Product Details

• Actors: Ernst Marzendorfer, Eszter Sumegi, Kostadin Andreev, Cornelia Helfricht, Janusz Monarcha
• Format: Classical, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Italian
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Euroarts
• DVD Release Date: June 21, 2005
• Run Time: 150 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0009JVOIY
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #277,270 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

VERDI:ADIA - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Out of the Ordinary, June 22, 2006

By 

Ben Franklin "bf" (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Verdi - Aida / Sumegi, Andreev, Helfricht, Dalas, Monarcha, Marzendorfer, St. Margarethen (DVD)

Every summer there is a opera presented in an open air quarry in St. Margarethen, Austria. In 2004 the opera was Aida. There was a huge set and cast including horses and 3 elephants. I thought the singing and conducting was excellent. I was disappointed that the orchestra was pint sized and the trumpets really let us down in the triumphal scene. Also, the ballet, where girls in swimsuits sacrifice a cute blond boy in a bikini, is best forgotten. But a very stirring third and fourth act left me with quite a positive impression. Excellent audio and video, also.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No redeeming qualities whatsoever, December 26, 2010

By 

Gustav Mahler "Gus" (Miami, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Verdi - Aida / Sumegi, Andreev, Helfricht, Dalas, Monarcha, Marzendorfer, St. Margarethen (DVD)

This production is the worst production imaginable. The opera is cut by half. The singers are paralyzingly mediocre, especially the tenor. He hasn't learned that classifying yourself as a tenor doesn't necessarily make you one. The costumes look as if they had been designed by fourth graders. To top everything off, the orchestra (which appears seriously reduced) is crammed into a mini-temple on the side. A total joke! Purchasing it is a waste of money; watching it is a waste of time. I wondered if any other operas butchered at this so-called festival have been recorded. I could only imagine what they would do with a work of real quality, i.e. Wagner. The thought has me already breaking out in a cold sweat.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Fare, September 7, 2010

By 

Satish Kamath (India) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Verdi - Aida / Sumegi, Andreev, Helfricht, Dalas, Monarcha, Marzendorfer, St. Margarethen (DVD)

They have spared nothing insofar as the sets, costumes and such are concerned. In fact, caricaturisation or not, the effect is good.
The video has been shot very well, is clear and crisp and does at no point of time show any lack of detail. Excellent, I would say. Kudos to the cameramen and production people.
The voices, although not well known, are quite adequate for the roles and I could detect very few hiccups.

Why then, just two stars?

To begin with, bad sound engineering. These guys may be good recording in halls, but I think they have a lot to learn while recording and post production for the open air. The orchestra sounds detached or too thin in the soft passages and overpowering the voices in the loud ones. A sense of balance in the treatment of brasses is quite evident too. I am sure it was just great when people were watching it live, but in the DVD, it flops miserably.

The ballet... less said about it the better. It is just next to pathetic, both choreography as well as dancing. The costumes in the Triumphant march ballet is more ideally suited to the Eurotrash that we see sometimes in the so called minimal modernistic productions. The dancers are dressed like they are going to do a BDSM right after the event. Actually they kind of do it to a 'beautiful' boy/man who is just as confused and lost as the dancers are. He is sacrificed anyway at the end of the dance.
The dance director was confused as to whether he should introduce Egyptian motifs (which he does not) or European (which again he does not). It is a kind of fusion between Greek, French and Broadway at various times. The result is an unattractive hotchpotch.
I would any day sit back and see a production of this on the DVD from say, the Met or La Scala. At least those fellers know from experience how to record a piece and definitely have better directors and choreographers.
Unfortunately, it is rather harsh on the singers, all of them, who did a neat job. A lot of money spent is all I can infer. Wonder who the funders were...