Product Details

• Actors: Martin Katz, La Scala Opera, Rossini, Poulenc, Copland
• Format: Classical, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Video Artists Int'l
• DVD Release Date: July 12, 2005
• Run Time: 88 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B0007VZ8NQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #127,974 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

MARILYN HORNE IN RECITAL:MILAN 1981 - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Born to sing... excellently, November 21, 2008

By 

Smorgy "Smorgy" (Southern California, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Marilyn Horne in Recital (DVD)

Arias included:
1. Händel: Semele: Awake Saturnia/ Iris, hence away
Beethoven
2. In questa tomba oscura, 3. Ich liebe dich, 4. Busslied
5. FM Alvarez: La Partida
6. X Montsalvatge: Canción de cuna
7. E Granados: La Maja dolorosa
8. F Obradors: El vito
9. G Rossini: Semiramide: Eccomi alfine/Ah, quel giorno/Oh, come da quel
H Duparc
10. L'invitaion au voyage, 11. Extase, 12. Le manoir de Rosemonde
A Copeland: Old American Songs
13. Simple Gifts, 14. Ching a Ring Chaw, 15. Long Time Ago, 16. At the River
17. G Donizetti: Lucrezia Borgia: Il segreto per esser felice (Brindisi)
18. G Rossini: Se il vuol, la molinara
S Foster
19. Beautiful Dreamer, 20. Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair

This solo recital at La Scala finds Marilyn Horne in top form and presents a good case for her christening as the greatest singer of her generation. She is a cute short thing (only about 5'2"), but sounds like a 6' tall Amazon whose agility can give a cheetah a good run for an antelope dinner. She is especially thrilling in virtuoso rage arias (the Handel, Rossini, and Donizetti numbers).

All the songs are well to extremely well sung, though the most haunting for me are the English language ones... especially the final two encores by Stephen Foster. It isn't that her diction in other language is faulty, but that when she sings in English she really gets into the songs more and turns them into stories (in other languages she is mainly singing a song very musically).

Martin Katz is also a marvelous partner from the piano. A one man orchestra who really excels in showcasing Horne's singing. He is very expressive without drawing attention to himself.

All in all, it a great recital DVD... and I dare say a must have for any lover of the operatic mezzo-soprano voice. All songs are sung in original language with optional subtitle in: English, German, French, Italian.