Rating: 
Summary: Superb acting and singing highlight this Verdi opera
Review: A truly wonderful rendition of Verdi's tragic opera.This presentation is from the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden with conductor Carlo Rizzi and is performed before a live audience. The stars of this opera are Jose Cura (Manrico), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Count di Luna), Yvonne Naef (Azucena) and Veronica Villarroel (Leonora). The casting superb; the acting is committed and as passionate as anyone could wish for in this dramatic work by Verdi. The voice qualities are superior for all the principals with the characters of Hvorostovsky and Villarroel leading the way. The loss of one star (really 1/2 star if it was available) in my rating was as a result of a few things that niggled me during the performance ... for instance -The sets, although well done, (and undoubtedly a lot of time and effort went into their construction) were cold and grim in their appearance: then add to this, the effect of the darkness of nighttime scenes and you had an opera where it seemed impossible to find a ray of brightness throughout the entire work. -The only subtitled language on the DVD is English. It would have been nice to at least to have the option of following the opera in Italian. -And finally (and a really picky point here) but one I feel obliged to mention because once I noticed this, I just could not get the idea out of my mind: that being, the officers costume worn by Count di Luna reminded me of something that would be seen on the doorman of a fancy New York hotel. I'm sorry, but I just had to get that out. All in all a solid Il Trovatore. To me, there were a few minor distractions, but the great acting and singing would allow me to highly recommend this work.
Rating:
Summary: BBC's "Il Trovatore" Succeeds As Singing Theater
Review: Admittedly Verdi's "Il Trovatore" is difficult to stage effectively. These dificulties result from the opera's somewhat insane plot coupled with the stature of the artists able to effectively cope with the score. Elijah Moshinsky' has overcome these difficluties with great success. He's moved the story from 15th C. Spain to 1865 Italy whereby the political conflict becomes Imperial Austria vs. Garibaldi's revolutionary forces.( This is a nice choice considering Verdi's nationalist proclivities.) This device works well as a backdrop to the interactions of the opera's four main characters. The sets and costumes by fim designer Dante Ferretti and Anne Tilby respectively create a film-like atmosphere worthy of Zeferelli.
The choruses are marvelously integrated into the action, be they gypsies or Schlager dueling Austrian soldiers, and intensify the developing friction that fuels the opera. The principal singers are strong and well suited for their roles. Dimitri Hvorostovsky's Count di Luna is an elegant controlled antithesis to Jose Cura's "macho" rogue Manrico. Yvonne Naef is downright scarey as Azucena. Both her voice and acting capture the gypsy's tortured obsessiveness. Unfortunately the lovely Veronica Villarroel's light lyric soprano is hard pressed to cope with Leonora's role, which definitely requires the power of a spinto soprano. Although her acting is heartfelt and powerful enough to make this Leonora believable, Verdi's score is too heavy for her instrument. Nonetheless, this "Il Trovatore" ensnares us in the passion and grandeur that is opera.
Rating:
Summary: BBC's "Il Trovatore" Succeeds As Singing Theater
Review: Admittedly Verdi's "Il Trovatore" is difficult to stage effectively. These dificulties result from the opera's somewhat insane plot coupled with the stature of the artists able to effectively cope with the score. Elijah Moshinsky' has overcome these difficluties with great success. He's moved the story from 15th C. Spain to 1865 Italy whereby the political conflict becomes Imperial Austria vs. Garibaldi's revolutionary forces.( This is a nice choice considering Verdi's nationalist proclivities.) This device works well as a backdrop to the interactions of the opera's four main characters. The sets and costumes by fim designer Dante Ferretti and Anne Tilby respectively create a film-like atmosphere worthy of Zeferelli.
