Verdi - Ernani / Domingo, Freni, Bruson, Ghiaurov, Muti, La Scala Opera

Starring:PlÃ¡cido Domingo, Renato Bruson, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Mirella Freni, Joranda Michieli, Gianfranco Manganotti, Alfredo Giacometti
Director: Preben Montel
Studio: Kultur Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
In this thrilling performance at La Scala, PlÃ¡cido Domingo and Mirella Freni show why, when they were in the prime of their careers, they could carry even the most melodramatic of Verdi vehicles on their shoulders. As Donna Elvira, whom a trio of men has designs on for various honest and sordid reasons, Freni is a wellspring of ardent passion that sweeps the audience along, while Domingo's title hero is an equally inspired creation; their singing during the tragic finale underscores its worth as one of Verdi's most moving denouements.

Amazon.com

In this thrilling performance at La Scala, Plácido Domingo and Mirella Freni show why, when they were in the prime of their careers, they could carry even the most melodramatic of Verdi vehicles on their shoulders. As Donna Elvira, whom a trio of men has designs on for various honest and sordid reasons, Freni is a wellspring of ardent passion that sweeps the audience along, while Domingo's title hero is an equally inspired creation; their singing during the tragic finale underscores its worth as one of Verdi's most moving denouements.

Description

This outstanding production of Verdi's tragic opera stars four of the world's great Verdi singers; Placido Domingo, Renato Bruson, Nicolai Ghiaurov and Mirella Freni as the gentle heroine desired by these three rivals. They have been described as "possibly the best quartet of singers any opera house has managed to assemble this year" - The Times. The cast give an impassioned performance under the baton of Riccardo Muti, an acclaimed interpreter of Verdi. Based on Victor Hugo's play, this violent and sombre story of frustrated passion, and ambition thwarted and rewarded, is set by the composer to a succession of irresistible tunes, unsurpassed even in his mature works. The opera's dramatic impetus is simply unstoppable.

Customer Reviews:

For lovers of early Verdi, this is an unqualified treat.......2007-06-26

Ernani is a contender for silliest opera ever, and damned if I don't love every minute of it! Okay, okay, I know all the knocks against early Verdi put forth by the highminded intellectuals of academia who want everything to be Wagner, it's crude, it's empty, yada yada yada. Crude in comparison to what? Aida? Well, duh! Crude in comparison to Bellini or Donizetti? Hardly. Early Verdi is bel canto but amped up with a heavy metal attitude, overflowing with melodiousness but with enough youthful energy to make the Sex Pistols envious. It may not be profound, but the music is so infectious it's hard to even care. No music, any time, anywhere, by any other composer, sounds like this. In short, early Verdi rules!

Even by the standards of mid-nineteenth century Italian opera, the story of Ernani is excessively preposterous. We're supposed to believe that the titular nobleman masquerading as a bandit is so driven by personal honor that he would take an oath to kill himself if his romantic rival ever decides to cash in his IOU. Not only that, but the rival is to issue this suicide signal by blowing a trumpet. Not only that, but once the time comes and the horn sounds, the poor sap actually follows through! Oh, he whines about it and wavers and tries to reason with his cold-hearted rival(who apparently thinks forcing the man she loves to kill himself will drive Elvira to his arms) as his lady love backs him up, to some of the loveliest and most tuneful music you will ever hear I might add, but in the end he takes a knife and finishes himself off, on his wedding day no less, all because of a stupid vow. Hey, Ernani, there's such a thing as backing out. Are the words "I was only kidding" not in your vocabulary? Come on. Add to that a scene in act one where not one, not two, but three hotblooded suitors all traipse into the bedroom of the poor beleaguered heroine and vie for her affections at the same time and you have a story ripe for parody. Blame Victor Hugo and Francesco Maria Piave for the narrative. It's Verdi's brilliant music that makes this puppy fly.

Ernani is as good as early Verdi gets, which from my point of view is not just good, it's stupendous. Okay, at this stage Verdi's melodies are often formulaic, but even in these early years you can sense Verdi tinkering with the bel canto conventions. Arias are truncated and segue directly into duets and ensembles, and some of the arias veer from the usual patterns of the times. Ernani is so musically consistent, however, that even the formulaic stuff is breathtaking. For example, Elvira's act one showpiece is one of the most beautiful aria-cabaletta combinations ever written. People who deny themselves early Verdi, especially Ernani, because of its reputation of being "crude music" are keeping themselves from a lyrical, sometimes elegant, never less than entertaining listening experience.

But enough about the opera itself. What about this La Scala production? This is one of those once-in-a-lifetime nights where everything clicks, where the audience had to have left the theater feeling blessed. Domingo worried me at first, his early aria sounded a little rough to my ears, but the remainder of his performance is stellar. This is young Domingo, in movie idol mode, and he is a completely convincing romantic lead. Freni's voice sounds a little large for a few of the coloratura moments, not that that's bad, her beauty of voice certainly compensates for the occasional note or two that might not sound exactly as the composer intended, over all she pulls off the role exceedingly well. One of the other reviewers said that Renato Bruson has an off night here. If this is an off night, I would love to hear him when he's on because I couldn't find a single thing wrong, I was completely enthralled. Nicolai Ghiaurov is also on the mark with his august voice and impeccable singing. Muti and the orchestra perform very well, the passion and commitment is felt all around, from the stage to the orchestra pit. From the opening of the curtain it is clear that all of these performers take this music seriously, as they should, and the result is a performance that brings out the very best of early Verdi, unashamed of the glorious meretriciousness of the story and some of the melodies, but also cognizant of the genuine beauty and, yes, genius at work here.

