Customer Reviews

Great Stars of Opera / Shicoff, Aliberti, Baltsa, Tomowa-Sintow, Rydl, Barcellona, Sasson, Emmerlich, Schwarzhaupt, La Scola

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Much as professional sports have their "All-Star Games," this is a collection of Dresden Opera Nights from 1998, 1999, and 2000. The concerts are held outdoors, surrounded by the beautiful old buildings of Dresden.

Of course, these are "concert performances," so you'll see many of your favorite opera scenes sung very beautifully, but not staged or in costume. While many prefer fully-staged operas, this type of performance is excellently suited to sharing beautiful operatic music to friends who may not yet know opera. (There are subtitles in English, German, French and Italian.)

The highlights you might particularly enjoy are the following:

Gunther Emmerlich and Deborah Sasson sing a lovely "man vs. woman" song from Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio. Sasson throws in a good bit of acting that fits so well with the teasing conversation between the two.

Agnes Baltsa sings two arias from Bizet's Carmen.

The beautiful Sandra Schwarzhaupt shows off her voice in the "laughing song" from Die Fledermaus: "Mein Herr Marquis." Later, she sends the audience into a sentimental nostalgia with the romantic "Es lebt'eine Vilja" from Lehar's The Merry Widow.

For precise, yet impassioned singing, it's hard to beat Neil Schicoff. The tenor teaches everyone how to sing arias from Tosca, La Boheme, and Carmen. Then, he joins the other starts in "Libiamo" from La Traviata. He truly amazes with his passion and his carefully-practiced singing.

Three lesser-known singers get to shine too.

Vincenzo La Scola sings "Nessun dorma" to the loud approbation of the Dresden audience.

Daniela Barcellona brings her bel canto style to the music of Carmen and The Barber of Seville.

Lucia Aliberti rounds out the newcomers with a spectacular interpretation of Gianni Schicchi's "O mio babbino caro."

Not everyone enjoys "All-Star Games," but if you might enjoy just listening to beautiful singing from a variety of stars, you'll find this well-worth the time.

For less that nine dollars, you can get a choice selection from concerts in 1998, 1999 and 2000. The songs are established hits of the most popular operas (with a very few exceptions), none runs more than standard concert size, and all are performed by accomplished singers. Neil Shicoff, by dint of appearing in two of the three years from which the numbers are chosen, is the star, as measured by numbers sung. He is also star by dint of bravura handling of a repertoire which most every international tenor had better have in hand if he wants to be constantly at work. Apparently Shicoff had, by this time, risen above the health and legal problems which forced him to leave the Met, where he was well on his way toward joining the circle of golden voiced tenors with decades of accumulated success, in order to establish residence in Europe and re-establish the confidence of opera house management in his reliability and quality of performance. If this concert is an example of how he has sounded in the myriad of engagements he has since been offered, he is indeed in a golden circle, as is manifest by his frequent employment at the Met.

Of course, he is anything but the only star to provide the audience and us with considerable pleasure. Baltsa, Aliberti, Emmerlich, Tomowa-Sintow, Kurt Rydi, Deborah Sassonn, are just a few of the others hitting the sweet spot. A minor regret is the brevity of the appearance by the late Jerry Hadley, who sang only one number, that in duet with Neil Shicoff.

This disc an easy one to recommend to anyone who loves song. There is a complete English translation of the lyrics to each number. (Other translations are provided as well.)

Shicoff est la star de ce DVD qui recoupe plusieurs concerts assez sympathiques...Auprès d'artistes confirmés (Baltsa et Tomowa-Sintow) il est intéressant de retrouver Lucia Aliberti, dont le physique et la gestuelle rappellent étrangement Maria Callas, à laquelle elle fut comparée, à ses débuts prometteurs. Mimétisme, avez-vous dit? Etrange!