Rating: 
Summary: The greatest Bel Canto opera on DVD
Review: As a life long opera fan, but only familiar with Semiramide from various excerpts I came to this DVD ready to rate it somewhere below The Barber in enjoyment.Boy was I wrong!! The costumes, sets and musical tour de force quite blew me away. Marilyn Horn, June Anderson, Samuel Ramey and especially the Met Orchestra were in top form. Not only is this DVD in wide screen format, but it is an enhanced format for large screen tv's, so that the picture is not all crammed down to the middle. The surround-sound is excellently accomplished, with the orchestra being featured not over and above the singers, but in combination with them. I totally enjoyed this performance, which proved to be a typical Metropolitan Opera show. In other words -- The best that you'll see anywhere. If you don't have ANY other opera in your collection, I would highly recommend this one as the one to get for visually stunning costumes, tremendous sets, great singing, and great orchestral support
Rating:
Summary: Spectacular
Review: As a life long opera fan, but only familiar with Semiramide from various excerpts I came to this DVD ready to rate it somewhere below The Barber in enjoyment. Boy was I wrong!! The costumes, sets and musical tour de force quite blew me away. Marilyn Horn, June Anderson, Samuel Ramey and especially the Met Orchestra were in top form. Not only is this DVD in wide screen format, but it is an enhanced format for large screen tv's, so that the picture is not all crammed down to the middle. The surround-sound is excellently accomplished, with the orchestra being featured not over and above the singers, but in combination with them. I totally enjoyed this performance, which proved to be a typical Metropolitan Opera show. In other words -- The best that you'll see anywhere. If you don't have ANY other opera in your collection, I would highly recommend this one as the one to get for visually stunning costumes, tremendous sets, great singing, and great orchestral support
Rating:
Summary: Best "Semiramide" I've ever seen
Review: Credibility of plot is not the strong point of this opera. It seems that June Anderson (Semiramide) murdered her husband (the late king) and took the throne herself. It turns out that it's all Samuel Ramey's fault (he's Assur). The high priest knows what happened but never tells anyone until Marilyn Horne (Arsace)comes back home (Arsace is Semiramide's son, only he doesn't know that). The ghost of the murdered king shows up to let everybody know that something is seriously wrong (although he doesn't say what). Semiramide decides to marry Arsace, although he already has a girlfriend (somehow, she doesn't recognize her own son). Arsace, seeking revenge on Assur and swinging his sword around in pitch darkness, mistakenly slices up his mother instead (perhaps explaining how she came to be called SEMI-ramide). Astonishingly, she drops dead on the stage without singing another note. Arsace takes a minute or two to feel bad about this before marrying his girlfriend and taking the throne. Don't let any of this put you off; drama does not depend on plot, especially if it's music drama. The Met's production is absolutely terrific and they couldn't have assembled a better cast. June Anderson, for all her flaws, is the best Semiramide since Sutherland; Marilyn Horne, even so late in her career, sings Arsace's music with incomparable bravura; and Samuel Ramey's combination of technique and swagger make him a perfect Assur. The remaining singers are uniformly excellent and James Conlon leads the cast, orchestra and chorus in the best performance of this opera I've ever seen. Rossini's music is, of course, absolutely wonderful. Don't miss this one.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent! Wide screen too!
Review: Despite what Amazon.com says about this DVD, it is indeed widescreen. The aspect ratio is 1.78:1 for you technos out there. Other than that note, I can't really add much else to the other reviews. This performance was wonderful. 220 minutes of Rossini bliss! Mercifully, the audience makes very little noise which helps the viewer get lost in the performance. The digital sound quality was excellent, as was the picture for the most part. Lighting could have been a bit brighter throughout - this seems to be a pervasive problem on these live recordings. I should note that this DVD did not play well on my computer's DVD drive, but worked OK on my television's DVD player.
Rating:
Summary: Great theater superbly sung!
