Giuseppe Verdi - Falstaff (Herbert Von Karajan - His Legacy for Home Video)

Rating:
Summary: An excellent Falstaff performance
Review: This is a live 1982 production of Verdi's last opera, at the Salzburg festival with Herbert von Karajan conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker. The singers are Giuseppe Tadei (Sir John Falstaff), Raina Kabaivanska (Alice Ford), Rolando Panerai (Ford), Francisco Araiza (Fenton) and Christa Ludwig (Quickly).
Musically, the performance is excellent and the stage is finely designed, specially the forest in the third act. Video quality is high and sound quality is good. I highly recommend this recording of Verdi's probably best opera.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent DVD at a bargain price
Review: This is one of the best performances of Falstaff that I have seen. The singing, acting, and conducting are all first rate, and the the convential staging is very effective. And all that comes at a price much lower than other DVDs.

Rating:
Summary: SENSATIONAL!
Review: What a delightful experience, this video or DVD! The cast is A-One! The names GiuseppeTaddei and Raina Kabaivanska conjure up dramatic roles such as Scarpia and Tosca along with Christa Ludwig, ever dramatic as well. Yet, here they all are showing fantastic abilities with grand comedy! A highlight for this listener is the patter-type quartet of Alice Ford, Meg, Quickly, and the lovely Nanetta, daughter of the Fords. Taddei is beyond superb! The flirtatious scene between Mistress Alice and Sir John Falstaff is so cleverly done, it is almost "naughty ". Kataivanska and Taddei are marvelous together. The scene of the cloying Dame Quickly (Christa Ludwig), as she lures Falstaff to his "tryst" with Alice and/or Meg, is one of the most hilarious scenes in all comic opera! Rolando Panero, is wonderful, in frustrated anguish imagining his lovely wife planning a tryst with this buffoon, Falstaff! As for the buffoon, few, if any basso, struts and minces quite like Taddei! Shakespeare would have thoroughly appreciated the masterful music setting Verdi made of his "Merry Wives of Windsor," and parts of "Henry IV." Verdi, in turn, would have fallen in love with Maestro von Karagan and this brilliant cast of super artists! Surely there has been no more SENSATIONAL performance than this one! Opera devotee or not, if you like Shakespeare, surely you will enjoy this!