Description: It was the celebration of the century, a party of truly operatic proportion. On the one-hundredth anniversary of the Metropolitan Opera, almost one-hundred of the world's leading singers and conductors performed some of the most brilliant arias and ensembles in two separate programs. Conductor: James Levine. The Metropolitan Opera and Chorus.
Hail, hail, the gang's all here! This is a wonderful DVD for showing family or friends why you like "great singing."
This gala performance celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Metropolitan Opera--and they do it in a way they can be proud of.
There is more talent assembled on this stage than you can imagine!
A quick glimpse:
Roberta Peters stands out in the sextet from Lucia di Lammermoor, as she hits the high notes with grace and ease.
Kiri te Kanawa presents Mozart as only she can do it.
James McCracken brings down the house with his impassioned singing of Otello--it requires a (seemingly interminable) several seconds for him to recompose himself from his anguished aria about Desdemona.
Alfredo Kraus and Catherine Malfitano sing Romeo and Juliet with such passion and love that it is not at all difficult to imagine them as the young star-crossed young lovers.
Nicolai Gedda sings Una Furtiva Lagrima--Donizetti would be applauding!
It's just one memorable aria after another!
Jose Carreras and Montserrat Caballe with POWERFUL singing...
The trio from Gounod's Faust will bring tears to your eyes--how can that melody be repeated so many times and still affect us so?!
This is just one supreme performance after another, and I haven't even mentioned the performances of Pavarotti and Leontyne Price, Birgit Nilsson's Isolde, or the fabulous ballet baccanale from Samson and Delilah.
At the end, all these talented performers appear together on stage, and sing a refrain of "Happy Birthday to You, Metropolitan Opera." It may sound corny, but when you look upon the tremendous appearance of so much talent together at one time on that immense stage, it is moving.
Invite yourself--and some friends who enjoy great music--to this consummate musical feast!
The greatest show on earth First of all, I would like to thank Amazon and Pioneer Classics for bring us the chance of enjoy such a wonder like this "Centennial Gala" in DVD format. I love classical music, and of course, I adore the opera. And this is the perfect ocassion to FEEL and ENJOY the talent of all the magnificent artists that keep music alive. There is only one objection I would like to say about this DVD edition. I understand that the gala was too long and cuts must be done, but I wouldn't mind paying more money as long as I would have the entire gala, because is in my opinion, an unequalled celebration. For example, there was a magnificent quintet of Bizet's Carmen with excelent voices of members of the Met, which is not included in this DVD release. I'm sorry but mutilations like these are not wellcome. As student of a Music Conservatory and pianist, I consider that this marvelous Gala must be released ABSOLUTELY COMPLETE, in two or three DVDs if it's necessary. Anyway, thanks again for give us the opportunity of enjoy the Centennial Gala: the greatest show on earth of all times.
I could have watched the whole thing -- I could have watched the whole thing, which lasted for six hours, but for some reason the people who put out both the video and the DVD decided to trim it by two hours. Why? Since this was a once-in-a-lifetime celebration, why cut a third of it? I taped this myself when it was originally broadcast, so I have it all, but my enthusiasm for a couple of the very performeances that were edited out have created some slight damage to those parts of my twenty year-old tape. I hoped I'd find the complete performance when I bought this, and was really disgusted when I realized how much had been cut. Among many others that I have often enjoyed were: the sextet (or is it the septet) from La Italiana in Algeri, with the wonderful Edda Moser doing her high notes, Ara Berberian sounding out like a bass drum; Neil Shicoff and the Met male chorus doing the Kleinzach song from Les Contes d'Hoffmann. this was the first time I ever saw Shicoff and I was a fan of his from that point. If I'd been given the choice of who or what to cut, I could have found some performances I could have lived without, but for this special occasion, I would really have voted to leave them all in. When will we see their like again?
Great sound I second all the positive reviews posted here. As for the few who claim this DVD has bad sound...check your DVD player, nothing's wrong with the DVD. Maybe the player just won't play this DVD, I don't know, perhaps you have an old model. I love this DVD, it has most of my favorite singers and they're all wonderful!
Journey to Valhalla !!! This was my 1st dvd purchase.For this operaphile, this is the Mount Olympus of the arts. The performances were extraordinary.Vocal mastery was in abundance.It's difficult to single out specific exemplary performances.The phenomenal Eva Marton set the mood with her searing version of "In questa Reggia". The collaboration of Battle,Von Stade& Soderstrom for the ethereal final trio from "Der Rosenkavalier".Carreras &Caballe scaling new heights with the finale from "Andrea Chenier".The limpid beauty of Madama Butterfly's Act 1love duet sung to it's zenith by Leona Mitchell & Giuliano Ciannella. The list goes on & on. 4 hours of pure listening pleasure. The fashion police ,however,must have been on stakeout at the other end of town. money well spent!!!
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