Customer Reviews

Puccini - La Boheme / Pavarotti, d'Amico, Genoa Opera Company [VHS]

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This video of La Boheme presents the performance given by Pavarotti and the Genoa opera in Beijing in the 1980s, during Pavarotti's visit to China. The sets are great, the ensemble singing is wonderful, and Fiamma Izzo D'Amico as Mimi and Madelyn Renee as Musetta as especially fine. The only jarring moment was the audience applause that broke into "Che Gelida Manina" as Pavarotti hit the high notes in the aria. This video is a welcome alternative to the San Francisco Opera Boheme with Pavarotti and Mirella Freni, and if Pavarotti is your preferred Rodofo, it's a treasure and a must.

Lucciano Pavarotti and Fiamma Izo DÁmico are my favorites Rodolfo and Mimi. In act 1 their voice awaken all your senses at once, you are transformed for a time to a better place. I highly recommend this video to anyone who wants to be overwhelmed with wonderful feelings.

Act I with Lucciano Pavarotti and Fiamma Izzo D'Amico as Mimi is just fantastic. I watched it over 10 times now. I liked their duet very much. Fiamma Izzo D'Amico is my most favorite Mimi.

Note: I saw this on TV, and missed Act I. My comments apply to acts II-IV. If you are familiar with the Met's production by Zefferelli, the staging here is similar, but in some ways superior: act II is less crowded, and the horseplay in the beginning of act IV comes off as more spontaneous. It's a good naturalistic production.
Pavarotti is in fine voice. The rest of the cast were unfamiliar to me, but uniformly good. Musetta and Mimi, in particular, brought not only blemishless singing, but acting a cut above what one normally sees. This is one of the first Mimis I've ever seen who actually looks ill. She also showed the complexities of Mimi's emotions in act three, when she is facing the failure of her relationship with Rodolfo. Pavarotti was never a *great* actor, but he has his moments. There are more than a few in this film.
I haven't seen the Freni-Pavarotti film, so I can't compare. The wise thing would probably be to get both.

I love Pavarotti very much. I am very happy about his performance of Che Geldida Mania. Musseta is wonderful. Mimi's cute.

My favorite acts in the whole opera are Acts 1 and 2.

Act 2 is wonderful. The scenery is great, and the applause after Musseta's waltz is very moving. Basically, it was good because of Musseta.

Act 1 is good because of Mimi and Luciano. Mimi is very precious, very small, very quiet. Luciano's singing was wonderful. I can't say much of his acting. He's better then he is nowadays.

I heard and read in these reviews, that after singing the high C in his aria, he got applause. That touches me. I love it.

This is a wonderful reccomendation for anyone who is a Pavarotti fan and a Puccini fan. Enjoy!!

I received the video and it doesn't even play. Now I have to go to the trouble of returning a useless item--and still pay the original shipping costs. I'll certainly never purchase a video this way again.