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by briefsboy
26 Aug, 2020
great opera - great singing
the singing is first rate and holds up well against the current crop of 'stars'. had no idea this was out there and would've gotten it sooner to replace my bootleg cassette made live from the texaco broadcasts - interrupted by the tape flip over and everything. it's fun to hear Pavarotti struggling with the most basic fioritura in his 1st act aria - and he was a lousy actor - none of them were great; but in those days The Voice was The Thing and this recording captures an amazing Saturday at the Met. So again, keep your hair on, but Pav is a bit of a light weight in this music - but he still gave it his all in those days and is adequate - thank goodness he wasn't paired with Sutherland. I think he was probably better in Puccini where you can coast on the beauty of the music - his inability to read music hurts him here because of the importance of rhythm in Verdi. Leona Mitchell where are you? what happened to you? The clear heir to the Leontyne Price legacy - the same bell like top, the use of soaring portamenti - and the voice just freakin pours out of her in a limitless stream of pure distortionless clear clean sound. Levine could have helped her out a bit more by slowing tempi down here and there but she keeps up and her coloratura remains largely intact. Viscerally thrilling. Passionate use of her voice - carries the drama of Verdi wonderfully. Saw her in recital - she signed pics. A great voice - a lovely woman. Milnes and Raimondi are both incredible - pure vocal testosterone - don't know if it's in the score, but Milnes hits what must be an A/A flat? - that couldn't be right but I can hit an F and I couldn't sing along with him - in his act iii aria, they just don't make em like that anymore - well mariusz kwiechen and ildar abdarazakov maybe. again, listen to Milnes and Raimondi - you feel the underlying pulse of the music - the underlying rhythm. sets and costumes are horrible/horribly dated - the plastic pearls in Elvira's headpieces really show in close up; sometimes she looks like a wedding cake [an 80's wedding cake]. sound isn't as good as how they do it now, but it's fine. Verdi is refining his craft here and beginning to compose cohesive ensemble-like operas and everybody doing their bit here is what makes this work. This is his Lucia di Lammermoor without as much coloratura - he must've seen a revival when he started on this - I'm sure I'm right about that influence. god what a great opera - if only it didn't have such a ridiculous story line - Trovatore is no better so I don't get why it's more popular - this is so much more awesome.
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
by konica_fancier_101
18 Jun, 2021
!st class singing but a casting stretch, for the age of some of the performers
The jewel case includes two booklets: one is titled "Opera Ballet Concerts on DVD," which is an advertisement, listing the items available, through DECCA, for opera and ballet DVDs and the other is titled "Ernani," which provides photos of the performance and the libretto. This is a recording, in 4:3 format, of a live performance, with, unfortunately, all of the audience reactions, plus all of the unnecessary and annoying views of the orchestra pit. While the opera is sung, at a class A level, with everyone at or near his/her vocal peak, casting paunchy Pavarotti, as a young, vibrant, muscular outlaw and middle-aged, Leona Mitchell, as a young girl of the Aragon family of Spain, does make for more than a minor stretch of the imagination. Nonetheless, this performance is a keeper, if for nothing else but the quality of the singing. The quality of this Decca label release is much superior, visually and vocally, to the later PC label release of the same performance.
Verified purchase: YesCondition: New

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Ernani (DVD, 1983)

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great opera - great singing

!st class singing but a casting stretch, for the age of some of the performers

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