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56 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Opera Centennial of the Century, January 7, 2000
By A Customer
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!
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51 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must-See for Anyone Who Cares for Opera!, April 2, 2000
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. ADDENDUM: When I initially reviewed this disc, it was a release on Pioneer Classics, not the re-mastered DGG edition featured here. I just added the DGG edition and can update this review accordingly. The picture is cleaner; the colors are more intense. The DTS surround sound is the biggest plus for me because it provides some ambience that suggests a sense of "being there". It is not as dramatic an effect as is the case with the new HD technology, but it is a significant upgrade that amply justified the expenditure for the 2 disc set. My earlier comments on the quality of the performances is unchanged. It's a chance to see some of the Golden Age singers of the second half of the 20th Century.
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28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
I could have watched the whole thing --, November 3, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Metropolitan Opera: Centennial Gala (DVD)
I could have watched the whole thing, which lasted for six hours, but for some reason the people who put out both the video and the DVD decided to trim it by two hours. Why? Since this was a once-in-a-lifetime celebration, why cut a third of it? I taped this myself when it was originally broadcast, so I have it all, but my enthusiasm for a couple of the very performeances that were edited out have created some slight damage to those parts of my twenty year-old tape. I hoped I'd find the complete performance when I bought this, and was really disgusted when I realized how much had been cut. Among many others that I have often enjoyed were: the sextet (or is it the septet) from La Italiana in Algeri, with the wonderful Edda Moser doing her high notes, Ara Berberian sounding out like a bass drum; Neil Shicoff and the Met male chorus doing the Kleinzach song from Les Contes d'Hoffmann. this was the first time I ever saw Shicoff and I was a fan of his from that point. If I'd been given the choice of who or what to cut, I could have found some performances I could have lived without, but for this special occasion, I would really have voted to leave them all in. When will we see their like again?
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