Review: Finally, Rossini's greatest musical drama reaches the dvd screen with a cast and production worthy of the music and its composer. Critics praised Horne's performance but with reservations but the audience had no reservations in its acclaim and I was fortunate to have been at the last performance of the series. Unfortunately I did not enjoy the presence of Anderson and Olson, superior in every way to their replacements. Olson is one of the few bel canto tenors who can sing Rossini without sounding coarse,thin and labored. Olson is like a lighter voiced Vargas. Merritt is out of the running when we have Olsen to sing with such security and beauty. Cuberli was good but Anderson I find stunning in her coloratura, tone and security. No one but Caballe sang it with such security and with even more beauty of tone and timber. The Met never deemed to bless us with Sutherland in the role of Semiramide, (She and Horne made the opera present to the twentieth century. The lack of their presence at the Met in this opera is lamentable but the Met is good at that.) All in all then a peforance to cherish, a real treat! And Ramey is breathtaking in his coloratura, power, declamation with a timber that is velvet wrapt in silk. His "mad scene" in Act II is a tour de force and there is no one I have heard who can touch him in the role of Assur. Horne is astonishing in every category of voice, clarity and sheer beauty. The four leads sing the roulades and leaps with effortless ease with the drama intact. Only Ewa Podles can do this punishingly role any better and the Met doesn't seem to know of her in spite of her concert some seasons ago in a evening of Rossini arias with full orchestra at Carnegie Hall. From all revues that was a performanace for all seasons. The other roles have less time and music but all quit themselve with dignity. Rally no wink link in the cast. Conlon and the Met orchestra perform miracles that are too often taken for granted. This tape performance is better than the performance I saw (they must have been exhausted by the final performance) and we are blessed that this was the one we have on dvd for prosperity. Anyone who hasn't as yet heard this, is in for a vocal, musical and dramatically thrilling evening. Buying it is a personal choice, but hearing it is the duty of anyone loving beautiful music superbly sung, and played with brilliant warmth and musicality. Rossini must be screaming from above with bravos and kudos like the audience on the dvd and at the performance I attended. Probably one of the best dvd's yet to be produced and likely never to be surpassed. The scenes are dark but so was the production in the house. Listen toit! Buy it! Steal it from friend. But by all means hear it and then again. I don't think you'll be sorry.
Rating: 
Summary: One of my favorite opera recordings ever
Review: First off, if you like opera for the drama, you might want to consider skipping any of Rossini's serious works. The stories are interesting enough but I find the dramas seriously lacking. In this video, there is very little action and often the singers are simply standing like cardboard characters as they sing, although occasionally they do liven up and show a smattering of emotion. BUT, BUT, BUT, the singing in this video is absolutely top-rate, all the principal singers being some of the best ever in their roles. At first, I didn't quite feel that way about Anderson, because perhaps she is not quite as exciting as Sutherland or Caballe as Semiramide, but she certainly does a more than acceptable job of the role with her pretty voice and smooth fioratura, and what's more, she looks just lovely. The sets and costumes are wonderful. If you are the kind of person who really loves fancy, yet tasteful coloratura - the kind where the notes are like strands of pearls, with a bare minimum of scoops and slides, you are definitely going to appreciate the singing in this video. Also, if you have never heard this opera, but you like tunes - the toe-tapping, get-in-your-head-and-can't-get-out kind of tunes, you will love this wonderful music. I listened to other recordings of this opera alot before I ever got this video and it was so nice to finally learn what is going on in the opera, AND get a superb audio recording of the opera at the same time. The English subtitles are there, although I had to learn how to make my cheapy dvd player find them.
Rating: 
Summary: Is this Bel Canto ?
Review: I bought this opera and felt that I got burnt. So this is intended as a warning. Rossini's 'Serious" operas are pretty hard for me to take and unless the singing is truly superb, I find them intolerable. They tend to be a long series of routine arias with little action or possibility for action. The men sang well enough, though their parts were relatively minor. Azema (Young-Ok Shin) was so good that I wanted to hear more. But while the title role was sung adequately though in a mannered and occasionally annoying style, the real problem in my ear was the major role of Arsace (Marilyn Horne). The vocal quality was very nasty to my ear and the wobble and inaccuracies in pitch were completely intolerable. Since this a major role, it is impossible to avoid listening to this role. I have trashed my copy and, unless you are a real fan of the principle singers, I don't believe it is worth buying. If Arsace and Semiramide are singing in the Bel Canto style, then this is a style to avoid at all costs.
