Recording Date: 2007
Place of recording: Live from the Teatro Alla Scala Di Milano
Running Time: 134 min
Picture Format: 16:9
Sound Format: PCM Stereo, dts-HD Master Audio 7.1
Blue Ray Disc, 25 GB (Single Layer)
Subtitle Languages: IT, GB, D, F, SP
Menu Language: GB
Blu-ray
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Praised by Bloomberg for having “mastered the role” and “acting her socks off,” Angela Gheorghiu leads an all-star cast which includes Ramón Vargas and Roberto Frontali, with the brilliant conductor Lorin Maazel on the podium. Angela Gheorghiu is the definitive Violetta of her generation, the standard-setter against whom all other exponents of this role must be judged for the foreseeable future. Her affinity for Verdi‘s fragile, gentle-hearted courtesan is rooted in a fine balance of acting and singing skills. Giuseppe Verdi´s immortal opera in a sumptuous production by Liliana Cavani, with world famous singers – a treat for viewers everywhere!
“Talented, glamorous and every bit the diva, Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu is a star.“ Billboard
Set Design By Dante Ferretti
Costumes Gabriella Pescucci
Choreography Micha Van Hoecke
November 2008
****
“Best is Angela Gheorghiu's Violetta. Vocally, she shirks nothing, and her prodigious technique is up to every demand. She throws herself at the drama, exhibiting convincing body language as the feverish pleasure-seeker of Act I and the stricken woman of the last. As Alfredo, Ramón Vargas... presentable... so too is Roberto Frontali as his father, a diligent and thought-through portrayal... Immaculate playing from the Scala orchestra, and some sensitive conducting from Lorin Maazel…”
2010
“The Germonts, son and father, are maddeningly stupid characters but decent, honest singers, the one (Ramón Vargas) not imaginative but capable of delicacy, the other (Roberto Frontali) clean-cut in his tone and modestly affecting in his aria. Maazel's conducting is a model of controlled flexibility, and the orchestra respond to him with unfailing precision. Visually, the production is a treat, the chorus handled unfussily as a collection of individuals, with the principal characters and their relationships given thoughtful and sensitive preparation.”
April 2009
“such blemishes as occur in the Scala production are incidental to its general excellence and to the greatness of Angela Gheorghiu's Violetta. …here she is once again a true artist, the voice lovely as ever throughout most of its range, the expressive art in both singing and acting matured so that this portrayal is intensely moving and memorable. Maazel's conducting is a model of controlled flexibility, and the orchestra respond to him with unfailing precision. Visually, the production is a treat, the chorus handled unfussily as a collection of individuals, with the principal characters and their relationships given thoughtful and sensitive preparation.”
2010 edition
***
“the stage spectacle, as one would expect from this source, is full of colour...and the production overall is satisfying. Lorin Maazel directs his La Scala forces with vitality and warmth and there is excellent camera control.”
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