Product Details

• Actors: Puccini, David, Cura, Nizza, Gertseva
• Directors: Mariani, Mancini
• Format: AC-3, Classical, Color, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: Italian (DTS-HD High Res Audio), Italian (PCM Stereo)
• Subtitles: Italian, English, German, French, Spanish
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Arthaus Musik
• DVD Release Date: September 29, 2009
• Run Time: 157 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002JP9HIU
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #216,512 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Fanfare, Raymond Tuttle, Jan-Feb 2010

Attentive readers will know that I am an apologist for Puccini's second opera, which I enjoy more than some of those that followed it. In fact, I think its third act is pretty damn wonderful. Well, now the joke's on me, because here, for the very first time in any recording medium, is the original four-act version of Edgar. Apparently Puccini scholar Linda B. Fairtile had been reconstructing the work's original version when Simonetta Puccini, the composer's granddaughter, came along and revealed the existence of the complete score. This four-act version was performed only a few times in 1889 before it was set aside. The production preserved on this DVD, then, was the first in 119 years. The revised three-act version is a sometimes-weak opera with several flashes of greatness. The four-act version is weaker yet, with fewer flashes. I'm not against unearthing a composer's earlier thoughts for scholarly reasons, or if something good ended up on the proverbial cutting-room floor, but doing so just because one can seems disrespectful, like going through a neighbor's recycling bin. Furthermore, Puccini didn't just delete material when he revised the score, he also rewrote it, making it more effective. One example of this comes in act III, when the disguised Edgar and Frank bribe the gypsy Tigrana with jewels into denouncing Edgar, who is believed to have died honorably in battle. In the original version, this scene is (unfortunately) almost charming. In the revised version, it is exciting and disturbing. It is the latter version that serves the plot--such as it is--better. Puccini knew what he was doing. Possibly the only compelling reason to perform the original version is to hear anticipations of later operas in material Puccini deleted. For example, the Edgar-Fidelia duet in the last act contains music that ended up in the final duet for a certain Mario Cavaradossi and Floria Tosca 11 years later. For no apparent reason other than visual appeal, Director Lorenzo Mariani has updated the action from the 1300s to the Risorgimento. This makes the characters' often-incomprehensible behavior even more difficult to reason away. In the first act, the stage is covered with artificial grass, and the effect is rather nice. The grass never goes away, though, and it is a little hard to explain why, in act II, the patrons of a high-tone spa-cum-casino are up to their ankles in greenery. Apart from these idiosyncrasies, this is a very handsome production, and no one need feel that their eyes were cheated once the final curtain comes down. The direction, like the costuming, is all primary colors. Only an idiot could miss the point that Fidelia is good and pure, and that Tigrana is bad and lustful. (I guess even the characters' names chase away subtlety!) Musically, this Edgar gets a solid B grade, meaning that it could have been much worse but probably would have been a lot better 50 years ago. José Cura's Carreras-with-squillo voice is in excellent shape here, but this is a role that doesn't give him any plums--indeed, these all go to Fidelia--and he looks and sounds a little disengaged. Still, I have not heard much of this tenor for a decade, and it's good to know that he's still going strong. I've seen Amarilli Nizza elsewhere, and I like her. She looks a little like Mirella Freni, and has a voice that is somewhat like Freni's and somewhat like Renata Scotto's. Unfortunately, she is not nearly as exciting as either of those estimable ladies at their best, and so her portrayal of Fidelia is like a watercolor when one was hoping for an oil painting. She almost rises to the occasion in her two act-III solos, but her failure to sell either of them completely just increases my frustration. As Tigrana, Julia Gertseva similarly makes all the right moves without making any of them convincing. There's nothing wrong with her voice; all she needs (and I have seen her Forza Preziosilla and heard her Werther Charlotte) is for someone to light a fire underneath her. Marco Vratogna's Frank is ho-hum too. (Here he looks disconcertingly like the late Shel Silverstein.) "Nice voice," one thinks, "but where's the fire?" That, many will say, encapsulates the problems the verismo repertoire has been having for the last 30 years. Maybe it isn't the fault of these singers. Maybe it's the time in which we are living. Conducting like Yoram David's doesn't help. Opera is theater, after all, and if conductors don't play the music as if they are in love with it, giving it every last drop of effort, why should we believe in Tosca, let alone Edgar? Yoram does nothing wrong here, other than not pretending that the score isn't an endless string of musical thrills and credible dramatic situations. Visually and sonically, the DVD's production values are beyond reproach. I haven't seen the Blu-ray version, but I have listed it above for those who might want it. I am going to repeat what I've been saying all along: if you are interested in this opera, the recording of choice is the live three-act version with Scotto and Carlo Bergonzi, galvanically conducted by Eve Queler. Scotto and Bergonzi might be a little old for their roles, but their dedication makes it easy to suspend disbelief. Of course, that Sony recording is out of print, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is reissued, like so many older Sony operas have been in the past few years.

