Rating: 
Summary: Don't just stand there!
Review: A beautiful production! But let us not forget that Opera is theatre and not just singing. The sound is magnificent and the tableaux are breathtaking but the drama is lacking. I can't help but compare it to Ponnelle's film from the 70s. [I wish it were out on DVD!] That was even MORE baroque in its look but there was action, where there needed to be, and people standing there singing, where that needed to be [Ponnelle was a master at this]But, since this is my favorite opera [well actually "Le Nozzi" is my fave....this is 2nd] I am delighted to have a beautiful, rich and excellently sung version even if they do just stand there.
Rating:
Summary: Come on,Montserrat!Let us hear Orfeo!
Review: Barcelona Gran Liceu's audience beheld a lavish Orfeo
production by Gilbert Deflo and his sensitive partner
William Orlandi;beautiful settings,lighting,mirrors,
Monteverdi dresses to Savall and his musicians and so on.
However,to the music...Zanasi's pleasant timbre,steady
performance lacks passion and testosterona;maybe Orfeo
had some sexual disturbance in this production(well,he
is a demi-god)but Zanasi sings a beautiful "Possente
Spirto" and the whole act five,anyway.Sumptuous voices
shined on stage;what a perfect Apollo by Fulvio Bettini,
Sara Mingardo and that excellent Proserpina by Adriana
Fernandez who can touches all hellish forces better than
Orfeo himself!A huge mistake on booklet(unbelievable this
sort of things nowadays);brazilian soprano MarÃlia Vargas
was Ninfa,not Eco!Turk is the best sheppard in the ensemble
but Carlos Mena is a so feeble countertenor that he endangers
the trio.I'm sorry,I just can't help to warn you;Figueras is
the worse Musica I ever heard.Her ragged voice,that dragged
tempo,obviously to stay a bit more on stage just slew all beauties on overture.Musicians are among the best in the world,
including superstar Andrew Lawrence King on the double harp;
each one of them get involved at the most superior way with Monteverdi masterpiece.You'll disagree some "tempo" by Savall just like I do,probably;slowly and slowly again. So,listen my advice;this is a very fine DVD;skip Figueras and enjoy Orfeo!
Rating: 
Summary: Great Props bad singing.
Review: Great props. Bag singing..im selling it back to amoeba records in Los Angeles.
Rating: 
Summary: A desert-island opera DVD
Review: It is wonderful to find an opera DVD without any noticeable flaws! The picture and sound quality are great. A real relief of a DVD as so many operas being performed today try to modernize the setting and costumes (turning the opera into a grotesque spectacle that is unbearable to watch).
This DVD has good bonus features, too. Highly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful, but dull, ultimately disappointing.
Review: It's terrible to see something so painstakingly beautiful yet so dramatically inert. Musically there is much to enjoy. Visually, as lovely as the costumes, settings, etc. are, I found this Orfeo to be a crashing bore.
Mr. Zanasi's Orfeo, while at times beautifully sung, is almost comical, looking more like a plump, Spanish businessman at a costume party and his acting is close to nil.
Trish Brown's stunning, minimalist production of Orfeo with the simply amazing Simon Keenlyside dancing and singing the title role with Brown's dance company was shown throughout Europe on television (and available on inferior quality pirate DVD), is far and away more moving, equally musical (Rene Jacobs and an early music ensemble) and would be a better choice for DVD release than this production.
Very disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding production of Monteverdi's masterpiece
Review: Jordi Savall is well known in early music circles for combining sound scholarship with high creativity, and this production of L'Orfeo is an example of Savall at his best. The sets and costumes evoke Monteverdi's era well, the choreography is based on the art of the time, and the singing and playing are magnificent. One might have liked a little more dashing Orfeo, but overall this is a refreshing change from the self-indulgent postmodern reinterpretations of Baroque operas one often sees. If you like L'Orfeo, you'll probably like this production.
Rating:
Summary: Scholarly, luxury production.
Review: Savall may be today's grand guru of the "historically aware" musical production scene, and conducts here a recent, indeed sumptuous production of this masterwork from Barcelona's Liceo opera house. The theatre was ravaged by a fire some years ago and has been recontructed magnificently. Savall makes use of his catalonian forces one frequently encounters in his recordings and they rise magnificently to the occasion, producing a scholarly and thoroughly convincing, from the philological perspective, rendering. His singers are a varied lot. Montserrat Figueras, Mrs Savall in real life, opens up the proceedings as a very convincing La Musica, if somewhat over-acted. The Orfeo, a singer I face up for the first time (Furio Zanasi), gives a beatifully vocalised Orfeo that is utterly wanting on the acting side, apparently being more concerned with an impeccable mastering of the work's vocal intricacies than in projecting his character on stage in a convincing manner; the "possente spirto" passage is precious, though. The Euridice is given nepotically to Savall and Figueras's young daughter Arianna, who is not very convincing as the unfortunate girl that prompts Orfeo's rescue excursion into hell. She has a likeable voice but has still to develop her skills; in my view, there are in the market far better candidates for the rôle Savall might have chosen. The jewel in the crown is the Messenger, soprano Sara Mingardo, ravishingly poignant when bringing the news of Euridice's death, her voice soaring all over the vast venue and superbly acted. The supporting rôles are well cast and sung, and the Act 1 dancers do their fare effectively. The production by flemish régisseur Gilbert Deflo is, as I said in the introductory sentences, luxurious and all-encompassing and resembles a similar one that Spanish TV (TVE) broadcast by satellite to the world in 2000 from Madrid's Royal Theatre that I don't recall if is also his; in Barcelona it surprises you from its very beginning as Savall's enters from the back of the stalls, period-dressed and deliberately walking towards the pit to impetuously launch the proceedings, with musicians in charge of the famous opening fanfare distributed in various places in the hall and balconies. Sound quality has the spectacularity one has grown to expect from this source.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful production
Review: This is a wonderful production of an early Baroque opera. It's performed on period instruments (by costumed musicians) and the singing is very good. The staging is Baroque (no post-modern silliness here) and the singing is very good. It's a real gem of a production.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful production
Review: This is a wonderful production of an early Baroque opera. It's performed on period instruments (by costumed musicians) and the singing is very good. The staging is Baroque (no post-modern silliness here) and the singing is very good. It's a real gem of a production.
Rating:
Summary: the essence of Orfeo
Review: What a great performance of L'Orfeo! It moved me a lot more than I thought it would! The singing is impeccable, though I would've preferred more extensive ornamenting by the soloists, the musicians are absolutely magnificent, and the visual effects are also stunning! A collaboration like this with so many world class musicians does not happen all the time. I recommend this for anyone who complains that baroque opera is boring or stale.
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