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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing, March 2, 2009
This review is from: Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana & Leoncavallo: Pagliacci [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)
I adore Cav and Pag and I really wanted to like this Blu-ray disc. Call me old fashioned, traditional or stuck in my ways -- the Prologue to Pagliacci belongs with THAT opera. It is not a quasi overture or introduction to Cavalleria Rusticana. I don't care how "legendary" the conductor's reading is, or, how innovative the director's vision is -- it just doesn't work for me and musically, it feels disjointed. My other issue is with the sound engineer. The chorus and orchestra sound fine. However, the soloists are consistently off-microphone and it's very hard to hear them. At times, you can't hear them at all. I first thought there was something wrong with my surround sound system. That's not the case since every other Blu-ray opera disc I own has balanced audio. Just poor microphone placement. Two stars for the crystal clear video quality.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Save your money, your sight and your nerve endings....., January 10, 2010
This review is from: Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana & Leoncavallo: Pagliacci [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)
An atrocious, pretentious and highly unsatisfying rendition of two classic operas. The first of these, Cavalleria Rusticana has been given a self-absorbing, witless staging and design. Imagine if you will, a colony of ants roaming aimlessly about a salt mine for an hour. The costuming here, black! Either no budget or a real buy on the black material. The staging, austere, unattractive, heavy handed and stodgy. The most boring rendition of Cavalleria I've ever been subjected to. The voices are fair to good but, the mix is so unbalanced that the orchestra overpowers the soloists. So this version of Cav has nothing to recommend it. If it's your first contact with the opera; avoid this version and search out a proper rendering.
The second one act is the famed Pagliacci. Again the director and designer have created what looks like a rumble in a used car lot. None of the charm, classic beauty or pathos the opera deserves.
This Blu-ray DVD is a travesty. I waited 'til it hit $20.00 to give it a try. Had I paid more I'd be demonstrating in Madrid at the opera house. A real piece of crap with excellent sound and picture; someone knew what they were doing; albeit not the director, costumer and designer.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Payaso Antipático, February 20, 2010
This review is from: Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana & Leoncavallo: Pagliacci [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)
When the Teatro Real of Madrid decides to present an opera with a British (MERLIN) or Spanish setting (CARMEN, DON GIOVANNI, IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA), the production is derecho y sincero. One would have thought that CAVALLERIA and PAGLIACCI would have come under the patronage of the house, since Calabria and Sicily were once part of the Spanish Empire, and the honor-code dominant there is very similar to that of the Hispanic Peninsula. Instead the two precious masterpieces are partially dismantled and mixed, so that PAGLIACCI seems to be a stageplay within CAVALLERIA. Although composed for the same competition, and staged together from nearly the beginning, the two works are very different: PAGLIACCI is a false comedy, actually a tragedy in disguise; CAVALLERIA is straight tragedy, with no comedy in sight, false or otherwise. The protagonist of PAGLIACCI is a wronged husband, the protagonist of CAVALLERIA is the violator of a marriage. The horror of CAVALLERIA is that the denunciation and duel take place on Easter Sunday, while the horror of PAGLIACCI is that the tragedy takes place during the performance of a roadside comedy. Of the two CAVALLERIA is more sublime, PAGLIACCI more ironic. They balance each other well, but do not mix at all. My objections to the staging here are more intellectual than visceral, but I was revolted by the crude brutality of Tonio's sexual advantages on Nedda. Did we really have to see all of this? It robs Tonio of his own tragedy, for he too is a misunderstood clown, and even the narrator of the piece. This drags the whole work down, depriving it of its proper POV. One should care about every single one of the characters in these pieces, both those sinning and those sinned against. They are all tragic, but each has his or her own dignity, and none of them are depraved. The audience here are turned into voyeurs instead of human fellow-sympathizers. Is this really what Spaniards think Southern Italy is all about? Do they remember nothing from the centuries they spent there?
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