Leoncavallo - I Pagliacci & Mascagni - Cavalleria Rusticana - Domingo, Stratas, Pons, Bruson, Obraztsova, Pretre (1983)DVD9 - NTSC - 4:3 - All Regions - PCM, DTS - 140min.
Subtitles: Italian/French/German/English/Spanish/Chinese
Deutsche Grammophon 07340332 - release 2005
Teresa Stratas · Plácido Domingo · Juan Pons · Alberto Rinaldi · Florindo Andreolli
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala · Georges Prêtre
Directed by Franco Zeffirelli
"Vesti la giubba":
Rarely is it more appropriate to put two works on the same DVD.
Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana are two tales of the deadly results of jealousy. In both of these, one spouse is manipulated into murdering the other spouse.
Both are not stage productions but instead are filmed by Franco Zeffirelli, in the incomparable style you would expect of him. The "Tuscan sunset glow" and Italian countryside make this teatro verissmo even more real for us.
Placido Domingo (Canio) and Teresa Stratas (Nedda) give us an unforgettable pair of star-crossed lovers. Their singing and acting are spectacular. Besides what you would expect--that Placido's "Vesti la giubba" is gut-wrenchingly tearful, Zeffirelli has enhanced the production with insightful close-ups such as when Nedda is putting on her make-up, because "the show must go on." It's a ghostly parallel to "Vesti la giubba" as she looks into her mirror, and sees a ghostly white reflection. --Amazon customer
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