Product Description

Original rediscovered Puccini Opera! A fake death, a perverse woman and a pure woman, a man torn between them, a murder: the story of Edgar, Giacomo Puccini's second opera, is full of dramatic turns of events. Arthaus Musik presents this powerful and tragic opera now in a version which was count for lost for nearly 120 years. For the fi rst time the original version in four acts of Edgar by Giacomo Puccini was staged at the Teatro Regio in Turin in 2008. Thanks to the rediscovery of the manuscript score, after 119 years since the fi rst and only performance in Milan in 1889 and after numerous versions condensing the opera in three acts, it will be again possible to experience the original opera that Puccini wrote. It was only when the American Puccini expert Linda B. Fairtile began reconstructing the original orchestration of the almost 40-minute fi nal act that the composer's granddaughter, Simonetta Puccini, came up with the intact score. José Cura, acclaimed all over the world for his intense interpretations, is Edgar. His rich and brilliant tenor voice, together with his fascinating stage presence, make him one of the most charismatic and sought-after artists in the world. With him, two prima donnas, two artists of great charm and with skyrocketing careers: the Italian soprano Amarilli Nizza and the Russian mezzo-soprano Julia Gertseva.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Puccini's Edgar: Complete At Last!, October 8, 2009

By 

G P Padillo "paolo" (Portland, ME United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Edgar (DVD)

This one starts off rough, but allow me to offer three words of advice: Stick with it.

This performance begins fairly lackluster, with singing that is, quite frankly (and brutally) terrible, particularly from the two prima donnas, Amarilli Nizza and Julia Gertseva. The men (Jose Cura as Edgar, Marco Vratogna as Frank and Carlo Cigni as Gualtiero) fair considerably better.

For whatever reasons (and keeping with the current "update" trend) Lorenzo Mariani moves the action up - SIX HUNDRED YEARS - so instead of a medieval tale of lust, blood and redemption, the whole thing looks very "Sunday in the Park With George" - in fact, the unit set is a lush, long grassed expanse like a meadow or unkempt park, steeply raked to appear hilly and fitted with enormous columns giving the feeling of a field near a courtyard. It's lovely to look at and . . . eventually, makes a terrific setting.

If you think you know Edgar well, (as I did), you're wrong. This is the original four act version that received only three performances - at La Scala in April 1889, was declared a failure, and put away never to be heard again, except in a variety of truncated three act versions. The Fourth act is a revelation and consists primarily of a nearly half an hour of music for Edgar and Fidelia - an almost Wagnerian length duet, broken up with asides, choruses - pumping out an array of explosive emotions ranging from the tenderness and elation of love, to the crowds howling at the villainess as she's dragged off to the executioner's sword. It is thrilling.

The second act is slightly laughable - where I've always imagined a filthy 14th century orgy worthy of Hieronymus Bosch what we see is the same grassy park of act one but now with those circular Victorian-era sofas each wrapped around the columns of the first act. The woman are ghastly gotten up in bloomers and elaborate bustiers, their hair piled high a la "Gibson Girl" - and a sextette of them are donned up in Eartha Kit Catwoman masks and long red opera gloves. The whole thing feels like The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas decided to mount The Merry Widow. Julia Gertseva, gorgeous to look at vocally not at all impressive in Act I, here reveals a sizeable high mezzo, with amazingly free top notes, the voice sailing through Puccini's "big girl" music with no fears. In black and red, with a kind of silly tiara, she creates a fascinating, deceptively shallow creature that is one part Lady Macbeth, two parts Thais. (When Edgar abruptly stops making love to her when he hears the military trumpets, you can throw in one part of Carmen, too!). The scenario is a tough one to fall for, but by this point you just have to go with it.

The glory of Edgar is its third act, Puccini's stunningly beautiful Requiem, and everything goes right here (even if it looks like a scene from Jane Eyre or Bleak House). The chorus is terrific, the children's chorus touching and effective and most of all, Amarilli Nizza makes you forget her awkward first act by giving a performance that is soul searing. Her "Addio, mio dolce amor" lets out all the stops, and the glory of her voice - a free and remarkably thrilling top - gives gooseflesh. She dominates the ensemble that follows and her second aria over the shouts of Edgar and the villagers, as she defends the memory of the man all believe dead, before she and the others leave for home, is infinitely moving.

Tigrana's reappearance - to pay her respects, grieve and make her first attempt at prayer - is fouled by being set up and horribly taunted by Edgar and Frank, before she gives in to their offer to betray Edgar's memory. Edgar's revelation provokes another response entirely from the reassembled crowd and the act ends in a moment that is as theatrically compelling and musically thrilling as anything else Puccini was to give us over the ensuing decades. It is a phenomenal moment and a great curtain bringer downer.

The final act opens with Fidelia in her wedding veil, kneeling under and embracing the flowering almond tree she fell in love with Edgar. She has been keeping vigil and the aria about her dream of marrying Edgar in heaven - which on paper sounds almost comically naive - is simply beautiful as handled b Ms. Nizza. Carlo Cigni's Gualtiero's rich, beautiful bass baritone soars beautifully over the chorus in his prayer. Marco Vratogna doesn't get a lot to do as Frank, but his actorly presence is strongly felt throughout each act and when he sings, it's with an impressive voice.

