Verdi: Nabucco

Customer Response

beautiful job for such a great opera
This is one of the most beautiful operas ever produced. This rendition is supurbly done and WELL worth the money to purchase it!

Beautiful
Beautifully done! Thank you Maestro Levine, Metropolitan Opera, cast, crew and the fabulous chorus. Bravo!

Phenomenal, but why????
I just checked this out at the library and I was really blown away. I watched it two times straight in a row and I almost never do that. I am really not sure why it is so good, though. There are a lot of problems: the soprano is all over the place vocally, the Nabucco pretty much refuses to act, the sets seem a little silly (but at least they are spare enough not to look kitschy), and there is mostly "stand and deliver" acting/singing. I think that the contribution of Levine may have something to do with my enthusiasm, but it is hard to analyze. Also, the soprano (Guleghina), for all her vocal shortcomings, does really seem to love this opera and be so into every moment of it. The lack of kitsch in the production also helps you to focus on the serious drama (the weird amazonian breastplate that Dimitrova wears in the Muti DVD, with big, fake metal [......] and the other types of silly costumes that you often see in this opera are absent here, with the cast wearing simple costumes that suggest the 19th c. with a slight overlay of ancient touches).

Anyway, I highly recommend this DVD, even if I don't really know why. :)

Marvelous
I got this for my husband, to view while he was recovering from surgery. Well, I couldn't have chosen better because he absolutely loves it and I think he's watched it at least 3 times since. He says the voices are splendid, as are the production values. All in all, a bit hit!

It doesn't get much better
I didn't even bother to read the reviews of less than 5 stars. This performance is the Met at its best, Levine at the top of his form, and one has to wonder if, in Verdi's lifetime, it was ever performed this well.

Its other dvd version, from La Scala, is stodgy and plodding; this performance moves with the winds of freedom that were just beginning to blow through Italia of the time.

Disclosure: I wept during Va pensiero...that never happened before...and I wept during the encore (I can't remember another Met encore in my day)...the Metropolitan Opera Chorus should be counted amongst the wonders of the world.

So, whoever found something to object to, I leave them to their spleen. I had a grand time and a Big Fat Bronx Cheer to those who didn't.

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