Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore (The Elixir of Love)

Set & Costume Design Marcelo Grande

Lighting Design Quico Gutiérrez (A.A.I.)

Assistant Stage Director José Antonio Gutiérrez

Chorus Master José Luis Basso

TV Director Xavi Bové

Rolando Villazón brings both comedy and pathos to the role of Nemorino, the naïve hero of Donizetti’s comedy L’elisir d’amore in a 2005 production from Barcelona’s Liceu

When Donizetti’s comedy, updated to the mid-20th century by the Uruguayan-born director Mario Gas, was mounted at Barcelona’s magnificent Liceu opera house in 2005, Opera News wrote that: “The absolute hit of the production was … Rolando Villazón, a commanding, vulnerable and hilarious Nemorino. His stage presence dominated every scene he was in …[and] his lovable innocence was a joy to behold. Villazón’s perfect technique and creamy, malleable voice conquered the audience … His athletic and expressive body language — midway between Cantinflas and Mr. Bean — fits this role and this production perfectly.” The Mexican tenor, making his debut at the Liceu, was called upon the encore the opera’s most famous aria, the plaintive ‘Una furtiva lagrima’.

Rolando Villazón can already be seen and heard as Nemorino on another Virgin Classics DVD, released in 2006. His partners in that more traditionally rustic production from Vienna were Anna Netrebko, Leo Nucci and Ildebrando d’Arcangelo; here they are Spanish soprano Maria Bayo as the wealthy and capricious Adina, Italian baritone Bruno Praticò as Dulcamara, the pedlar of the so-called elixir of love -- in fact just red wine in disguise -- and French baritone Jean-Luc Chaignaud as the swaggering sergeant Belcore.

ConcertoNet judged that: “This production illuminates the work and gives it meaning … Maria Bayo is a refined, subtle Adina whose voice serves the music wonderfully … Rolando Villazón is the ideal Nemorino, succeeding in presenting a young man who is somewhat clueless, but also formidably intelligent … The voice, of course, is exceptional ... Jean-Luc Chaignaud, with his splendid stage presence, is ideally suited to the character of Belcore, making his entrance through the Liceu’s auditorium and saluting the audience, while his singing gives the officer a real stature with its power and authority … Bruno Praticò savours every moment as a comical and fundamentally good-natured Dulcamara … Daniele Callegari’s conducting is excellent, bringing an animation and electricity that makes the whole opera even more delicious … All in all, a great evening.”

Villazón also stars in another Virgin Classics DVD recorded at the Liceu, Manon in David McVicar’s production of Massenet’s opera, released in 2007. The titular soprano was, of course, Natalie Dessay, lynchpin of the multi-award-winning DVD of Laurent Pelly’s production of La Fille du Régiment recorded at London’s Royal Opera House: it was named DVD of the Year by the BBC Music Magazine, ‘Choc de l'Année’ by Le Monde de la Musique and awarded the equally prestigious Diapason d'Or and Opera News Award. Other major DVD releases in the Virgin Classics catalogue include the world-premiere recording of Landi’s Sant’Alessio by William Christie and les Arts Florissants and Tristan und Isolde conducted by Daniel Barenboim and directed by Patrice Chéreau, the opening production of the 2007-2008 season at La Scala, Milan.

Running time 152 minutes / colour

NTSC system 16.9 / DVD Format: 1 DVD (DVD-9)

Sound Format LPCM Stereo

Dolby 5.0 Surround

DTS 5.1 surround

Menu screens: English

Subtitles English, Français, Deutsch, Español, Catalan, Italiano

Box set comprised of the following operas already available in the Dynamic catalogue.

Sound format: 16:9 / Dolby Digital 5.1

Running Time: Duration: 132+135 Min.

Picture format: LPCM 2.0 / Dolby digital 5.1

Booklet Notes: Italian, English, French, German

Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian

AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE

Set Design by ANTONIO MASTROMATTEI

Costumes by SILVIA AYMONINO

Slowly the camera roams through the narrow streets of Macerata, past the cathedral, the monuments, the library and the university, until it reaches the Arena Sferisterio. In the 1820s this was a competition venue for a handball game popular at that time. At the beginning of the twentieth century the ‘neo-classical monster’, as the stadium is disrespectfully called in the vernacular, was also discovered as an opera venue and a dazzling backdrop for the ‘Macerata Opera Festival’. The stage, which is 14.5 meters deep and 40 meters wide, is sufficiently large for all kinds of events and spectacles to be staged.

At the end of July 2002 the time had come again. An audience of 5000 had gathered to listen to the new production of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore under the direction Saverio Marconi, conducted by Niels Muus. Using a trick the director succeeded in preserving the open-air atmosphere while at the same time eliminating the annoying echo of the voices and instruments. The orchestra was seated in an enormous box that was put on the stage, while the singers, in traditional costumes by Silvia Aymonino, performed on stage in front of it, among them the young Valeria Esposito as Adina, Aquiles Machado in the role of Nemorino, Enrico Marrucci as Belcore and the very young Erwin Schrott as Dulcamara.

The premiere of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore in the Teatro della Canobbiana in Milan on 12 May 1832, was an unqualifi ed success; it resulted in a series of 32 sold-out houses for the composer and even inspired Richard Wagner in 1840 to produce a piano score of the work.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD5.1, DTS 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

Menu Languages: GB

Subtitle Languages: GB, F, D, SP, IT, Chinese

Running Time: 136 min

FSK: 0