Product Details

• Actors: Kathleen Battle, Leonard Bernstein, Richard Bonynge, Montserrat Caballé, Richard Cassilly
• Format: AC-3, Classical, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Subtitles: Chinese, English, German, Italian, Spanish
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
• DVD Release Date: September 15, 2009
• Run Time: 231 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002EWGYAM
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #35,407 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

  #30 in	Movies & TV > Musicals & Performing Arts > Classical > By Performer > Domingo, Placido
  #4 in	Movies & TV > Musicals & Performing Arts > Classical > By Performer > Freni, Mirella

• For more information about "The Metropolitan Opera: Centennial Gala" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

New York Times

"A roof-rattling vocal display and the kind of cheering and freeflowing, heartfelt emotion on both sides of the footlights that opera evinces more than any other art form."

Product Description

The gala celebration is a collection of opera's best-loved favorites and immediately catches the attention with spectacular performances by stars such as Dame Joan Sutherland, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Mirella Freni, Marilyn Horne, Birgit Nilsson, Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Nicolai Gedda, Alfredo Kraus and many others. This product features an awesome roster of international star conductors: from James Levine, Leonard Bernstein and Thomas Fulton to Jeffrey Tate, Richard Bonynge.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Opera Centennial of the Century, January 7, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Metropolitan Opera: Centennial Gala (DVD)

3 hours and 49 minutes of excellent and moving performances by present and past opera singers and conductors with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. 23 operatic vocals including arias, duets, trios, a sextet, and a septet. There are two overtures and a ballet. Nota bene that an older DVD player had terrible sound problems with this and other Pioneer Classics like La Boheme. This Centennial Gala and La Boheme sound fabulous on the new DVD player. The lighting, colors, and perspectives are as good as you will see on television and better than VHS. The English subtitles are optional. There is a DVD 58 page history of the Metropolitan Opera. This is a jewel in my operatic collection. Enjoy!

43 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-See for Anyone Who Cares for Opera!, April 2, 2000

By	John G. Gleeson Sr. (Frederic, Mi USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Metropolitan Opera: Centennial Gala (DVD)

This DVD contains the majority of a two-day celebration of the Metropolitan Opera's first 100 years. While its origin in 1983 prevents it from being sonically 100%, the performances are simply fabulous! You'll see why the "three tenors", Pavarotti, Carrerras and Domingo, deserve the fame that they enjoy. You'll see and hear why Dame Joan Sutherland was called "La Stupenda" by her fans. You will see and hear the most ravishing singing of two scenes from Der Rosenkavalier, which will convert even the most ardent operaphobe. You will marvel, as I did, how sensitive and youthful the late Alfredo Krause sounds in the love duet ( with the simply splendid Catherine Malfitano) from Romeo et Juliette. With nearly four hours of marvellous singing, with arias, overtures, duets, trios and ensembles, this disc will be replayed over and over at our house -- and yours, too. My usually objective wife was clapping and exclaiming "bravo" as the performances progressed, and properly so. Don't miss this one; and its perfect as a gift for any opera lover or anyone who is curious about what opera is all about.

60 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Recording Crime of the Century, February 22, 1999

By	[e-mail] (Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Metropolitan Opera: Centennial Gala (DVD)

The 1983 Metropolitan Opera Centennial Gala was perhaps the classical concert of the century, with most of the greatest, still-living voices in attendance and participating. But Pioneer Classics DVD recording of this concert is the recording crime of the century. From the opening notes of the Overture to the Bartered Bride to the final "Happy Birthday", the sound is so grossly distorted that it is almost totally unlistenable. When I played the first copy of the disc I bought, I thought that there was something wrong with my speakers or my DVD player, but other DVDs sounded wonderful. I returned the first disc and ordered a second thinking that the first was simply badly copied. But the second disc is just as bad. Pioneer Classics should withdraw this DVD from production until a recording worthy of the event can be produced. Please don't waste your money on this DVD. If you love this music and these performers as I do, you will only be enraged at the injustice which has been done to both.