World Famous Comics: Günther Schneider-Siemssen Verdi - Il Trovatore / Domingo, Kabaivanksa, Cossotto, Cappuccilli, van Dam, Zednik, von Karajan, Vienna Opera
Günther Schneider-Siemssen Verdi - Il Trovatore / Domingo, Kabaivanksa, Cossotto, Cappuccilli, van Dam, Zednik, von Karajan, Vienna Opera
Starring: Fiorenza Cossotto, Raina Kabaivanska, Jose van Dam, Plácido Domingo Directed By: Günther Schneider-Siemssen Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Format: Classical, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Tdk DVD Video Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: November 16, 2004 Running Time: 151 minutes Theatrical Release Date: 1978
Description: Opera lovers worldwide will rejoice in, this first ever release of Karajan’s final Trovatore, featuring Plácido Domingo on DVD. Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989) not only conducted the opera, but he was also responsible for the stage direction. The recording was very rarely broadcast and this DVD draws on the original tapes held by Austrian Television (ORF). These have been extensively restored using state of the art technology. Thus this gem from the archives can now be enjoyed on DVD with enhanced sound and picture quality and the opera stars of this production shine in renewed splendour. Picture Format: 16:9 • Sound Format: LPCM Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
superb Fortunately, most of the people agree with me. This performance is superb including Kabaivanska voice. The best I've ever heard. Voices and orchestra are excellent.
Politely passionate I cannot share the general admiration for this performance. Bernard Shaw once wrote of Trovatore, "It has tragic power, poignant melancholy, impetuous vigor, and a sweet and intense pthos that never loses its dignity. It is swift in action and perfectly homogeneous in atmosphere and feeling." What I miss in the present performance is the picaresque sweep that Shaw's words imply. The singing is unquestionably superb, the orchestral playing is fine as such. The principals convey much of the passion vocally but the overall impression is of a sort of housebroken Verdi. Trovatore is an early forerunner, to my mind, of "La Forza del Destino" with its tapestry of gypsy camps, convents , army camps. In fact it is the chorus scenes in this performance that are the biggest letdown: around one anvil in the gypsy camp the gypsies wander around aimlessly, sipping genteelly at their wine (a few look bored), mildly interested in the musings of crazy Azucena(who really is in the spirit of the thing!); the nuns in the next scene are mildly peturbed at the incursion of all these soldiers. (The fight as the curtain descends the is the only staging that conveys any of the energy that the rest so sadly lacks.) The army camp scene is ridiculous: "Now we play at dice" sing di Luna's troops...all in serried ranks neatly assembled; a flag in the background shows the only movement! The whole production is too polite and thus in a sense wildly misguided. To vary the old admonition, this a Trovatore that should be heard and not seen.
An Excellent Performance This is an excellent performance overall. Cappuccilli is an impressive Count, both on voice and acting. Cossotto is a superb Azucena, comparable to her unsurpassable recording for Mehta with Domingo and Price. Domingo in fine voice sings and acts with remarkable comfort and realism. Kabaivanska one of the most beautiful visually Leonoras, sings with soul and passion. Stage direction could have benefited from a professional director; Karajan's direction is conventional, concert style. Needless to say, however, his conducting is magical.
The picture quality on 32" and larger screens is mediocre at times. Occasionally, you have the impression that you are watching the performance through a curtain of fog; colors are not always sharp and vivid.
Notwithstanding the minor criticisms, which are not related to the musical performance, this is an excellent piece of artwork.
DECEPTION. DO NOT BUY What a disappointment this Trovatore and what a waste of great and talented singers. All because of the awful and slow direction of Karajan and a bad chosen Leonora.
It is well known that Kabaivanska was one of Karajan's favorite sopranos, but that does not allow him to ruin what could have been one of the perfect Trovatores with the one sung by Corelli-Price-Simionato-Bastianini, also directed by Karajan and also slow but not extremelly as this.
Mr Jose van Dam is in all aspects an artist and a gentleman. He has a pretty and wonderful voice and technique. He gives the small role of Ferrando heights as I have never seen or heard in any other Trovatore. He is really a great singer and here is the proof. I am lucky to have seen him live, singing Les Contes d'Hoffmann and it is really a pleasure.
Piero cappuccilli is a good conte di Luna. but his voice was never specially beautiful. For me Dimitri Hvorostovsky is the best conte di luna that I have heard, in the Trovatore sung at the ROH wtih Villarroel, Cura and Naef.
Placido Domingo is great as Manrico, with a beautiful baritonal voice but with some difficulties singing Di quella pira. He is outstanding, specially in the duets with Cossotto's Azucena. Both seems to be uncomfortable with the slow tempi of the orchestra and had to slow down their singing, mainly in the duets (sounds like lullaby) of the second act where the orchestra played extremelly slow.
Fiorenza Cossotto is really a great Azucena. Her dark chest voice and her technique allows her to sing a perfect and memorable Azucena. Simionato is the greatest and I guess the voice verdi was thinking of for that role. The only problem with her was that the slow tempi of the orchestra made her visible uncomfortable.
Raina Kabaivanska is a good singer but for Butterfly and other verismo operas, but not at all for Leonora. Her voice and her visible trill difficulties (maybe this caused the slow orchetral direction), if she had some trill, made her an awful Leonora, mainly in the first act. I have to recognize that she sang a very good and sweet D'amor sull'ali rosee. but that's not enough.
The stage and costumes and direction are correct, but so dark that sometimes is difficult to distinguish the singers and that darkness contributes to a bad DVD image.
The remastered sound to DTS is not good, mainly dark, not clear and sometimes the voices sound far.
The television direction is not good because of many close up (could be for the darkness) and what is worse and ridiculous, the singing in off. I mean with this that, mostly in the duets Manrico-Azucena, one of them was singing but the camera was focused on the other for a long time
Not a Trovatore to buy. I am trying to sell mine. Buy the one taped at the Royal Opera House or the one from Arena di Verona.
Quite good, but shows its age As performances go, this one is quite exciting; I would echo some of the other reviewers in terms of the relative strengths of the singers, but would also credit the theatre audience to some extent for that excitement. You can feel the folks on the edges of their seats, ready to show their appreciation by exploding with applause after the good arias and duets (by the way, unlike the Met, they--the audience at the Vienna City Opera--don't applaud after every single aria, just the ones they love). Domingo is great but doesn't quite know what to do after the Ah Si, ben mio in act 3 when the applause is so sustained. I thought Kabaivanska was a strong, but not greatly engaging, singer, and not the greatest actress. She just didn't quite bring enough passion to the role and appeared to be working too hard.
I was disappointed in the sound quality, although I guess it was about standard for 1978; not bad, but a little rough in places. Apparently, they didn't use parabolic mikes (see my review of La Boheme for a long-winded explanation of miking); there were three mikes above the stage, which show in the video, and several in the orchestra, which also show. I suppose this makes sense for this particular opera, since there are so many choruses. I have an old remastered RCA CD of the same opera, originally cut in 1970, with Domingo and Cossotto in the same roles (Leontyne Price is wonderful in the Leonora role). This CD has MUCH better sound than the subject DVD and gives me more goose bumps.
Apparently this performance has some historical significance in that von Karajan was very keen on TV and video for opera, and Domingo was substituted at the last minute for another singer who didn't work out well.
There are a few weird aspects of the video quality, which was generally ok, but not great. In the garden scene in Act 1, the director decided to put some sort of fabric over the camera lens, which is a little annoying. I'm not sure just what the point was or what we were supposed to think.
Overall, I guess it's worth the money, but if a recent production comes up that has excellent sound quality, you'll probably want to buy that one too.
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