Customer Reviews

Gounod - Roméo et Juliette / Alagna, Gheorghiu, van Dam, Keenlyside, Capitole de Toulouse, Plasson

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Plasson is a noted interpreter of French repertoire, and it shows. Gheorghiu, and Alagna present themselves very well and make the characters very believable. Ghoerghiu's voice is so exciting in this version, and she fully develops the character.

For once an opera recording is better than the live performance. While Alagna has a lovely sound and good height even on the top of his voice, the fact remains he's rather "small" vocally for large operatic stages. However, he comes across wonderfully in this recording, where his tone is greatly helped by not having topush to be heard over his wife. Gheorghiu, with her sharp attack and powerful voice, doesn't fare so well in recordings. There is a bit of that odd, over-amplified sound that one often gets with studio recordings of large voices; one really needs space for her to sound her best. Overall, the orchestra was technically good, but somehow lacking in feeling. Also, the tempo for the "Juliet's waltz" in Act 1 sounds very odd. Being just a hair too fast for comfortable listening, it feels as though it's being played at the wrong speed. The low point for Gheorghiu is definately the iffy chromatic scale in the waltz and some interesting liberalities she takes with rests, though some of her runs are spectacularly clean. It's too bad she has to scale back her voice so much to sing with Alagna, there's so much intensity in her voice. The high point of the recording, especially for a student or serious listener, is the beautiful diction throughout the recording. Every syllable is clean and precise, both a joy to listen to, and a great help for study.

this is the best recording of romeo available now.alagna is the one and only romeo.he won the laurence olivier award and covent gardens performance of the year.he certainly is not just a cabaret singer.

ABOUT THIS RECORDING:

Roberto Alagna [Roméo] ** Angela Gheorghiu [Juliette] ** José van Dam [FrIAR Laurent] ** Marie-Ange Todorovitch [Stéphano] ** Simon Keenlyside [Mercutio] ** Alain Fondary [Capulet] ** Claire Larcher [Gertrude] ** Daniel Galvez Vallejo [Tybalt] ** Guy Flechter [Benvolio] ** Didier Henry [Pâris] ** Till Fecnher [Grégorio] ** Alain Vernhes [The Duke] ** Chœur et Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse ** Michel Plasson

This is the last recording of Gounod's Romeo Et Juliette we are likely to see. From 2000-2001, this also is the soundtrack to the film version. The Shakespearean classic tale of doomed love and the power it had to reconcile two feuding families in Renaissance Verona, Italy was a moving theatrical work of opera earlier in the 20th century and most especially in the 19th century. Traditionally, the voices of Romeo and Juliet have been sung by lighter, lyric voices trained in the art of French opera, particularly the operas of Gounod. In a 60's recording we find a young Franco Corelli and Mirella Freni as the lovers and to me, these two have most convincingly sung the lovers with flawless vocal technique and dramatic abilities. In a mid 90's recording you have Placido Domingo and Ruth Anne Sweson. Another winner as Domingo and Swenson get into character and have the lyricism and French style so suited to the opera. This recording, however, thanks to the efforts of Plasson's Gaellic conducting and dramatic treatment of the score and the dramatic, vibrant and beautiful voices of the leads, we get another winner.

All opera lovers with the inside scoop know that Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu are real-life husband and wife. Singing the famous lovers Romeo and Juliette must have been a pleasure for them and a piece of cake. Their commitment to each other and to themselves as artists is evident and their chemistry is electric. I'm not a learned opera scholar or voice coach but I have to say they sound amazing and they really get into character, with perhaps just slightly more emphasis on the voice. They make beautiful music together. The duets in this opera are plenty and they are unbelievably beautiful, erotic, seductive, enchanting. The Balcony Scene Duet (O Leve Toi Soleil) and the Hymn To Night later on -after Juliet forgives Romeo for killing Tybald (Va Je Te Pardonne) are all exquisitely and dramatically sung. It is as if they are singing Puccini duets. Yes, Alagna and Gheorghiu sing with self-consciously dramatic voices and since we are living in a time where studio recordings no longer rely on natural voice alone, we can miss out on some natural singing that has passion. But for some reason, these two do have the passion in the voices and they sing with faultless musicianship and dramatic power. Gheorghiu is a consummate artist and sings all her roles well but her Juliette is a weird sort of scenario: Maria Callas singing Juliet in a big dramatic way but with some vulnerability and sweetness. I don't care for Gheorghiu especially for the reason she sounds like an unbeatable Maria Callas imitator. Alagna sings great but he is obviously influenced and nearly imitating Franco Corelli and another scenario: Pavarotti as Romeo ? He sings like Pavarotti at times. I don't like this recording more than the Domingo/Swenson version though. I feel Domingo and Swenson genuinely want to act more than just sing beautifully. But this one is lovely too.

Jose Van Dam sings Friar Laurence. He is amazing. The voice has not aged or gotten worse. It is rich, deep and saintly for the part. He has done a number of roles over the years and each time gets into character. Van Dam is still a terrific bass-baritone, able to sing such diverse repertoire as Mozart and Verdi. This is one of his best roles on recording. Simon Keenlyside, another Mozartian tenor, sings with great gusto and bravura as Mercutio. We genuinely feel for his tragic fate and he is not just a silly goofball. He's a tragic idealist/dreamer.

Great cast, strong performances, great music.

Gounod's music in 'Romeo et Juliette' is sugary, as the Amazon reviewer says, but here Alagna and Gheorghiu connect so tenderly that you feel like a voyeur intruding on their intimacy. Alagna scales his voice down considerably in the duets, and Gheorghiu matches his perfect French pronunciation--they are merged in the language of love. No ohter recording has quite this gentleness (in my student days Freni and Corelli were the Met's standard Romeo and Juliet, and their presence made the work Italiante, a showpiece for gorgeous vocals).

