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32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A rare opportunity to experience Handel's best opera, July 6, 2003
This review is from: Handel - Tamerlano / Jonathan Miller, Trevor Pinnock - Bacelli, Randle, Pushee, Norberg-Schulz, Bonitatibus, Abete - Händelfestspiele Halle 2001 (DVD)
Tamerlano is Handel's most dramatically convincing and musically appealing opera, in my opinion. It is a shame it is not as well known as some of his other works. This DVD is a well filmed and documented performance from the 2001 Handel Festival in Halle. The singing is for the most part excellent and the acting is appropriate to the subject, the music, and the visual concept. The costumes, borrowed from a spectacular Glimmerglass Opera production, add much visual interest (important since the stage setting is oddly sparce). One might quibble with some of the static nature of the staging (difficult to avoid in Baroque opera), and with the somewhat unmasculine singing and acting of Monica Bacelli in the role of the warrier Tamerlane, but overall this is a very satisfying performance. Thomas Randle gives a vocally and dramatically intense reading of the crucial role of Bajazet, and Elisabeth Norberg-Schulz and Anna Bonitatibus are tremendous. The "Score Plus" feature is nice, but it does NOT actually appear as a "subtitle" - it is superimposed over the screen. Useful if you want to watch portions of the score, but otherwise distracting. I highly recommend this DVD.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing after all the splendid reviews below:, February 28, 2007
This review is from: Handel - Tamerlano / Jonathan Miller, Trevor Pinnock - Bacelli, Randle, Pushee, Norberg-Schulz, Bonitatibus, Abete - Händelfestspiele Halle 2001 (DVD)
Let's be clear; I love Handel operas; I have DVDs of every Handel opera available on Region 1. I worship Trevor Pinnock; he'd never disappointed me before. But... this performance is ponderous and unconvincing. Perhaps the lovely costumes so much praised by other reviewers inhibited the singers from adequate blocking and gesture. Monica Bacelli is the chief problem; she is completely unconvincing as Tamerlano, both as an actress and as a singer. She lacks all ferocity. I'm inclined to think that Pinnock's tempi are too "judicious" throughout, which also contributes to the ponderous air of the production. The superimposed score is absolutely worthless, unless you want to pause the opera dozens of times in order to read it clearly.
I will watch this disk again sometime. Perhaps I'll see or hear some redemption in it, but for the moment it's my least favorite Handel DVD except for the disastrous Ariodante.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best dvd, July 5, 2005
This review is from: Handel - Tamerlano / Jonathan Miller, Trevor Pinnock - Bacelli, Randle, Pushee, Norberg-Schulz, Bonitatibus, Abete - Händelfestspiele Halle 2001 (DVD)
Although Tamerlano is not the best opera ever this dvd is the most equipped thing in terms of technical advancements. It is a must buy for music majors because of the added score which appears kind of transparently over the picture, something I have never seen before. I have always had to hold the score pamphlet and look on and off at the screen. Secondly there is bonus materials on making this opera, etc. You will not be disappointed in this dvd unless you hate the opera in genreral like my brother.
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