The choruses are marvelously integrated into the action, be they gypsies or Schlager dueling Austrian soldiers, and intensify the developing friction that fuels the opera. The principal singers are strong and well suited for their roles. Dimitri Hvorostovsky's Count di Luna is an elegant controlled antithesis to Jose Cura's "macho" rogue Manrico. Yvonne Naef is downright scarey as Azucena. Both her voice and acting capture the gypsy's tortured obsessiveness. Unfortunately the lovely Veronica Villarroel's light lyric soprano is hard pressed to cope with Leonora's role, which definitely requires the power of a spinto soprano. Although her acting is heartfelt and powerful enough to make this Leonora believable, Verdi's score is too heavy for her instrument. Nonetheless, this "Il Trovatore" ensnares us in the passion and grandeur that is opera.
Rating: 
Summary: Good singing with great acting and great sound!
Review: After almost falling asleep with the Met's production of Il Trovatore (despite some great singing), I was very pleased with this production. The singing is very good, specially Hovorostovsky's Count di Luna. The only somewhat weak singing came in my opinion from Villaroel's Leonora, who is not the right type of soprano for the role, and cannot cope well with Verdi's difficult score. However, her singing is very emotional, as is the case with the rest of the cast. The sets, even though transported to the nineteenth century, are wonderful (specially compared to the Met's nonexistent and boring sets) as are the costumes. In fact I find the period change to be a welcome change to the traditional staging. As other reviewers have mentioned, it gives the production a film-like feel. Rizzi's direction is very exciting and the 5.1 DD sound is very very good. Special praise to the chorus! Far more exciting than the Met's, this production is highly recommended!!
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: As a long time Verdi fan, I looked forward to this DVD with great hopes. I was looking for a version that did not have either Pavarotti or Domingo in the title role and that utilized digital technology to provide good home viewed opera. Obviously, from the title line, my hopes were not realized.
First of all, this is a cut version of Verdi's work; it is incomplete. After all these years of including every note that the maestro composed, I had hoped that the older, truncated versions of the score had been trashed. Disappointment number one!
Second, Jose Cura in the title role of Manrico has trouble with vocal technique. He forces a "covered" or head tone far too low in the middle register, as low as e-flat in some instances. The tone produced is plain ugly. He can act, though.
Third, soprano Veronica Villarroel is just not a "Verdi soprano". Oh, she sings with some excellent sensitivity, once she gets warmed up, but she is no Leontyne Price by a long shot. Ms. Villarroel would do well enough in bel canto, but lacks the vocal depth to do justice to Verdi.
Fourth, the staging is horrible! The convent scene looks like an electrical power station; the firearms carried by Manrico's men include flintlock rifles and bolt action ones. The second scene contains the famous "Anvil Chorus", but there are no anvils, and no fire where there is supposed to be one during Azucena's aria, "Stride la vampa".
The plusses are there, but not enough to outweigh the negatives. Hvorostovsky is the best Count di Luna I have ever seen, and is vocally second only to the incomparable Leonard Warren. The conductor, chorus and orchestra all do very well, and the Digital technology is excellent throughout.
However, my advice is to save your money and wait for another version. At the rate that operas are being issued these days, it should not be long before someone like TDK gives us a Trovatore to rave about. Until then, enjoy some of the othere great operas that are available here.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the worst operatic performances I've ever seen
Review: First of all,don't waste your time and money on this one.Villarroel was aweful( no wonder the Met cancelled her run of Trovatore this season ),she always fell short of the high note and had such poor breath control.Cura and Hvorostovsky were totally miscast,neither of them could tackle the coloratura demands of the beautifully written opera. ( Though I am usually a fan of Hvorostovsky ).The only principal that could sing decently was Naef, though she was not believable for her role. The best Il Trovatore DVD available is the one with Gencer,Barbieri, Del Monaco etc. ( However it's a dubbed version and sometimes can be annoying ).The second best is the one with Sutherland in the Australian production.Dame Joan was near the end of her career but still shines with her sound Bel Canto tecnique.The rest of the cast sing decently and is overall pleasant to watch.The Met production with Pavarotti and Marton is worth watching because of Pavarotti. Eva Marton was a great singer but was totally miscast in this role.The Met should have taped a year before with Pavarotti and Sutherland in 1988.( her operatic farewell to the Met )That would probably be the best possible cast.That production was boring though.
