentrate on sound: the beauty of the instrumental music, the vocal qualities of the singers. I usually ignore the location. A misguided panic of being manipulated by a master? Probably. I’m unusual that diagram!
So when I say I loved this DVD of La Boheme, that I was engrossed by the drama as well as the music, then it must be something special. The Met usually mounts archaic productions. When they stray from that conservative path, the audience tends to catch ornery. This Boheme is a classic production: no “artistic license” shifting the action to the surface of Mars with a cast of farm animals and an orchestra of kazoos! I like a mature Boheme, the contrivance Puccini envisioned it. The emotions are less over-the-top, the drama more organic. The libretto is stutter, even simple. That simplicity is the source of this production’s excellence.
Produced live on 15 March 1977 and the inaugural telecast of the PBS “Live at the Met” series, the DVD transfer effectively reduces many of the artifacts inherent to a 30 year feeble taped program. The image is smooth a cramped fuzzier than we’re now traditional to, but not enough to drive you screaming up the wall. The DTS 5.1 sound is certain and fleshy. As for the singing, both Pavarotti as Rodolfo and Renata Scotto as Mimi are at their absolute peak!
This Boheme features a sublimely sung Rodolfo. All of the things Pavarotti was well-known for are in evidence here: crystalline tone, perfect diction, fluidity of vocal quality. And this younger, svelter Pavarotti actually acts! I was moved by his performance in a allotment he obviously identifies with. As for Scotto, a leading soprano at the Met for two decades, her singing is stunning, with a limpid quality that heightens the emotionalism of her respectable acting. The well-behaved cast includes Maralin Niska as Musetta and Ingvar Wixell as Marcello.
James Levine had advance into his bear as a Conductor around this time. He offers a nearly perfect rendition of this verdant obtain. The Met Orchestra, obviously on the rise as one of the world’s astronomical ensembles, sounds astonishing. Watching them hang on Levine’s every gesture, turning on a dime as they negotiate every twist and turn of this acquire, is one of the pleasures unusual to the DVD format. As for the production compose by Fabrizio Melano, it is simple and reveal. It impartial looks suitable!
I don’t know if my atitude towards Puccini as a dramatist will ever change. But productions like this one, saved for posterity, are a clue as to why audiences adored Puccini in the first plot. Before time and popularity seemed to cheapen the drama until it resembled a High School production of Cats. I adore Puccini unprejudiced like everyone does, of course. It’s unbiased that every now and again I need to be reminded why I fancy him. I strongly recommend this obedient DVD. It’s the jolt you need to win you in touch with your inner Rodolfo and Mimi.
Mike Birman
The first ever MET telecast, featuring 2 operatic greats at the height of their powers. Pavarotti, slimmer looking (but almost didn’t earn the high C in his aria), sings his siganture role magically. Scotto, my favourite soprano, portrays Mimi differently to what we are old-fashioned to seeing and hearing. Study the bonus interview and you will understand what I mean! 1st class – a Boheme in the feeble style – highly recommended
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