Rating: 
Summary: To-Die-For Trovatore
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.
Rating: 
Summary: FULL THROTTLED
Review: Il Trovatore is my favorite opera. To me, when Verdi composed Il Trovatore, he put the final touches on Bel Canto Operas; he splendidly used every Bel Canto "trick of the trade" putting his masterful "Verdian Stamp"on all. Since there was nothing left to be developed or written in the aforesaid style of opera, the way was paved for the further development of the Verismo-school of opera, and, utimately, for the Wagnerian epic leit-motive driven style of writing opera. Il Trovatore has everything, to me, that an opera should have--beautiful arias, ferocious cabalettas, thrilling, sing your lungs out, ensembles, loud-thundering-call-to-battle choruses, humable melodies, an improbable story, a love-struck-willing-to-die-for-her-man-soprano role, a brave-swashbuckling-lovable-not-too-smart-tenor role, a sexy-militaristic-kind-of-dangerous-love-starved-baritone role, and MOST OF ALL, a crazed-scene-chewing-I'm-really-really-your mama-so DO kill-the-baritone-for-me, mezzo-soprano role.
Now days it is very difficult to vocally cast this opera. This new DVD has certainly assembled four singers that are up to their respective tasks; it is marvelous to hear and to watch. The singing is good and the action is believable--each singer looking and acting his/her part to the hilt (unlike the Met's video with Pavarotti sounding good but unable to move from one spot to the other). It's nice to hear the role of Manrico sung by a dramatic tenor again. I have great recordings with lyric Manrico(s) (i.e., Carreras, di Stefano, Algana) and I enjoy them; however, it's great to hear the full-throttled sound that Jose Cura can produce as Manrico. I know that there are opera critics that will, no doubt, rip his performnance apart comparing him to one of more dead tenors and perhaps to a few living ones. (The same thing that was done, in their day, to the recordings/ performances of Del Monaco and Correlli who sang full throttled virile Manrico(s). I don't care what the critics have to say; Jose Cura sings Manrico excitingly with gusto, tastefullness and also with plenty of tenderness, and at the same time, making Manrico as believable of a character, physically, as possible--he does not simply stand and deliver (as many a tenor has done as Manrico; just being glad to be able to get through it alive) but he does act and move about while singing some of the most beautiful music ever written for the tenor voice and singing it very well. (Be advised, he is not a tenor that holds on to the high notes for as long as possible popping blood vessels and running out of breath with arms out-stretched waiting for the audience to start applauding, but he sings them very musicially making them, as I feel they should be, a part of the muscial line not the main event).
I have always felt that Dmitri Hvorostovsky was born to sing Count di Luna with his beautiful, smooth, as butter, baritone voice. He brings everything that should be brought to the role--beautiful tone (throughout all registers) accurate singing, power and flexibility. Bravo!
Naef takes-on the mezzo role of the crazed Azucena, and, to me, she is up there with some of the great performers of the part--Bumbry, Cossoto, Simonato, Varrett and Zajick (Zajick being the best thing on the Met Video.)
In my "dream-cast" DVD of this opera, the role of Leonora would be taken by a soprano that has some of the qualities that Leontyne Price had (Aprile Millo comes to mind) Since, alas, the likes of Leontyne Price will never be seen again (thankfully Leontyne happened in my lifetime) Vilarroel, as Leonora is certainly an adequaate compromise--no trills (neither did Tabaldi) or floating of the tones or well-supported ravishing pianissimos; neverthless, very committed and enough voice to do Verdi's music justice! She is far superior to Eva Marton's "Brunnhilde Version"--what the hell am I doing in Il Trovatore--ain't this Gotterdammerung?--of Leonora in the Met's video.
The production is enjoyable, watchable and believable being neither a stodgy traditional production nor one of those extreme avant-garde productions set in the year 2090 where every movement and object has a completely unintelligible hidden meaning.
If you love Verdi (as I do) buy this DVD for a full throttled performance of Il Trovatore. (The DVD has some very nice added features too!)
Rating:
Summary: great voices, weird staging
Review: Indeed, the principals are ideally cast here. Dmitri Hvorostovsky's suave, evil, yet somehow still-human Count nearly steals the show. He's far superior to all the Counts recorded. Jose Cura gives a believable performance as Manrico, even though he pays more attention to acting than to music. For instance, "Ah si, ben mio" is a bit choppy in sound, but acted out very well.
I really enjoyed Veronica Villaroel's Leonora. Like Cura, she put more emphasis on acting, but she managed some of the most difficult music with excellent artistry and skill. Brava!
Yvonne Naef looked and sang an ideal Azucena.
What kept distracting me was the staging. First of all, it looks like late 19th century Italy (vs. Austria), making Leonora's Tale D'Amor (a knight with an unmarked shield came, etc) along with many other story details quite improbable. Ferrando has a shaved head and looks too young to remember the events of the old days passed. Now, for the ugly:
1. When Azucena is captured, the "warriors" nearly rape (!) her onstage. This is inappropriate for Verdi's delicate, highly melodious music. Neither works the scene when Leonora and Manrico are in some sort of hay stack (okay, call me a purist but I thought it was low brow theater).
