Customer Reviews

At Her Most Ravishing [VHS]

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Issued with typical discernment by Bel Canto Society, this black and white VHS tape of an all-Puccini concert in her native country presents Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballe singing six major arias, conducted by Gianfranco Masini. Visual quality of the film is barely mediocre (the theatre's chandeliers are wickedly glaring during the camera's long-shots), the orchestra is occasionally untidy, but sound quality is fine except for a single wobble at the beginning of the first aria. Caballe's singing is profound, and beautiful. If you love Caballe's art, you'll love this film which lasts about half an hour. If, on the other hand, you share, with many others, disapproving views with respect to Caballe's singing and interpretation, this film may drive you crazy. What some call indulgent, mannered, and the like, I would characterize simply as Montserrat Caballe's pure musical art. It is an art admirable to me for its MUSICAL perfection, nothing more, nothing less. There exist such divergent views with respect to what constitutes great operatic art, one is lost attempting to forge a consensus of any kind - I suspect one loves, or one does not. Beyond that, however, musicianship must be the supreme attribute of any musician; in my view, it alone informs the art of music with an essential humanist aesthetic - not a particular voice, or facility, or style, or repertory. Important constituent elements these may be, yet alone they cannot create an eternal art. A singer, no less than any other, must be a musician in order to engage an authentic musical art. Careers come and go, but are no standard for discerning the real thing, musical or otherwise. Caballe's musicianship is rare, and is life-affirming in this brief concert. The audience on hand is discriminating and adoring, and adds viewing excitement, but Caballe's art is perfect to the point it is impossible to cleave oneself from it even for a moment. I recommend it to you with fervor. For me, earthly exile is made more bearable through the everlasting musical art of this woman.