Verdi - Simon Boccanegra / Levine, Te Kanawa, Metropolitan Opera

Rating:
Summary: A pleasure to ears and eyes
Review: I am really happy when i got an Opera DVD and one can note the difference between it and a Vhs. If we compare this opera with Karajan's Don Giovanni or Levines's Aida, the colors and the definition is ten times better.
Levine great as always. Chernov is a great baritone, and has a perfect look for the role he is mading. Domingo and Kanawa do a very good job either. I am not very happy with Lloyd's Fiesco. I could assure that he isn't even a real bass, when he finishes his aria "Ill laccerato spirito" you can note that his low F (the last note of the aria) is almost mute. I dont mind when a bass baritone sings a Mozart or Rossini's bass part, but when we are talking about Verdi, you need a real bass. He is a really good actor, so that saves him a little. In overall the performance is great and the chorus is well sung too.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic and moving
Review: I love almost everything about this opera production. Chernov is a great Boccanegra, and the more I see the dying scenes, the greater I think he is. I was ready to hate Domingo as a young lover. But you know, once I listened, I forgot all about Domingo being older than Simone (Chernov). What he makes of the part is amazing, especially since it's not a very graceful character at all. Te Kanawa is very affecting and very good as Amelia. Their singing the parts of young lovers so well made me realize what great artists they both are. When Amelia and Simone find one another, the moment is magical and perfect.
Robert Lloyd was a very good Fiesco and when he and Simone were reconciled, it was a very powerful moment. THis scene is tremendous and the singers act very effectively here. Two fighting men reconciling --- in essence, a son and his father (in law). It is a great moment here; the singers show how important the moment is, without overplaying it either. Even Fiesco's embrace as Simone falls when he is dying, is exactly right because of course someone must catch Simone as he falls and it is right and necessary that it be Fiesco who has wanted him dead all this time. It made me think of how happy Romeo and Juliet could be if their families would stop warring.
Every scene was thoughtfully done and seemed right. If every production of this opera were this good, it would be among the most popular of Verdi's operas. It certainly is for me, and that's saying something given how crazy I am about Verdi!

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic and moving
Review: I love almost everything about this opera production. Chernov is a great Boccanegra, but I actually preferred Sherrill Milnes' more restrained dying in the last scenes, though in ALL other respects I prefer Chernov's performance (better singer, better actor). I was ready to hate Domingo as a young lover. But you know, once I listened, I forgot all about Domingo being older than Simone (Chernov). What he makes of the part is amazing, especially since it's not a very graceful character at all. Te Kanawa is very affecting and very good as Amelia. Their singing the parts of young lovers so well made me realize what great artists they both are. When Amelia and Simone find one another, the moment is magical and perfect.
Robert Lloyd was a very good Fiesco and when he and Simone were reconciled, it was a very powerful moment. Two fighting men reconciling --- in essence, a son and his father (in law). It is a great moment here; the singers show how important the moment is, without overplaying it either. Even Fiesco's embrace as Simone falls when he is dying, is exactly right because of course someone must catch Simone as he falls and it is right and necessary that it be Fiesco who has wanted him dead all this time. It made me think of how happy Romeo and Juliet could be if their families would stop warring.
Every scene was thoughtfully done and seemed right. If every production of this opera were this good, it would be among the most popular of Verdi's operas. It certainly is for me, and that's saying something given how crazy I am about Verdi!

Rating:
Summary: A Good Traditional Boccanegra
Review: In keeping with a lot of MET productions this is largely traditional. No surprises here. It is well sung even though Te Kanawa is near the end of her career. Domingo does his usual excellent work. Chernov is a great singing actor in the title role. The sound is excellent; the orchestra under James Levine is a known quality. Here he allows the music breathing space, not pushing forward as he can do. Easily preferable to the only other DVD Simon - an earlier MET production with a much weaker cast.

