Verdi - La Traviata / Richard Eyre, Solti, Gheorghiu, Lopardo, Nucci, ROH Covent Garden

Rating:
Summary: magnificient production, both visually and sonically
Review: I have been a fan of Gheorghiu since I heard her Verdi heroines. She is probably one of the best Verdians nowadays, singing with great drama and control as well as a beautifully seductive voice. In other words, technique and beauty (both physically and vocally) all in one. It is heaven to simply watch her beautiful face and eyes while listening to her flawless, espressive singing. Therefore this DVD is a must for all her fans and opera fans. The covent garden set is beautifully staged and singers acted very well for a live performance. Recording is superb considering it is a live recording with minimal coughs and other stage/audience noise (Actually one of the best, well balanced live recordings I've heard). Beautifully conducted by Solti, especially the prelude to Act III. The other casts are all excellent. Some may want a more lyrical tenor than Lopardo but he sang with great drama and expression. Nucci is warm and sympathetic. Gypsy dance was entertaining. Make-up is great in that Gheorghiu really looked anaemic in Act III. This is as great as live opera can get, especially when it is so well caught on film.

Rating:
Summary: I loved the interpretation of the opera.
Review: I have other DVDs of the opera that I like better. But this one is wonderful. I enjoyed Gheorghiu's Violetta but the father's voice is just not my favorite. However I will watch it over and over. It is a wonderful opera.

Rating:
Summary: the greatest violetta on video
Review: I must admit that Angela is Violetta. Not only is she very beautiful and delicate in the role, her voice is perfect for the part. She sings every note perfectly. Alfredo and Germont were both pretty horrible. Alfredo was decent until the third act in which he drags down angela's incredible death scene. Germont looks totally bored the whole time and actually seems quite rude when he is paying attention. What a horrible choice! This DVD is totally worth it even so if only for Angela's amazing violetta. You've got to see her.

Rating:
Summary: It IS Traviata !!!
Review: I think if maestro Verdi would be in life he would glad to see this production. It is very enjoyable, perfectly singing masterpiece. Everybody who has to be young by libretto is young, Gheorghiu is amazingly pretty and [cute], she signs and looks with sparks in the eyes: she is really Traviata. The production is not just nice performed but perfectly recorded and shows both video and audio quality something of the best available. I do recommend getting this one. I think that everybody who has seen this one would support my opinion that stage decorations and costumes are something that was done with lot of knowledge and artistic vision. Nothing is distracting; nothing pops up but makes the stage unforgettable.

Rating:
Summary: Bravo!!!
Review: I watched this on TV many years ago, and watched over and over again and I'm sure this was very sensational for opera fans and musicians. When Sir Georg Solti died I was so sad because I wanted to go to his opera. The difficult things about opera is that it should be great in both music and also drama (act).This is perfect in both. Gheorghiu was especially good. I cannot find better "La Traviata" than this. This is my favorite!

Rating:
Summary: Bravo!!!
Review: I watched this on TV many years ago, and watched over and over again and I'm sure this was very sensational for opera fans and musicians. When Sir Georg Solti died I was so sad because I wanted to go to his opera. The difficult things about opera is that it should be great in both music and also drama (act).This is perfect in both. Gheorghiu was especially good. I cannot find better "La Traviata" than this. This is my favorite!

Rating:
Summary: simply a masterpiece
Review: I'm not an expert when it comes to opera. I can hum along to a few songs here and there, but that's really the extent. But I came home one day and saw this playing on TV, and soon found myself completely enchanted. I did not move for the next hour. The sets are absolutely gorgeous, grave and imposing, hightening the emotions of the story, mirroring the luscious and breathtaking score of Verdi's. I've since seen bits and pieces of other sopranos' renditions of Violetta, yet none have moved me moreso than Gheorghiu, none have come close to capturing the character heart and soul. The BBC was right to have filmed this production; it deserves to live on.

Rating:
Summary: Divine.... almost
Review: If you're going to have one Traviata, this probably should be the one. That said, the Stratas/Domingo/MacNeil/Levine is right up there with it. Georghiu is stunning and just at the moment, my favorite Violetta. The "almost" was that she wasn't always spot on -- but so what? This is a live performance and I long for live as opposed to studio; it's the closet I'm going to get to the Real Thing.

The staging is on the spare side, but preferrable to what else is out there as tastelessly fussy. The costume designer outside him-/herself and Violetta is dressed with elegant simplicity -- even her nightgown is more a night shirt and points up how sick she is. And unlike McLaughlin's dying note given at full volume, Georghiu's is (more) believable.)

(As an aside, remember when Zefferelli twitted Callas about that note because she mostly cracked on it? She said: "I'm DYING, for God's sake.)

Buy this DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Solti & Gheorghiu wins hands down!!
Review: In the La Traviata stakes, Sir Georg Solti & Angela Gheorghiu wins hands down!! Solti's conducting is full of special insights into Verdi that I've never heard before. Gheorghiu's glorious soprano is fabulous!! She has some vocal flaws, namely, a tendency to go sharp at the top, but her performance is so fantastic that this is just nitpicking. I would exchange all the other performances with perfect notes for Gheorghiu's incredible Violetta.

Rating:
Summary: This performance made Gheorghiu a star
Review: It's rare that when a "star is born" the cameras or tape-recorders capture the moment. Luckily, it happens often enough. Angela Gheorghiu's performance as Violetta in this Covent Garden production catapulted her to stardom. This was before she married Roberto Alagna, before her reputation as a demanding and capricious diva often overshadowed her formidable talent.
La Traviata is not my favorite opera, often because I think many Violettas simply overact the part. In Act I, they toss around champagne glasses and prance around the room during "Sempre libera." In Act II they sob, sob, sob. In Act III, they cough, cry, run around the stage wildly, and finally faint in true diva fashion as the curtains come down. It becomes affected rather than affecting. Gheorghiu's Violetta, OTOH, is surprisingly simple and touching. Her great physical beauty is a help, but so is the timbre of her voice. She's a lyric soprano, but her voice has a dark and slightly husky timbre, that on its own suggests a woman who's been around the block and slightly consumptive.
Her colleagues are not up to her level. I've seen Frank Lopardo three times, and each time has been a thoroughly miserable experience. His voice is small, sour, and he IMO fails to convey the sweetness and naivete the best Alfredos can project. Leo Nucci is a brusque, dry-voiced Germont. The production is simple and lovely, and lacks the gaudiness of a Zefferelli production. Georg Solti is the conductor, and he insists on singing the score note-complete. This is a good idea in theory but in practice Germont's cabaletta after "Di provenza" is pretty boring, as is a completely uncut "Parigi o cara."
But in short, get this video for Angela Gheorghiu. While I might quibble with some things here and there (she's not a natural coloratura, and thus "Sempre libera" lacks the deadly accuracy of, say, Maria Callas) overall she's the best Violetta on video by far.