Some brief commentary on the sound quality which other reviewers have alluded to in a negative light. I have a standard stereo television, no frills, rather primitive I suppose, and the sound was acceptable. A little unbalanced, causing me to fiddle with the volume more than I would have liked, but a lot of productions from the same era that haven't been remastered have the same problem. For me, this isn't enough to detract any stars from what is an overall magnificent operatic experience. I was completely caught up in this performance start to finish and have been humming the melodies ever since. Which is what this whole crazy thing called opera is all about, right?

Buyers beware.......2006-11-21

Technically this DVD is a disaster. The sound is very poorly reproduced as other reviewers will attest. Moreover, if one tries to access a particular scene the sound disappears completely! This opera is fairly early in Verdi's output so there is quite a bit of standing about while the music churns on. Too often one gets the feeling that the singers were given no stage direction at all. The camera often catches them in attitudes which suggest "what do I do now." This even applies to Domingo who is seldom at a loss for something to make his role believable. Bruson comes in second best after Domingo and Ghiarov third mostly because this fine artist is a bit past his best years. The biggest mystery for me is the audience affection shown for Freni. The voice has never excited me since I first heard it at the beginning of her career. Here she has neither the high notes or the low notes for this role (she forces as both extremes) and in much of the faster passages she only approximates the pitches. As a bonus she is a wooden actress.

So this performance falls short of delivering what the promise that the cast, conductor and opera company would seem to hold out. I haven't seen the Met production but its got to be better than this.

Excellent production but two numbers are missing.......2006-08-03

Ernani may be early Verdi, but it stands up well against his more famous operas. Its ensemble pieces have the wild feel of Il Trovatore, the choruses are spirited, and the bel canto arias make beautiful use of the human voice.

If you're only going to buy one DVD of the opera, it's hard to choose between this La Scala production of 1982 and The Met production of 1983. The principal reason for choosing this production over The Met is that Mirella Freni so outshines Leona Mitchell as Elvira (who, one could argue, is the main character in the opera). Verdi has written a difficult dramatic coloratura role for Elvira. Her music may start out in a low register only to suddenly soar high, requiring the skills of a lyric soprano, trills and all. Mitchell's voice just doesn't have the flexibility to execute everything Verdi asks of it. By contrast, Freni handles the vocal requirements, not without effort, but splendidly nonetheless. Her Act I Scene 2 cabaletta (following "Ernani involami") is stunning and, in the ensemble pieces, her voice soars powerfully above the others. In addition, although Pavarotti's singing in The Met is spectacular, Domingo matches him in voice and adds his superior acting abilities.

But if you want to hear the two pieces that Verdi later added to Ernani, you'll have to buy The Met production. Verdi revised the opera, adding a cabaletta for Silva in Act I (apparently to put the role on equal footing with the others) and also composed an aria and cabaletta for the title character as the finale to Act II. The two numbers add a lot to the opera and I would have liked to have heard Ghiaurov and Domingo tackle them.

A final thought on this production: it's a real treat to see five opera greats in their prime performing together: conductor Muti, tenor Domingo, baritone Bruson, soprano Freni, and bass Ghiaurov (the latter two being newlyweds at the time).

An outstanding performance but very poor recording.......2006-01-28

Many positive comments have been made on this La Scala version of ERNANI. I believe those comments to be entirely justified: Plácido Domingo, Mirella Freni, Renato Bruson, Nicolai Ghiaurov, and Riccardo Muti are legendary musicians that have changed opera performance, and by the way, improved it.

However, there's a slight problem with the sound on this DVD. Despite the maximums and minimums on volumen control, everything is OK during the first act. When the performance reaches Act II, one can listen on the right speaker what onstage happens on the left side, and on lthe eft speaker what onstage happens at the right side. This problem is quite annoying and lasts until the end of the programme. The most disappointing matter is that the problem's origin is in the master recording. I've tested a few DVDs and all exhibit the same inconvenience.

So if you love Ernani enough and want to listen to it properly, properly invert your speakers at the beginning of Act II, and be careful to reinvert them when you finish playing the DVD. If you don't love the opera so much, avoid buying this disc.

Finally, be careful when buying KULTUR DVDs, for LA FORZA DEL DESTINO (St. Petesburg production), LUCREZIA BORGIA, and this ERNANI have quality problems, and I'm sure other programmes from the same label have similar defects.

MIRELLA FRENI CHANGES THE NAME OF THE OPERA.......2005-07-04

WHEN VERDI WROTE "ERNANI" (1844), HE WAS FASCINATED BY THE VOICE OF TENOR GAETANO FRASCHINI (1818-1887), THUS HE MADE THE TENOR'S ROLE THE TITLE-ROLE.
IF HE HAD WRITTEN THIS OPERA ONE HUNDRED YEARS LATER, AND HEARD MIRELLA'S VOICE SOARING ABOVE THE WHOLE CAST AT THE END OF ACT ONE, THAT SWEET AND PURE LYRIC VOICE YET SO ROUNDED AND POWERFUL, HE CERTAINLY WOULD HAVE NAMED THE OPERA "ELVIRA" !!!

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