Plasson and his Toulouse forces sound fine, as does EMI's recording. Alagna reverts to his habit of pushing his voice in solo arias, and Gheorghiu is by nature too hard-edged for Juliet--her waltz aria is attacked a bit fiercely when ideally it should melt on the tongue. But when they sing together, these flaws disappear, and we get to be carried away by their love and Gounod's angelic melodies.

Well... again Roberto Alagna. Everybody talks about him, his technique... I have had the opportunity to see him live on stage and it is an absolutely experience to enjoy his ART. I hate people who is always thinking in the singers of the past. No words to describe the exciting of his singing during the last act, live or in studio. Gheorghiu is perfect singing Juliette. But the main theme is Roberto Alagna; singing Romeo, Nemorino, Don José, Werther, Edgardo ... he is teaching a new way to sing, with the heart in the hands. Thanks Roberto for your art. If you have not see him live on stage, don't lose time.

The triple CD case was broken on arrival. I swapped it with a spare I had, so no great problem. The CD's are scratch free and work fine. The booklet and case, whilst a bit tired, are OK. It was delivered quickly by US mail.
I am happy with the purchase.

Let's start with the positive aspects of this CD-it's very complete, informative, has a CD-ROM feature, and it looks good on your CD shelf. The singers also have acceptable French and Alagna absolutely soars! But annoyingly, the accompanying book provides the libretto with a translation that is not lined up with the French. How hard is it to line up the translation??
Being a coloratura soprano myself, I was particularly interested in Gheorghiu's interpretation of Juliette's waltz "Je veux vivre". In fact, I bought this recording to aid my learning of the role, but in my opinion, Angela completely murders this aria. Was she even reading the music? Her voice is sluggish and exhibits an unflattering vibrato, not to mention the completely overdone slurring. Granted, as a major opera star I suppose she is allowed to take liberties with the music, but thoroughly ignoring rests and articulation does not fly in my book. In addition, where is the youthfulness of Juliette in Angela's portrayal? Saying all this, I do appreciate the inclusion of the often cut Poison Aria at the end, but if you are a soprano looking for a role model, this would not be my first choice.

Amazon's professional reviewer wrote, "Gheorghiu, with her grainy, textured soprano, is not the chirpy soubrette who too frequently is cast in this role". That is absolutely true, largely because the role of Juliette was re-written by Gounod to make her into a chirpy character. (Admittedly, her chirpy life goes hideously wrong. It is the descent of this blithe spirit into tragedy that gives the tale its epic stature, For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.) Gounod had a Jones for what he perceived to be epic literary drama: Faust, Mereille, Romeo and Juliet. When he was writing this opera, he portrayed his Juliette in very dramatic terms. Fortunately, in my opinion at least, the soprano who was to premiere the part told him firmly that he had it all wrong. At her prompting, he tossed out some heavy material from the back end of the opera and loaded Juliette's waltz song--that essential distillation of chirpy joy--onto the front.

Gheorghiu is not really bad as Juliette. She's just wrong, irretrievably, unquestionably wrong. Her assault on the diamond-bright waltz is likely the most leaden misfire on record, She is not a lot better in some other places.

Alagna has a smallish voice. He offers a retiring, small-scale, inoffensive Romeo. For those of you who consider Romeo to be a retiring, small-scale, inoffensive character, Alagna is just the man for you. He is not the man for me.

An earlier Amazon reviewer stated his dislike for people who are forever praising singers of the past. Alagna is clearly his singer of today. For him, the main theme of this opera is "Roberto Alagna; singing Romeo, Nemorino, Don José, Werther, Edgardo ... he is teaching a new way to sing, with the heart in the hands." Well, yeah, okay, everybody has the right to an opinion, however misguided. I am one of those who praise singers of the past. I do this not because I dislike the present, but because many singers of the past are better and some cases vastly better than those of today, and it is of tenors in the French-Italian repertory that this is most particularly true. I except Domingo and the young Pavarotti, whom I consider members of an earlier generation. Oh, I remember well the thrill of discovering those two back in the 1960s. Believe me, I'd love to re-experience that sort of excitement, to find a new Caruso, Gigli, Lauri-Volpi, Thill, Björling, Vanzo, diStefano, Del Monaco, Corelli or Bergonzi whom I could praise to the stars...! But, alas, all I've got is Alagna, whom I can praise as better than Bocelli. Slightly.

As for the rest of this set, the sound is up to date, if a little distant. The supporting rôles are filled by singers who are perfectly competent, perfectly authentic and perfectly forgettable. The orchestra sounds fine, but the conducting seems largely without such bite as even this sugary opera demands.

This recording of "Romeo et Juliette" is certainly not bad, but equally certainly, it is not terribly good.

This would be a much better recording, if not for the _extreme_
liberties taken by the recording engineers -- always -- given AG's voice
and the difference between her in performance and studio recordings.
What one hears here is not what a performance is like, and should be better, but isn't because there is also the issue of her musicality and her substantial deviations from the score. AG has been called an "average" soprano, not without good reason, and has gotten by largely because of her looks, silly dramatic flair onstage, and other non-musical qualities.
I am also sorry to say that her reputation among serious long-term observers-critics is not good. (cf. operachic.typepad.com etc etc etc)
AG's musical life is one of the few situations where ad-hominem issues
are relevant, I would argue; not least, her gross unprofessionalism.
(what I found most repugnant was her very demeaning and insulting comments about the very popular blind tenor....) Please note that I was an
unqualified (and uninformed) admirer of the singer for several years, until I started to pay attention to more knowledgeable observor-critics, and also saw her serious human failings firsthand. (which are also better-known than I, by serious observors!)