Rating:
Summary: Is this Bel Canto ?
Review: I bought this opera and felt that I got burnt. So this is intended as a warning. Rossini's 'Serious" operas are pretty hard for me to take and unless the singing is truly superb, I find them intolerable. They tend to be a long series of routine arias with little action or possibility for action. The men sang well enough, though their parts were relatively minor. Azema (Young-Ok Shin) was so good that I wanted to hear more. But while the title role was sung adequately though in a mannered and occasionally annoying style, the real problem in my ear was the major role of Arsace (Marilyn Horne). The vocal quality was very nasty to my ear and the wobble and inaccuracies in pitch were completely intolerable. Since this a major role, it is impossible to avoid listening to this role. I have trashed my copy and, unless you are a real fan of the principle singers, I don't believe it is worth buying. If Arsace and Semiramide are singing in the Bel Canto style, then this is a style to avoid at all costs.
Rating: 
Summary: Gimme a break.....
Review: My first shock was when I found there was no English.... if the review said anything about that, I'd'a chosen something else. But that's not the worst of it -- I can't (so far) find the libretto for the darn thing. But that's still not the worst of it. I went directly to Bel raggio -- and guess what? Jane Anderson's singing is still bloody awful. I had thought, well, MAYBE she used to be somebody. Nope. She never way. Bel canto? You've GOT to be kidding. Okay, so I listened to the familiar overture, then found no English, then zipped to No. 19 to see if Anderson was better than I remembered. Hah! And THAT was after listening with great satisfaction to Bryn and Cecilia from Glyndboune. So Bartoli is a (light) mezzo (coloratura) and not a lyric (coloratura), but the difference in timbre, to say nothing of everything else was astounding to painful. I hope I can return the dratted recording.
Rating:
Summary: Babylon circa 1200 BC
Review: Samuel Ramey's international career began in earnest when he sang the role of Assur in Rossini's "Semiramide" at the 1980 Aix-en-Provence Festival. Two of his co-stars were no slouches, either: Marilyn Horne and Montserrat Caballé. Horne and Ramey both repeat their roles in this 1990 New York Metropolitan Opera version of Rossini's last great dramatic opera, with Horne singing the trousers role of the young hero, Arsace. This is the opera video I'm going to wear out first because the singers are so perfectly cast (and because I'm a Rossini nut). Luckily, I've got a second copy. I also have a video of the Aix-en-Provence "Semiramide," but the tenor was terrible and the costumes were atrocious--almost everyone was dressed up to look like chunks of ancient Assyrian architecture (perhaps because the soprano resembled a chunk of ancient Assyrian architecture, even without a costume). I'd give Caballé the edge over June Anderson vocally, but dramatically Anderson is 'the' personification of the flamboyant Met Semiramide. Ramey is superb both vocally and dramatically in the role of the villain Assur. His powerful, agile bass is displayed to perfection in the long and very difficult duets with Semiramide ("Se la vita ancor t'è cara") and Arsace ("Bella imago degli Dei"), and in his own aria, "Il di già cade" toward the end of the opera. His singing is always elegant, never over the top, even in the basso mad scene (with chorus) when he sees the ghost of the king he and Semiramide had murdered. The role of Arsace was practically invented by Marilyn Horne. She has trouble moving around the stage in this Met production and she is quite a bit shorter than the other principals, but that's not what you'll notice when she sings. Lovely. The notes just pour out in rich, musical passages with all of the dark coloring that makes her perfect for this role. I've got a CD of Jennifer Larmore singing Arsace (to Cheryl Studer's Semiramide) and as much as I love her voice, I've got to give my vote to Horne. Stanford Olsen does a fine job as the thwarted Indian prince, Idreno (he has a much more brilliant and disciplined tenor than the Idreno in Aix-en-Provence). The Met chorus performs with distinction in the grand manner but rather static staging of this John Copley production.
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