2. The strange sabre (schlager) dueling (the producers made a big fuss about it) does not add any value. The "fighters" look like made-up ballet dancers of some sort, they're wearing leather trappings more appropriate for a cult dance club they way Hollywood depicts them). Either include some real sabre or foil fencing or don't bother with "authentications" of this sort.
3. During the famous Anvil chorus, I surely did not see any anvils. (And Manrico smoked a cigar!)
4. Finally, when telling her hounting tale, Azucena is supposed to be pointing at a fire, or a place where there once was a fire. Needless to say, nothing of the kind is at sight. She just has to point at an empty space. Hmm... Throughout the whole performance, I kept wishing for a traditional (yes) staging, so that it would be more believable.
Dante Ferretti is a well-known set designer for the movies and theater, but while opera staging can be minimalist it should not take away from the story.
I suggest getting this DVD for the great singing, most notably the wonderfully done Miserere and Il Balen. Carlo Rizzi does a splendid job, although a bit too brisk at some moments.
The DVD itself has a pretty good quality, but the booklet does not list the supporting roles, which is a shame because the singers gave exciting performances.
Rating: 
Summary: CURA ..CANTA SOLO IL VERISMO
Review: QUESTA EDIZIONE DEL TROVATORE MI HA INCURIOSITO PER GLI ELOGI LETTI.IO NON HO MAI ASCOLTATO CURA PRIMA DI QUESTO TROVATORE.
PENSO CHE CANTA QUEST'OPERA COME NEGLI ANNI CINQUANTA DA TENORE VERISTA E SCENDENDO DI MEZZO TONO "DI QUELLA PIRA" NON DO MA SI.
SE UN TENORE NON HA IL DO NON CANTI IL TROVATORE..OPPURE LO CANTI CON RICCARDO MUTI.
BENISSIMO IL BARITONO
BENE IL MEZZOSOPRANO
MALE IL SOPRANO (ANCHE LEI SENZA "DO") E SFIATATA
Rating:
Summary: Simply the Best
Review: There has never been, and probably never will be, an Il Trovatore better than this one. Superb singing, acting, and staging on the production side, and superb video and audio quality on the recording side. Get this one!!!
Rating:
Summary: retired
Review: this ,is simply, one of the very best performances of an opera
i have seen in many years. the singers are handsome in appearance.
voices are superb.
Rating:
Summary: retired
Review: this ,is simply, one of the very best performances of an opera
i have seen in many years. the singers are handsome in appearance.
voices are superb.
Rating:
Summary: Well acted, action packed production
Review: This DVD is aimed at visual affect as Hollywood version. I had some problem with Moshinsky's direction who is a Verdi specialist. But all casts were impressively well acted as well as great singing. As Cura and Hvorostovsky were saying during the rehearsals, it's extremely difficult to sing while swashbuckling. This was 1st act's great ending trio. Normally they just stood still to forcused on singing, but this time they made great effort to making it believable connection to 2nd act by Manrico had a chance to kill Count di Luna but hesitated and the Count took advantage to hurt Manrico instead. I have to give 5 stars just for that. Trovatore is a everybody's all time favorite Verdi opera. I'd say the best Manrico was late Franco Corelli and the best Count di Luna was Ettore Bastianini. I don't think any other singers can surpass them but Cura and Hvorostovsky came pretty close. Though their cabaletta(Il balen and Di quella Pira)were cut short. I wouldn't trade Hvorostovsky's Count di Luna for any other but it's hard to believe Leonora mistaking him for Cura's Manrico even in the dark. They don't hardly resemble to be the blood brothers. The time setting is in the middle of 19th Century instead of original medieval time, so the powdered gun was used to execute Manrico. One scene I resented was assault on Azucena in 3rd act. It was disturbing and unnessesary for the great singing of ensemble scene but I still give 5 stars. This is my favorite Trovatore. Extra features of interviews and back ground parts are interesting as well.
Rating:
Summary: Count di Luna's Show
Review: This performance was filmed on May 3, 2002 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. It was Mr. Hvorostovsky's first outing as Count di Luna. What a Count di Luna he was. His singing of di Luna made the usual baritone villain come alive with such passion. Nowadays nobody can convey complicated emotions through singing more eloquently than Mr. Hvorostovsky. It was so evident in this performance. Just for this reason alone, this dvd is a must. But the dvd has much more to offer. There was a very well sung but rather restrained Azucena by Yvonne Naef. Her voice was strong and beautiful. Ms. Villarroel got points for her efforts. As for Mr. Cura, his vision for Manrico was "Latino macho man". Well, Mr. Cura succeeded just as that. He forgot that Manrico was also a poet. Maestro Rizzi's tempos were on the fast side, so it made the opera sound more like a fast paced action "movie". Overall, the opera was very exciting to watch. (Expect some little surprises in the production.) I showed it to people who did not watch operas and the responses were very positive. The quality of the dvd is excellent. Both the sound and pictures are very clear. Of course, it comes with the extra features. Bravo to BBC-Opus Arte for an excellent job bringing this dvd to us. I hope someday someone will produce a dvd of "Eugene Onegin" with Mr. Hvorotovsky as the cad. Please do this soon before Mr. Hvorostovsky moves on to all those juicy Verdi roles.
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