Leoncavallo - I Pagliacci & Mascagni - Cavalleria Rusticana - Vickers, Kabaivanska - KarajanDVD9 - NTSC - 4:3 - All Regions - PCM, DTS - 146'25 -
Subtitles: Italian/English/German/French/Spanish/Chinese
Deutsche Grammophon 073 4389 0 - released 2008
Raina Kabaivanska · Jon Vickers · Peter Glossop · Rolando Panerai
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala · Herbert von Karajan
Staged by Paul Hager · Video Director Herbert von Karajan
A very fine "Cavalleria rusticana" coupled with a truly great "Pagliacci" combine to make this a very worthy DVD . . . Those recordings revealed Karajan to be a master of the verismo style, combining beautiful long phrase building with rhythmic tension and incisiveness . . . In Jon Vickers, Karajan chose one of the greatest portrayers of Canio in the second half of the 20th century . . . What a gigantic portrayal this is -- and how magnificently sung as well. We are fond of noting that Vickers did not have a traditional Italianate voice, but he sings this music with a perfect sense of style, and with his uniquely rich and varied sound that always seems to settle on the right color for the moment. This is a performance of, to be honest, historic dimension. Kabaivansky lightens her voice marvelously for Nedda, and shows herself to be an equally strong actor. In fact, all of the singers are superb -- Glossop manages to scare you and make you feel sorry for Tonio at the same time, and Panerai sings the big duet with Nedda glowingly. The conducting is, as noted above, magnificent, and the Scala forces play with inspiration and a quality not usually associated with them. This "Pagliacci" involves you from its first chords -- and is in my view one of the classic opera films ever made . . . You should not miss this video. --Record Review / Henry Fogel, Fanfare (Tenafly, NJ) / 01. July 2008
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Thanx to Christine for the cover!
