Genre:
Opera
Release Date:
Jan 2016
Subtitles (All):
En, Fr, De, Es, It
Subtitles (Otello):
Catala
Subtitles (Macbeth):
Jp
Sound Format:
2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS
Catalog Number:
OABD7190BD
Verdi: The Shakespeare Operas (The Royal Opera/Gran Teatro de Liceu/Glyndebourne)
Simon Keenlyside (Macbeth (Macbeth)); Liudmyla Monastryrska (Lady Macbeth (Macbeth)); Raymond Aceto (Banquo (Macbeth)); José Cura (Otello (Otello)); Krassimira Stoyanova (Desdemona (Otello)); Lado Ataneli (Jago (Otello)); Christopher Purves (Sir John Falstaff (Falstaff)); Tassis Christoyannis (Ford (Falstaff)); Dina Kuznetsova (Alice Ford (Falstaff));
Shakespeare provided lifelong inspiration for the towering operatic genius that was Giuseppe Verdi, but just three of the Bard’s plays ever emerged fully-fledged from the composer’s pen. This trio of landmark productions, featuring a veritable constellation of singers, conductors and directors, are united here under the banner of Verdi’s Shakepeare Operas: Macbeth, which lifted the young composer out of his hard-working ‘galley years’, propelling him to international fame and universal acclaim, and Otello and Falstaff, his final two crowning operatic achievements. Simon Keenlyside and Liudmyla Monastyrska are imposing as the Thane and his Lady in Phyllida Lloyd’s sumptuous production of The Scottish Play for The Royal Opera, conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano, while José Cura interprets the Moor in a profound, intense staging by Willy Decker at Barcelona’s Liceu. By the end of his dramatic opera career, Verdi claimed he had ‘earned at last the right to laugh a little’, and Richard Jones’s Glyndebourne Festival production of Falstaff radiates humour, tinged with bitterness and wisdom and brought to life by an international ensemble cast with Christopher Purves in the title role under the inspiring baton of Vladimir Jurowski.
MACBETH (Royal Opera House)
Macbeth - Simon Keenlyside
Lady Macbeth - Liudmyla Monastyrska
Banquo - Raymond Aceto
Duncan - Ian Lindsay
Malcolm - Steven Ebel
Macduff - Dimitri Pittas
The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera Chorus
Conductor - Antonio Pappano
Director - Phyllida Lloyd
OTELLO (Liceu)
Otello - Jose Cura
Desdemona - Krassimira Stoyanova
Jago - Lado Ataneli
Emilia - Ketevan Kemoklidze
Cassio - Vittorio Grigolo
Roderigo - Vincenc Esteve Madrid
Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of the Grand Teatre del Liceu
Conductor - Antoni Ros-Marba
Director - Willy Decker
FALSTAFF (Glyndebourne)
Falstaff - Christopher Purves
Ford - Tassis Christoyannis
Fenton - Bulent Bezduz
Doctor Caius - Peter Hoare
Bardoph - Alasdair Elliott
Pistol - Paolo Battaglia
Alice Ford - Dina Kuznetsova
Nannetta - Adriana Kučerova
The Glyndebourne Chorus
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor - Vladimir Jurowski
Director - Richard Jones
Reviews
"With strong conducting from Antoni Ros-Marbà, the whole cast collaborate to give us the truth of this desperately upsetting work, as no other DVD and few live performances I've seen of it ever have." (BBC Music Magazine - Otello)
"José Cura has the vocal colouring, the power and strength, but above all the dramatic temperament that this colossal Verdi character demands" (El Pais - Otello)
"Some of Glyndebourne’s more entrenched punters took umbrage at Richard Jones’s updating of Falstaff to a 1940s Ealing-comedy Windsor. Most, though, as you can hear throughout this film, roared at the gags in a production so sharply coordinated with the music." (BBC Music Magazine - Falstaff ★★★★★)
"Simon Keenlyside and Liudmyla Monastyrska give one of the finest portrayals of the couple that I have come across. In both cases what lifts them into the category of the very special is the way they manage to chart the character’s development. Macbeth is a role that Keenlyside has grown into. He has the depth, the charisma and the energy that make the role complex and interesting; more than a great soldier laid low. His baritone is rounded and complex, just right to capture the many facets of the character’s journey." (Musicweb International - Macbeth)