Donizetti - Don Pasquale / Corbelli, Mei, De Candia, Siragusa, Gatti, Korsten, Teatro Lirico Cagliari

Rating:
Summary: Surprising enchantment in Donizetti's opera buffa.
Review: Although we always think that L'Elisir D'amor is regarded as Donizetti's masterpiece in buffas, surprisingly we found that Don Pasquale is not less than the first mentioned opera.
This Don Pasquale, rarely performed as it was rather unknown is proven to be not less enchanting thanks to the performance by the Italian Opera Group Teatro Communal - Bologna in such a way and by such perfect singers, although the names we have not yet heard of, that we are really enjoying the entire performance and begin to love the music itself.
As Don Paquale is the main performer in this opera, Corbelli was giving the perfect image of the old foolish man. Corbelli's singing in his deep bass baritone voice and performance is so magnificently and perfect. In addition supported by De Candia in his clear baritone voice, as the mischievous doctor Malatesta, Eva Mei in her crisp soft soprano voice, as the cunning girl Norina and Siragusa in his specific light tenor voice, it became a special spectacularly comedy performance, not less than L'Elisir d'Amor. We feel that the whole presentation is as beautiful and magnificent and surprisingly so enchanting that we begin to appreciate this opera as much as we appreciate L'Elisir d'Amor.

Rating:
Summary: Muy disfrutable 'Don Pasquale'
Review: Bienvenida sea esta primera version en dvd de 'DON PASQUALE' de Gaetano Donizetti, que cuenta con muy interesantes aspectos. En lo vocal tenemos a una EVA MEI absolutamente magnifica, tanto por la voz maravillosa como por la caracterizacion que hace del personaje de Norina acompañada de un ALESSANDRO CORBELLI que hace un muy inteligente Don Pasquale, ademas de todo creíble, sin recargar las tintas de lo buffo sobre este personaje. ANTONINO SIRAGUSA (Ernesto) no tendra la voz mas bella del mundo, pero las notas necesarias estan todas en su sitio y la tecnica es buena, asi que hay que aplaudirle. El Malatesta de ROBERTO DE CANDIA, tras algun problema en su aria de entrada y posterior duo con Don Pasuale, consigue una notable actuacion, tanto en lo vocal como en lo escenico. El Notario, mas que correcto en su brevisima parte.
Los cuerpos estables del Teatro Lirico de Cagliari rinden a gran nivel al mando del Maestro KORSTEN.
La produccion es sencilla, pero cuenta bien la historia, es funcional y tiene detalles de buen gusto
Todo esto redondea una muy notable version de 'Don Pasquale', en el primer acercamiento de esta opera al formato del dvd. Muy recomendable.

Rating:
Summary: This is great!
Review: Buy this because it is really very enjoyable. It is exactly wha Donizetti wanted. I love this opera and I love these singers. The sets and costumes are gorgeous! The orchestra is amazing. Buy it, it is really worth the money.

Rating:
Summary: Donizetti at his best
Review: I waited many years for a video of this very delightful and amusing comic opera by Donizetti to appear and finally it is available from TDK. This production comes from Italy and is presented in a 16 x 9 format, with a variety of audio options, including DTS, and very legible subtitles in various languages including English. Special features last about 30 minutes and are satisfactory. Both the sound and picture are superb as is the video direction. The balance between the singers and the orchestra is exemplary. The staging is quite straightforward but adequate for the action on stage.
The four principal singers are perfectly suited to the considerable vocal demands Donizetti placed on his cast.
My only criticism concerns the subtitles. Besides occasional spelling mistakes, the subtitles were confusing at times because they tried to follow all the singing by all the characters all the time. After watching this DVD I would say that this practice is not only unnecessary but also impossible to achieve.

Rating:
Summary: Donizetti at his best
Review: I waited many years for a video of this very delightful and amusing comic opera by Donizetti to appear and finally it is available from TDK. This production comes from Italy and is presented in a 16 x 9 format, with a variety of audio options, including DTS, and very legible subtitles in various languages including English. Special features last about 30 minutes and are satisfactory. Both the sound and picture are superb as is the video direction. The balance between the singers and the orchestra is exemplary. The staging is quite straightforward but adequate for the action on stage.
The four principal singers are perfectly suited to the considerable vocal demands Donizetti placed on his cast.
My only criticism concerns the subtitles. Besides occasional spelling mistakes, the subtitles were confusing at times because they tried to follow all the singing by all the characters all the time. After watching this DVD I would say that this practice is not only unnecessary but also impossible to achieve.

Rating:
Summary: A sheer delight!
Review: The staff Amazon reviewer calls Pasquale an "old fool." I would have called him an old human being. The staff Amazon reviewer compares this opera with The Barber of Seville and Falstaff. This is meant as a compliment to Donizetti. I can't stand to listen to those two operas. The staff Amazon reviewer takes a lot on himself, he is as opinionated as I am, and I don't like his opinions. Everyone in this movie was wonderful, it was bright, fast, colorful, glorious. I have a CD with Sills which I always thought I liked, I had no idea how really good this opera could be, maybe I'd like the Sills as well if I saw it performed too. This production could easily make Don Pasquale my favorite Donizetti opera, which it never was before. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes Donizetti. I watched it after having been immersed in Verdi for several weeks. The fresh air was glorious. No religion, no killing, just a true delight. I only gave it 4 stars because the soprano never once jumped up to a balcony-reaching high note to end an aria. She was miraculous in all other ways and did not nearly get the applause I felt she deserved, but the omission of Sutherland endings is a pet peeve of mine. They are a pleasure to listen to, and a real drag to have sloughed off. But everything else she did almost made up for it (she was wonderful), and I loved the whole thing. The changing of sets, colors and camera work were (though I feel phony using the word) brilliant. The subtitles were a thing of wonder. Every word sung was there, and the repetition was stultifying. Now at last I know what is being left out when there's a subtitle for only a tad of singing and then great periods of blank. At least in a Donizetti comedy.

Rating:
Summary: Delightful
Review: This performance is a lot of fun. Eva Mei is not an ideal Norina, but she gets the job done vocally and is a good comic actress. Alessandro Corbelli as Don Pasquale is every bit as funny as he was as Dandini in La Cenerentola. Antonino Siragusa who plays Ernesto has a lovely firm, high tenor voice, the third act duet with he and Eva Mei is beautifully sung, as are all of his solos. Gerard Korsten's conducting is nicely paced, the scenery bright and well lit as are the empire/Roman Revival costumes and set pieces. The staging is excellent with quick set changes between scenes and great chorus work moving off and on in imaginative ways.

Rating:
Summary: Delightful
Review: This performance is a lot of fun. Eva Mei is not an ideal Norina, but she gets the job done vocally and is a good comic actress. Alessandro Corbelli as Don Pasquale is every bit as funny as he was as Dandini in La Cenerentola. Antonino Siragusa who plays Ernesto has a lovely firm, high tenor voice, the third act duet with he and Eva Mei is beautifully sung, as are all of his solos. Gerard Korsten's conducting is nicely paced, the scenery bright and well lit as are the empire/Roman Revival costumes and set pieces. The staging is excellent with quick set changes between scenes and great chorus work moving off and on in imaginative ways.