Jose Cura has a major success as Edgar, this performance finding him mostly in glorious voice - the top notes exciting and every once in a while a gleaming hint of squillo creeps in that made me go "oh yeah!." He croons a bit in some of the softer music, sounding like he's coming in for a rough spot at the end of one of his duets with Fidelia. (To her credit Nizza, who sounded as though prepared to hold onto that note duet for eternity, cuts it off short like a true stage partner).

Yoram David leads an a sometimes clunky, but mostly spirited and beautiful performance from the Teatro Regio Torino forces. There are moments that feel under-rehearsed or not thought too much about, for instance he doesn't really milk some of the Requiem music which cries at times for a more expansive reading while here it can be just a bit foursquare. But, mostly he gets it right and the biggest moments ring out with a feverish passion that a work like this needs.

The accompanying pamphlet gives a nice article about the work. Of immense interest is how Linda Fairtile had been trying to re-orchestrate the fourth act, believed to either have been destroyed or forever lost, from Ricordi's piano-only version, when she was approached by Puccini's granddaughter, who brought with her the entire full score which hadn't been seen in 121 years!

I've been a bit surprised a discovery of this magnitude wasn't more publicized, but this is a unique - and downright weird - opera, but don't let that put you off. And don't give up after Act 1 - it's so very, very worth sticking with it!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Flawed, but a "new" Puccini opera that every Puccini lover should own., February 9, 2010

By 

Bryan Leech "Bryan" (Melbourne, VIC, Australia) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Puccini: Edgar [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

Before going any further, I would suggest you read the extensive and thorough review by G.P. Padillo for the DVD release of this performance. He has gone into great detail and provides an excellent outline of the opera and its history. I am writing this review, due to some differences in perception of the work and its performance.

It has been stated, in other sources, that Puccini lacked the ability to handle the drama of a story such as Edgar. In fact, the fault lies with the libretto by Ferdinando Fontana, as the story of Edgar bears weaknesses and some degree of illogicality in its structure. In the total perspective of the complete four act work that has now been returned to us, Puccini has provided an opera with a relatively good dramatic arc, and an opera that contains a good complement of attractive arias, an especially beautiful duet, and a large quota of excellent and appealing chorus work.

As other reviews have stated, the performance does not commence well. I would not say it takes the entire first act for everyone to get into their stride, but it takes a good 20 minutes at the least, and this includes the strings, which is a body that could be better coordinated in these early stages. But it all settles down into quite excellent performances from all soloists (I suspect it was recorded at one performance, rather than the usual two or three, allowing editing together the best sections). In this fairly lengthy work, it is well worthwhile putting up with the shaky start for all that follows.

The work starts slowly, sounding to me initially as if it could be more in the vein of "Rondine" , but Puccini manages his flawed libretto and progressively builds the dramatic intensity and flow of the opera, reaching a powerful and moving conclusion to what proves to be a quite dramatic work. After the shaky beginnings, all of the artists, as mentiond, perform well, with José Cura outstanding in his lead role as Edgar. Special mention should also go to the chorus. This work is laden with quite a lot of chorus singing, and the chorus members are very well up to the demands of the work -- something important for this opera if it is going to "come off".

Whilst I might look forward to a production with slightly higher standards in most departments, all aspects here are sufficiently good to give a competent presentation of a work that we have been denied for far too long.

On the technical side, both lighting, photography and editing seemed to speak more of a film background rather than recording stage productions, but while giving a different look, this aspect did not spoil the production in any way for me. There are a few Blu--ray releases that have a marginally sharper image, but this is still in the very good class. Sound, which is also of a high standard, is available in PCM stereo, as well as DTS--HD Master Audio 7.1. Image is 16:9.

So, as I said, while we may wish for a production at a slightly higher standard, after much reflection, I gave five stars as the production shows a well-unified concept, providing a worthwhile performance of an opera none of us has ever seen, yet should never have been lost. Despite the faults, when the performance came to an end, my immediate reaction was that I wanted to watch it all over again straight away. If you love Puccini, then buy this, forgive it its weaknesses, considering its entirety rather than picking at odd places. I think if viewed and listened to in this way, that is, as the complete work, rather than the sum of its parts, you will be very pleased to have it added to your collection.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, December 28, 2009

By 

A. Lupu "A. Lupu" (Rochester, MN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Puccini: Edgar [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

Edgar is Puccini's second opera, and as such is should be seen as part of the learning curve to one of the most famous and loved opera composers in the 20th century.

This four-act production is as close as we can expect to the premier of the opera in 1889. The premier was not a success and rightly so. If you expect the "typical" Puccini hit, don't buy this Disc, but if you are interested in following the development of a great artist, this is for you. In act 3 you can appreciate the young Puccini's gift for melodies that, in subsequent operas, will conquer the world.

The singers are first class and the staging is very effective and appropriate. The sound and the images in the Blue-Ray disc are as good as you can get from a staged production.