Dvd
Verdi: I vespri Siciliani
Giorgio Zancanaro (Guido di Monforte); Enzo Capuano (Il sire di Bethune); Chris Merritt (Arrigo); Cheryl Studer (La duchessa Elena);
"...Muti...conducting tautly, ensures that this live performance carries high drama, with the orchestra too playing splendidly. Cheryl Studer sings gloriously as Elena and Chris Merritt (as Arrigo) is in even better form here than on the CD set...As with Ernani, the production is straightforward, with no crazy impositions from a self-conscious stage director. The ballet is included, but it is presented effectively and danced well, and the music is tuneful enough. Excellent sound, too." (The Penguin Guide)
Verdi: Il trovatore (Bergenz Festival)
Carl Tanner (Manrico); Iano Tamar (Leonora); Željko Lučić (Il Conte di Luna); Marianne Cornetti (Azucena);
"It is nothing short of staggering to see how Carsen, using only light and shade, manages to create new spaces again and again within this dreadful labyrinth of steel. Fabio Luisi conducts the Vienna Symphony Orchestra as though in a beguiling dream. Every single instrumental ornament, no matter how small, is clearly audible on the evening air. The ensemble, freed from the obligation to produce great volume in sound, can now concentrate entirely on beauty of tone and expression." (Stuttgarter Zeitung)
Verdi: Il Trovatore (The Royal Opera)
José Cura (Manrico); Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Count di Luna); Yvonne Naef (Azucena); Verónica Vilarroel (Leonora);
"Elijah Moshinsky’s production is surely as lively and moving as Verdi’s intricate masterpiece deserves. Jose Cura sizzles. Dimitri Hvorostovsky is everything one could want to see and hear in a Verdi baritone. This new “Trovatore” DVD is a reminder that not every golden age happened long ago." (San Francisco Chronicle)
Verdi: Il Trovatore (The Royal Opera)
Alexander Tsymbalyuk (Ferrando); Lianna Haroutounian (Leonora); Francesca Chiejina (Ines); Gregory Kunde (Manrico); Vitaliy Bilyy (Count Di Luna); Anita Rachvelishvili (Azucena); Jonathan Fisher (Old Gypsy); Samuel Sakker (Ruiz); Andrew O’Connor (Messenger);
"Verdi's melodrama is given a grand start by Alexander Tsymbalyuk as Ferrando, majestic in his retelling of the opera's convoluted back story about burning the wrong baby. I could have listened to the Ukrainian bass all evening... An earlier Covent Garden discovery, Lianna Haroutounian, who deputised so brilliantly for Anja Harteros in Don Carlo a few years back, is a devastatingly powerful Leonora. On grand tragic form throughout, her substantial voice retained its radiance throughout and was still fresh enough for a knockout account of the heroine's final-act set piece, the spectacular "Tu vedrai che amore in terra", in which the security of her vocal command was a wonder... Conductor Richard Farnes drew some fabulous singing from the Royal Opera Chorus: the women in particular were a credit to their new director William Spaulding in the hushed luminosity of their offstage requiem in the final act. And the dynamic maestro energised the ROH Orchestra throughout the performance with a succession of interpretational subtleties whose inventiveness kept Verdi's old war horse on the gallop. It is well worth a listen" (WhatsOn Stage ★★★★)
Verdi: Il trovatore (The Royal Opera) (NTSC)
José Cura (Manrico); Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Luna); Yvonne Naef (Azucena); Verónica Vilarroel (Leonora);
"Elijah Moshinsky's production is surely as lively and moving as Verdis intricate masterpiece deserves. Jose Cura sizzles. Dimitri Hvorostovsky is everything one could want to see and hear in a Verdi baritone. This new Trovatore DVD is a reminder that not every golden age happened long ago." (San Francisco Chronicle)
Verdi: Il trovatore (The Royal Opera) (PAL)
José Cura (Manrico); Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Luna); Yvonne Naef (Azucena); Verónica Vilarroel (Leonora);
"Elijah Moshinsky's production is surely as lively and moving as Verdis intricate masterpiece deserves. Jose Cura sizzles. Dimitri Hvorostovsky is everything one could want to see and hear in a Verdi baritone. This new Trovatore DVD is a reminder that not every golden age happened long ago." (San Francisco Chronicle)