Director, set and costume designer: Pier Luigi Pizzi
Choreographer: Gheorghe Iancu
Verdi was justifiably pleased with Macbeth, his tenth opera and his first on a Shakesperean subject. He conducted its triumphant première in Florence in 1847, taking thirty calls at the final curtain, and it would long remain his own favourite among his ‘early period’ operas.
Eighteen years later, at the invitation of the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris, he substantially revised the score, and it is this version (sung in Italian) which has prevailed and is presented on this DVD by the forces of La Fenice, Venice.
Driven to bloody regicide by supernatural prophecies and his wife’s obsessive ambition, Macbeth is one of Verdi’s most profoundly modern anti-heroes – a political animal doomed by his very success.
“Daniele Callegari gives Verdi’s creation its full due, matching the differing styles of the later and earlier music to give a cohesive whole.”
October 2009
****
“A straightforward, vigorous account of one of Verdi's finest scores. Simply but effectively staged, it gets strong, unsubtle vocal and acting performances from a young cast.”
Click here for alternative recordings of this work.
