Verdi - Don Carlo / von Karajan, Carreras, Baltsa, Furlanetto, d'Amico, Cappuccilli, Salminen,...

Verdi - Don Carlo / von Karajan, Carreras, Baltsa, Furlanetto, d'Amico, Cappuccilli, Salminen, Salzburg | Herbert von Karajan | Solid All Around

DVDs:

Verdi - Don Carlo ...

	Verdi - Don Carlo / von Karajan, Carreras, Baltsa, Furlanetto, d'Amico, Cappuccilli, Salminen, Salzburg Herbert von Karajan Sony, 2002 average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Grand opera with a stellar cast

I thoroughly enjoyed this performance. I think this is a mixture of French "Grand" and Italian opera, and the performance does it justice. The characters are a great mix of sympathetic and unsympathetic, but they are deep and complex and you can understand why they are the way they are. There are few caricatures.

Vocally, this is in general a large-voiced cast, and everyone is in good form. Carreras is a sympathetic and convincing Carlo -- not too strong, not too weak, but ambivalent as he should be. Furlanetto's brooding and conflicted Philip has a huge voice and his character is suitably complex. Izzo D'Amico's pure and dutiful Elisabetta (whom I had never heard of before) has an excellent voice, and I don't mind the fact that she's not very dramatic: hers is the character who manages to restrain her emotions until the very end, and she lets her voice do the expression. Cappuccilli's loyal Rodrigo is vocally expressive and moving, such a wonderful example of sacrificial love and friendship. Baltsa's Eboli is a bit too melodramatic for my taste, but what passion and fire in her voice!

The different characters' attitudes towards God is also very interesting. Religion is abused by the church and the state, but faith also provides great personal hope and motivation for characters like Elisabetta and Rodrigo.

Karajan's Berlin Philharmonic creates a rich luxurious sound. There are times when it overpowers the voices, but not too often.

Visually, it is good, though a bit drab (OK, considering the dark nature of the plot and the many sad situations), and there were too many "sideways" shots of the singers, but the clarity and general quality is very good for a live performance. The auto-da-fe scene, while big grand and aurally impressive, was the only disappointment for me, as I thought more could have been done to make it more interesting visually.

The price is an amazing bargain too. Recommended for anyone who loves Verdi and grand opera. I wouldn't make this your first opera if you're a novice to opera, because other works (by Mozart, Rossini, Bizet, earlier Verdi or Aida) might have more "upbeat" numbers that have more immediately accessibility for a newcomer.

for more information click here

Solid All Around

I've always found Verdi's brilliant "Don Carlo" (here presented in the 4 Act Italian version) something of a curiosity in that the title character has so little to do. Everyone else gets moment after shining moment, yet Carlo, after a busy Act 1, is pretty much window dressing. Too bad when you have such a charismatic tenor as Jose Carreras in the role. Watching him in this live performance from Salzburg makes you long to see what he could have done with the original, Fontainbleu Act 1. Maybe it's just as well, however, considering Carreras's Elisabetta, Fiamma Izzo D'Amico. There's a reason you've probably never heard of her; her voice isn't bad, but she has absolutely no stage presence whatsoever. D'Amico pretty much wears the same sour, "what's that smell?" look on her face from beginning to end. I understand that Elisabetta's having a rough time of things, but a better actress could have found some variation in her portrayal. Thank God for Ferruccio Furlanetto and Agnes Baltsa, the two best reasons to get this DVD. (And at this price, why not?) Each gives a fierce, stunning, definitive performance; I cannot imagine anyone live or on tape who could possibly interpret these roles better. Cappucilli is terrific, a real throwback to the golden days, when opera singers stood on stage and SANG. He doesn't quite bring down the house as he does on other DVDs, but at least he's not mugging to the audience, as was his habit. The production director and designers make good use of Salzburg's cavernous stage, and von Karajan does very well by the score. All in all, this is a solid, no frills production -- except when Furlanetto and Baltsa are on stage, when they set off real fireworks.

for more information click here

I am a Don Carlos specialist!

Ok my research was on this opera so don't you dare mark this review as not helpful (just kidding). First of all, Don Carlos is one of the most coherent operas in the Wagnerian sense where a motif underlies an event and tells the story as opposed to insipid Italian text. In the case of Don Carlos the friendship motif becomes the very core of the opera making four appearances each with its own meaning. This opera is the most meaningful of all Verdi operas. In philosophy, very close to Beethoven's ode to joy or Fidelio, but in music half way italian and half way Wagnerian. Bizet, if you respect his opinion, hated this opera. But I love it. I have played it all the way through. Ok but as for this production. The real Don Carlos is long, very long. Karajan boldy cut the entire first act. So go figure. But the production is lavish and Carreras is magnificant and Elizabeth is very beautiful.

for more information click here

The great age of Karajan-Carreras-Baltsa-Cappucilli

The great age - and almost at its sunset!
1986 Salzburg - the great karajan vocal triangle Jose Carreras, Piero Cappucilli, Agnes Baltsa, all on their peak, and as the Chinese Iching saying goes - ready for decline.
The star of the show is undisputedly Ferruccio Furlanetto, the best Philip II since Cesare Siepi. And Elizabeth de Valois, sung by 22 year old Fammia Izzo D'amico, is fresh of voice and lovely to behold. Her vocal fireworks did not take place until the very last Act, and she rose to the occasion fully. Where is she now?
Yes, the big names, Carreras, Cappucilli and Baltsa to varying degrees sounded tired. There was a gap in Baltsa's upper and middle registers not noticed in her earlier years. Cappucilli sounds tired as Posa, and Carreras had slight difficulties with the top B flat.
Furlanetto, not old at all in 1986, portrayed a suspicious and conservative king, outwardly powerful but inwardly insecure. His vocal eloquence increased even more with his big aria, sung to great height and deeply moving as well as abounding in beautiful tone.
Salminen is as imposing as ever as a basso serioso.
The directing and the costumes are really wonderful. Even if Karajan looked physically feeble in this DVD, fortunately his conducting was not so.

for more information click here

Wonderful

Jose Carreras and Agnes Baltsa are in excellent voice for this performance, Piero Cappucilli is fairly good but i'm biased because i don't like him very much. The biggest suprise comes from the King (i can't remember his name but his face is right infront of me) I saw him as leporello in Don Giovanni with Bryn Tefrel and Renee Flemming in the title roles and he is much younger in this and in much better voice as well. WELL WORTH THE BUY!!!

reviews: page 1, 2

products you might be interested in