Rating:
Summary: Very good singing by all buy one of the four principles
Review: I bought this just to give Jose Cura a chance as Manrico. I am afraid he disappointed me. He was too much as a brute, in addition to the wobbly singing. Dmitri Hvorostovsky's Count on the other hand is wonderful from start to finish. His acting as well as his singing is exemplary. The only thing that was intrusive was the sword fighting with Cura. It intruded much too much on the singing. Veronica Villaroel's Leonora too was very good. Her acting and singing were blended very nicely. Yvonne Naef's Azucena was also good, but I thought she lacked the bite of Simionato's or Cossotto's interpretation of the vengeful gypsy. I would have to say that Dmitri Hvorostovsky was the star here. This seemed for me to be a Trovatore without the Trovatore. Cura's wobbly voice was too much of a instrution for me enjoy the opera fully. The fact that he acted and sang like a brute and not like a passionate poet, as I see Manrico, may be the fault of the director of the production. The production was OK, but I'd would much prefer a traditional setting for this opera. But on the other hand the sets and costumes were consistant and better than other production of opera nowadays. Carlo Rizzi's conducting was crisp and exciting. Overall is this performance good, if you can accept Manrico to be a wobbly brute. The picture on this DVD is very good with it's 16:9 image. The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound too is good, but it would be even better if the producers of the DVD would do the same as DG and added a DTS track. But it is very good nonetheless.
Rating:
Summary: Opera production good as movie
Review: I love Trovatore and this DVD is very satisfying. Casted by grat star singers who are exellent actors as well. Especially Cura and Hvorostovsky are great Verdi singers. I would like more Verdi opera in DVD by them like Don Carlo.
Rating:
Summary: One of a kind
Review: I owned this dvd for year and a half, and, considering that this is a very "popular" opera, this version is, after all this time, giving me the same pleasure as when i just got it.
First, because of the cast: Cura and Villaroel were known to me because of Verdi's Otello (Turin, 1997). Hvorostovsky was unknown, as well as Ivonne Naef.
My biggest surprise and satisfaction was Hvorostovsky's Count Di Luna, one of my favorite roles among the verdian baritones (just after Macbeth, of course). He is such a great actor, getting into his roles with passion and discipline (coming from the russian school, no wonder he's like that...) His voice is a delight.
Then, Cura and Villaroel gave me the same impression i expected: Plenty knowledge about their roles and intentions, and giving great acting when the "peaks" of the drama need to be enforced to enrich the play. Not to mention the voices, dramatic and strong, just as i expect in this characters.
Moshinsky's point of view of this opera is very good. I just admire his work here, and in other works like Samson et Dalila or Nabucco (Productions i hope i will see very soon).
Carlo Rizzi, after this Trovatore, and other operas i heard from him, is becoming my favorite verdian director. One can feel his feeling with the music and the story. The Royal opera orchestra plays splendid as always.
There is some bonus material here, a docummentary about the cast, some facts about the fighting sequence, and the synopsis. That a plus in the BBC recordings: We can find supporting material for what we are about to see. For me is important to have some information about the direction and conception of the opera. Good for it.
That's why i recommend this dvd, the cast is first rate, the production is awesome and, by the way, is the last from Covent Garden and Real de Madrid. The sound also is great and the image very clear.
5 stars!
Rating:
Summary: Well acted, action packed production
Review: I've seen some dull, lack-luster Trovs, but this one was truly engaging. At last we have a Manrico who looks and acts like the gypsy boy he's supposed to be. Cura is unmatched in this interpretation. This looser character is real at last. I blead with him all the way down the maelstorm that was his life. Hovorostovsky, singing like a God, he makes you wonder why Leonora would prefer an unkept gypsy boy to him. I'm usually bored with the gypsy Mama, but Naef made me watch every line like I'd never heard it before. These singers were totally into the story and they carried me along with them. Watching this DVD made me wish I'd bought a ticket, flew to London and seen the real thing, live on the stage.
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