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the best performance of a Verdi opera at the Met
Review: It is a tribute to my love of this production, which I already owned on video, that it was one of my first purchases on the DVD format. Like many people,I have long regarded Simon Boccanegra as a masterpiece on the same level as Otello and Falstaff, and indeed Verdi returned to revise much of the music and libretto after he had completed the former.
Here, each of the principals gives a marvellously involved performance, and the criticisms which can apply to some Met productions about a lack of dramatic credibility, fall by the wayside - del Monaco knows his job and, though traditional, presents a totally believable and visually sumptuous slice of late Renaissance Genoa.
Levine offers a lucid and fluent account of the score, tender and poetic in the scenes between Chernov and te Kanawa, majestic and implaccable with the entrance of Lloyd - without doubt the most moving and sonorous Fiesco I have ever seen.
Domingo defies age, and presents a totally credible Quattrocento figure. He sings with beautiful mezza voce tone in the first duet with te Kanawa and virile splendour in his aria and elsewhere, with only the slightest hint of strain towards the end.
Kiri is vocally pristine as Amelia and her physical beauty is as important an asset in this role as it was as Desdemona - the role of her Met debut.
The virtual disapperance of Chernov after these performances is, to me, incomprehensible. Perhaps his essentially lyric baritone was too slender for the House, but as recorded here he offers a Boccanegra of insight, depth and vulnerabilty. He is a subtler actor than either Milnes or the late, great Cappuccilli, even if he lacks their ringing tones in the Council Chamber scene.I defy anyone with a heart to remain unmoved in his final duet with Lloyd.
I cannot recommend the experience of this performance highly enough. May it convert many people to opera on DVD, Simon Boccanegra, and, above all, Verdi.

Rating:
Summary: Tutti Brava
Review: Simon Boccanegra is greatly underappreciated. For the patient listener, it is an inestimable treasure. The opera may not be ecspecially tuneful, but its epic plot and moving composition, place it at the top of Verdi's Operas.
This production has no weak points, it delivers everwhere. First Chernov in the Title role. His voice is very french, with a nasal edge and quick vibrato. He is a Lyric Baritone, which worked very well. Simone is not a powerful and willing leader, he is a man of peace and reflection, who hates shows of force. He is an extremely concilliatory Doge, with a romantic heart. His place as Doge was taken only for the sake of his love for Maria. His Lyrical baritone made the character vulnerable and sypathetic. this something that Milnes could not do with his boccanegra. I cannot imagine the role acted more perfectly, Chernov pulls at your heartstrings all evening.
Robert Lloyd as Fiesco was very convincing. he was indeed a "real" bass (I heard his F just fine.) more importatly he is an exemplary actor. Whether playing the enraged old man, desperatley wishing for vengance, or the supplicant father, Lloyd is hauntingly convincing.
Bruno Pola deserves his own section as the evil Paolo. His is a baritone of great power. He can easily overpower the more lyric voice of Chernov which is extremely dramatically effective. From a dramatic standpoint, he is a short, fat, man, who was very evocative of the evil character. He was a perfect Paolo.
Te Kanawa sang very well as Amelia. It is almost stunning how her beauty completely belies her age. She does not look, or sound, old. She is a really wonderul Amerlia.
Domingo is the only bother visually. He is, and looks, 55. At first he looks silly in his youthful armor embracing Amelia. However, he sounds fabulous. And as the opera continues, you forget that he is old. He continues to act and sing like a 30 year old, and by the 2nd act you begin to believe him. his aria is Picture Perfect.
Enjoy this operatic treasure

Rating:
Summary: Flawless
Review: SIMON BOCCANEGRA is one of Verdi's most difficult operas to pull of successfully. First of all, unlike most operas, it is not a love story. Though the relationship between Amelia and Gabrielle is profiled here, it is not the focal point of the plot. Furthermore, there is a constant somber mood that covers the entire opera. Still, this opera is Verdi at his best. The music is haunting and powerful, the plot interesting and touching.
THis production, taped at the Met in 1995 is just about as good as you'll see anywhere. Too often we hear of operas "golden age," a time when an opera like this could be cast without a weak link. Well, the same thing goes here. There are four amazing singers under the direction of a great Verdi conductor.
Vladimir Chernov uses is powerful baritone to the full effect here and proves himself to be a terrific Verdi singer. He is also one hell of an actor, to boot! Robert Lloyd sings just as well as Fiesco, but acts even better than Chernov. When he is on stage, one feels that the opera is about him. In it is true luxury casting to have Kiri Te Kanawa and Placido Domingo as the young lovers. OK, so both of them were in their fifties at this point and hardly look like young lovers, but still, their voices sound as youthful as ever and it is a treat!
Levine brings alot out of the orchestra and his conducting shows true mastery, particularly in the Council Chamber scene.
The production, by Gian Carlo del Monaco, is colorful at times, dark and somber at other times- how perfect for an opera such as this!