DVDs:

	Verdi - La Traviata / Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazon, Thomas Hampson, Helene Schneidermann, Salvatore ... Giuseppe Verdi, Anna Netrebko Deutsche Grammophon, 2006 average customer review:based on 23 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Willy Decker's controversial production features stark sets on a curved white stage, spare furnishings, and an overlay of symbolic devices: the figure of Death stalks Violetta in every act, a huge clock shows her time running out and becomes a focus for stage action, even turning into Act II's card table. The singers run, dance, and spend a lot of time on their knees or backs. Color schemes bathe Violetta's courtesan period in bold red, her idyll with Alfredo in flower prints. And there's more along those lines. Even those who usually prefer more conservative productions should find Willy Decker's staging absolutely riveting. Much of the action goes on inside the characters' heads, making this superficially extrovert opera an interior drama that sheds new light on its possibilities. Love or hate the production, you won't want to miss this Traviata for the leads and for staging that must be taken seriously. A bonus disc includes an interesting rehearsal. --Dan Davis

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Stunning Performance

I make great use of customer's reviews when purchasing DVDs from Amazon, and I confess I got no guidance from the reviews on this product. They seemed to be split between rabidly pro-Villazon supporters, and traditionalists who don't like change. I purchased anyway, since I was interested in seeing these two young performers, Netrebko and Villazon, both of whom I have heard on CD.

I am so glad I did. This is a stunning performance!

I have the ROH/Solti/Gheorgiu DVD and I love it. I have spent hours listening to both, and I am gradually coming down more in favour of this Salzburg recording, mainly because of the performance by the two leads. I say performance deliberately, because the acting is every bit as good as the singing. The big difference between Covent Garden and Salzburg is Alfredo. Netrebko can hold her own with Gheorgiu, but Villazon is special. Thomas Hampson is fine, but this is the youngsters' show.

The production is not my ideal, but it works. The criticisms raised by others have some validity, but are circumstantial. Why argue about the validity of Germont's motive for breaking up the relationship; it's the fact of the break-up, and the unfairness of it, that matters.

Changing the period is often problematical. The sets and costumes are there to remind our lazy brains of the circumstances in which the drama unfolds, and we do need to keep in mind the circumstances of life in the period in which the opera is set, to understand mythology, witchcraft, curses, religious persecution, and, of course, the concept of honour.

With this performance, you will be so enthralled with the drama and music, that criticism of the period setting becomes petty carping.

Buy, and enjoy!

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A delight to watch and hear!

This is one of the most beautiful opera DVDs I have ever seen (I watched more than 100 in 2006). I will not repeat the raving comments other Amazon customers have written about the acting and singing of the three main characters, and Netrebko's electrifying presence on stage. I subscribe to them all. I wish to add however that the austere settings and the choreography are entirely to my taste, no matter how some viewers may suppose that Verdi would have reacted to them. (Verdi was no doubt a first rate musical genius but his overall artistic sensibility may have suffered from the fact that he was born in 1813 in a very small agricultural town of Northern Italy.) In my view, the often repeated complaint that Netrebko's show of physical prowess is incompatible with Violetta's health condition shows a poor understanding of truth in art (in general) and the conventions of opera (in particular): for surely someone about to die of a lung disease cannot sing Violetta's arias in the third act. I can understand that the too obvious representation of time by a large clock (which is the most salient piece of furniture on the scene), and of death by the silent old man (who in the end plays the part of Granvil) may hurt the feelings of conservative viewers. For my part, I found they were both striking theatrical ideas. Also the conversion of the clock into a roulette wheel and finally into a bed or pavement on which Violetta lies postrate while Alfredo rains euro bills on her. I agree that Netrebko's Violetta is more like an ordinary young woman of today than like a mid-19th Parisian courtisan. But isn't this the kind of interpretative freedom that stage directors must exercise if opera is to remain alive? Without it, the staging of opera would retain a purely antiquarian interest. My sole (mild) complaint about this production concerns the rather un-Italian explosive consonants with which Thomas Hampson expresses his indignation at Alfredo's treatment of Violetta ("DDi SSPPRRezzo degno, SSe SSTTesso RRende..."). It is a pity that the phoneticians who taught him (and so many other contemporary transalpine singers) to master Italian vowels, did not tell him that consonants too --especially initial consonants-- sound differently in Italian than in English or German. (Compare Hampson with Villazón).

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Abandon All Pre-Conceived Notions And Watch It! It's Amazing!

When watching this starkly modern rendition of Verdi's all-too-familiar masterpiece "La Traviata" it is best to abandon all pre-conceived notions about how this work should look and feel and just watch it for what it is: A new reading of a well-known opera. Not only is the singing universally outstanding, but the conceptualizing is refreshing and very much exciting. I, too, had my misgivings during the opening act's party scene, but I was willing to give the staging some time and discovered myself drawn in. By the end I was just beginning to fathom the ideas behind the use of a large clock to mark the passing of time and the sinister figure who later became the doctor in act three. This work will either impress or depress, but I guarantee it will not fail to leave its mark.

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A "La Traviata" well done!!

This is an excellent production of this opera. The stage design is dazzling, the music so beautiful, and the singing of Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon gorgeous. These are two of the greatest singers of our time and their singing together has a indescribeable magnetism. In addition, I believe Rolando Villazon to be the greatest operatic actor of this age and perhaps all other ages. His attraction to audiences is difficult to describe but he becomes the character he is portraying and the audience can relate to this. It is not enough to just hear him sing; one must see him visually to appreciate the hold he can have on an audience. And Ms. Netrebko, what can be said. She has beauty, acting ability, and a fine voice. In some roles (mainly of the bel canto style), she has been criticized for not being able to sing these as correctly as they should be sung, but her performance in "La Traviata" is superb. I highly recommend purchasing this dvd. The audio and video are both superb and the dvd is well worth the investment. There is also an additional dvd showing backstage highlights and commentary by Villazon which is really quite enjoyable.

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new era for opera

This opera is so 'real'! I think that it is an astonishing achievement to be able to make opera so vivid. It is 'alive'. The formalities and stiffness are all melted into 'today's' world. No soul can watch it without loosing the line between imagination and reality. I would categorize it as an evolution in opera productions. Anna Netrebko is injecting a revolutionary approach to opera. It involves a genius to turn the opera into the new dimension. I am absolutely astonished by the 'realism'. 5 stars are not enough!
It takes a visionary to understand that this performance. When Tchaikovsky played his First concerto for the first time, he was laughed at. It is not for everybody to see through the eyes of the `establishment' how genius this production is.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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