Product Details

• Actors: Giovanna Casolla, Sergej Larin, Barbara Frittoli, Carlo Colombara, José Fardilha
• Directors: Hugo Käch, Ruth Käch
• Writers: Carlo Gozzi, Giuseppe Adami, Renato Simoni
• Producers: Carla Thoeren, Konstantin Thoeren, Thomas Louis Pröve
• Format: Classical, Color, NTSC
• Language: German
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: RCA
• VHS Release Date: November 24, 1998
• Run Time: 129 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305234760
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #315,468 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The first DVD edition of Puccini's last opera (left not quite complete at his death) immediately becomes the best available in any video format. It is likely to keep this status for quite a while, though the music comes across more powerfully in several audio-only editions.

The visual challenges of Turandot are formidable, and they are met spectacularly in this production, filmed on location in the Forbidden City, where the story takes place. Turandot is a princess to die for. Dozens of foreign princes have literally lost their heads after seeking her hand in marriage and failing to solve three riddles. Ideally, a Turandot should have the voice of Birgit Nilsson, she should have the looks and acting skills of Teresa Stratas in her prime, and it's nice if she at least appears Chinese. Soprano Giovanna Casolla scores a B-plus on these requirements, and that's about the best we can expect. Among other principals, tenor Sergej Larin sings well, looks right, and doesn't really try to act (probably a wise decision). Soprano Barbara Frittoli is superb and the supporting cast is generally good. But what makes this production unique is the setting; you are there in ancient Peking, with its real buildings, flags, armor and uniforms, costumes, and statues of dragons and other legendary monsters.

This is one of the first operas intended for original release on DVD; others were initially issued in more limited formats and have kept their original limitations in the new format. The wider range of options on DVD is significant. Those who will settle for audio-only recordings, which cost about the same and offer much less, should try either of Birgit Nilsson's CD editions (with Björling or Corelli) or Joan Sutherland's. Both of these great divas are, alas, visually inappropriate, offering another argument for this striking visual re-creation. --Joe McLellan.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

100 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Event, February 14, 2000

By 

Noam Eitan (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Puccini - Turandot at the Forbidden City of Beijing / Mehta, Casolla, Larin, Frittoli, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (DVD)

This production is not an Arena di Verona type outdoor performance translocated to Beijing. It is a grandiose event on a gigantic scale of the kind Mehta specializes in. As far as the staging is concerned this is a Turandot unlike any other. The location required and inspired a different and impressive approach by the director Zhang Yimou: from the inclusion of the Beijing Dance Academy to the unusual location of the choir. This approach seems surprisingly appropriate, partly because all the action in the drama takes place outdoors. Mehta doesn't need my endorsement in Puccini. The singers are good to wonderful, depending on one's expectations, but this doesn't matter because the issue here is THE EVENT. This is the only opera DVD I have that takes advantage of many of the possibilities in this medium. The list of the technical features is too long. You can choose different camera angles, 6 subtitle languages, the entire audio track and more. The picture quality is very well defined and the audio has an unusual quality and balance that replicate the gigantic outdoor scale.

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Feature-packed disc does justice to grand production., April 14, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Puccini - Turandot at the Forbidden City of Beijing / Mehta, Casolla, Larin, Frittoli, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (DVD)

Opera on DVD has come of age with the release of "Turandot at the Forbidden City of Beijing." This production by the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, transferred from Florence Italy to the historically accurate setting of the Forbidden City, tells the story of the deadly Ice Princess Turandot and the Unknown Prince who solves her riddles to win her hand and eventually her heart. Thrice Oscar-nominated director Zhang Yimou has filled his expansive venue with extras from the People's Liberation Army and the Dance Academy of Beijing. The flawless video transfer boasts vivid colors that jump off the screen and clear sharp images that reveal the smallest details even in the panoramic wide shots that showcase the scope and grandeur of the presentation. The performances are good - Barbara Frittoli is a standout as Liu. The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio transfer is as good as can be expected given the sonic limitations of the original production. Overall, the orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta fares somewhat better than the singers, who were body miked for this open-air production. Occasionally, some voices get lost in the mix. Examples of this include "Ah, per l'ultima Volta," which combines all voices to bring the first act to a close, in which the voice of Calaf must dominate, but doesn't, and "Fermo! Che fai?" with the voices of the three Ministers of State too small for the occasion. It is the extras included in this disc that make this a DVD and/or opera enthusiast's dream: 16:9 anamorphic widescreen transfer; Synopsis and subtitles in English, French Italian, German, Japanese and German; a PCM audio-only track identical to the CD release of this production coupled with a slideshow of behind-the-scene and production photos; and a 30-minute "Making of" documentary in English or German with subititles in 4 other languages. In addition, this may well be the first mainstream DVD to make extensive use of the alternate angle feature throughout the presentation, providing wide-angle alternatives to close -up shots and vice versa, as well as occasional views from the wings and behind the stage. The presence of alternate angles is appropriately signalled by the appearance of an unobtrusive but noticeable full moon in the upper left corner. Overall, this disc is a welcome arrival for anyone who wants to take advantage of all the features of DVD.

69 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetic Majesty, May 27, 2001

By 

John Coleman (Joplin, Missouri, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Puccini - Turandot at the Forbidden City of Beijing / Mehta, Casolla, Larin, Frittoli, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (DVD)

I'm just a country doctor from Iowa and opera isn't my thing. My nine year old son doesn't like it either. So how do you get the two of us to watch an Italian opera about a medieval Chinese princess and some nut who is so smitten by her that he risks his very head to win her love? Get a wonderful orchestra under the baton of Zubin Mehta and combine it with the sublime voices of Giovanna Casolla, Sergej Larin, and Barbara Frittoli and the chorus of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino for starters. Then recruit a thousand Chinese extras and perform the show in exquisite costumes at the Forbidden City of Beijing. The result is one of the finest videos I have ever seen. I am sure this will not be the last opera my son and I will see. Pokemon move over; Back Street Boys get back stage; PUCCINI VINCIT!