Customer Reviews

Verdi: Rigoletto / David McVicar, Royal Opera House

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Verdi's brilliant Rigoletto is an opera not to be missed ... and so is the magnificent baritione Paolo Gavanelli as the title character in this David McVicar production. The sound of his voice is truly awesome, and I find it a pity that this is the only opera DVD on which he appears. His acting is captivating as well.

Christine Schafer is wonderful as Rigoletto's daughter Gilda. Together, they display a splendid chemistry.

The duke is performed admirably by the ever capable Marcello Alvarez.

Normally, I'm not a big fan of Kultur releases ... in fact, I had to check and see if my copy was from Kultur, or the Opus Arte release also available through amazon (for 2 or 3 times the $). The video seems fine, although the audio is at times a little uneven (and this was also pointed out by another reviewer concerning the Opus Arte release as well).

However, Paolo Gavanelli's breathtaking baritone and Ms. Schafer's ever reliable and inspiring effort make this a favorite among the 30 or so operas in my collection.

If you have as good a cast as they did in this production and all the principals performed quite well, why the nudity in the opening scene? Keep that stuff for "Salome" where it is fully justified if done as well as Maria Ewing did at the ROH or Catherine Malfitano at the Deutsche Oper.