Customer Reviews

Verdi: La Traviata [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I used to have the DVD of Decca version of La Traviata featuring Angela Gheorghiu. I liked it but this blu-ray provides a whole new experience with its great high definition vision and audio. Ms. Gheorghiu, as Violetta, performs amazingly in both singing and acting. It's great to observe all the details of the singer's facial expressions and gestures in hi-def. Mr. Vargas, as Alfredo, performs very well even though his acting is rather clumsy. The baritone, as the father, sings flawlessly. I thought the production was also excellent. I expected more from the Gypsy's dance/song but all in all this title deserves five stars.

This is my very first opera title in blu-ray and I'm more falling in love with blu-ray after watching this Verdi's masterpiece. I know I'll be watching it over and over again especially the first act.

Technically, it was shot in 1080i and features PCM 2.0 & DTS HDMA 7.1 audio track. No extras.

"La Traviata" is probably Verdi's most popular opera, despite the fact that the leading role, Violetta, is notoriously difficult to sing. I've seen Traviata in the house maybe 4 or 5 and have walked away unsatisfied each time. And it was always because I found the Violetta dearly wanting in some aspect.
On paper, this video, released by La Scala, should leap to the very top of great Traviatas on video. Angela Gheorghiu became a star in the 1994 Covent Garden production of Traviata and 13 years later, she's still one of the world's leading Violettas. Ramon Vargas has exactly the right type of voice for Alfredo -- warm, ardent, youthful (even though by now he looks rather portly and middle-aged). Roberto Frontali does no harm as Germont. The production is gorgeous -- very traditional, but not tacky. The costumes are lavish and capture the wasteful, decadent life of the Parisian demi-monde.
Yet Gheorghiu's Violetta has, unfortunately, not really deepened over the years. The 1994 production of Traviata was caught on video and Gheorghiu's Violetta back then still had an appealing air of youthful innocence, which added immeasurably to her portrayal. Her naturally smoky, dusky voice gave her Violetta the right amount of melancholy. Her snow-white skin and dark hair made her look disconcertingly like the portraits of the real life Violetta, a French courtesan named Marie Duplessis. Most of all, her Violetta was still a young lady who seemed to sincerely crave romantic love. The Alfredo (Frank Lopardo) and the Germont (Leo Nucci) were not on the level of Vargas or Filanoti, but Gheorghiu's Violetta was so compelling it didn't matter.
Thirteen years later, Gheorghiu's voice is still enchantingly smoky and dusky, but she's a Diva, and her portrayal has hardened. She has become a rather calculating performer. It's unreasonable to expect her Violetta to still have the youthful freshness of her 1994 portrayal, but I wish she projected more genuine vulnerability. Her grand gestures and facial expressions make it clear that she considers herself as Tragedienne, but in the end it's not particularly affecting.
There are positives to her portrayal. For one, she and Ramon Vargas have now sung together in quite a few productions and they have that intangible chemistry that was so lacking between her and Lopardo. And although her accuracy in florid passage may not match Maria Callas or Joan Sutherland, she gets through "Sempre libera" much better than most sopranos today. Moreover, her voice is not large, but to her credit she seems to know this and never tries to oversing. This is clearly a soprano who knows her vocal strengths and weaknesses, and seeks to maximize the former and minimize the latter.
Yet at the end of the day a Violetta should break your heart, not simply impress you. I found Gheorghiu more impressive than affecting, and so I don't think I'll be returning to this video anytime soon.

I was very impressed by this version. From the first minutes you understand that new era of high quality video has already become. The image is so three-D-mentional that it's even hard to see something similar in our every-day reality. Modern HD-cameras create the effect of physical presence in the scene. I saw this blu-ray at 52" plazma TV, and I felt that I'm in the scene, even can touch any object. It reminds me of my experience in IMAX-theaters.

Take into mind that creators of this production use plenty of luxury fabrics, authentic props and similiar things, and in the whole pay much attention to detailes of scenery. The ball scenes are truly of royal range.

The image of these materials has high contrast, deep colours, well-shaped textures of everything, shine of jewellery strikes your eyes, but little pity for singers and actors: you can see all their skin defects.

Quality of audio is also the same as they noted in features of blu-ray disc. Often in my blu-ray experience I face the problem that producers of so-called blu-ray discs just sell old recordings with standard audio-video quality on blu-rays without any improvements! Here all is real blu-ray quality.

I have already saw some operas on blu-rays, and think this is THE BEST!

A technical note. The on-screen menu lacks the customary "setup" choice that makes it easy to select subtitles and audio choices. However, if you start the opera, the subtitle and audio menus, including DTS HD, can be reached from the remote control of the blu-ray player.

The three leads Gheorghiu, Vargas, and Frontali give brilliant performances and 1080p combined with DTS HD gives the viewer a near-perfect sense of seeing the real opera from the best seat in the house.

Don't be fooled by other reviews that give this higher regard
than the 1994 Covent Garden performance; only the 3rd act can
match Angela Gheorghiu's 1994 performance. In 2007 she's old
and acts like this is her 150th repeat; in 1994 she has a freshness
and believability that makes 1994 the best available version
among all dvds. Lopardo may be wooden but that can be a viable
interpretation; Vargas just does not cut it as "the" man who
sweeps Violetta off her feet. Nucci (who I generally do not like)
is very good especially after repeated watching, and, Frontali
is just too course and gruff all the time. Maazel is no match for
Solti, who manages the soft moments magnificently.
One reviewer said this 2007 was close to Madga Olivero; no
such thing. 1994 gets closer to one of the alltime greats plus
we get to see ravishing beauty. Gheorghiu's costumes in 1994 are
also better than 2007 (with 2007's plunging necklines). It's hard
for me to believe that a better Traviata will ever be on DVD than
the 94 Covent Garden: I cry many times watching it; not one tear
occured watching the 2007 (but, but for the 94 CG, the 2007 would
be the best available version-but still no drawn tears).

If I had to choose one opera to show at home to someone who hasn't watched any (or states that he doesn't love opera, since he never saw one) I would choose this one to start with. For starters, the sound and the image are great (Blu-Ray played with on a "good" surround system) and no doubt will impress the viewer. The opera has everything, big and luxurious stage, character development of Violetta, passionate scenes, love, anger, death and so on. Tears will come to the eyes of any novice to opera. The music so well expresses every emotion that most people will be moved by it. The production is a traditional one, well done and adding to the music. Kudos to La Scala for this great production. If you have seen many versions of La Traviata, this one will still move you. Gheorghui and Vargas are great. A pleasure to listen and watch it many times.

I have long enjoyed classical music and have heard La Traviata many times before. The sound quality,gorgeous scenes and vocals on this Blu Ray DVD are excellent. I'm holding off buying movies and will instead fill my collection with a few select operas like this and plan to enjoy them for many years to come.

notable sonido DTS (excellent DTS sound), con una calidad de imagen apreciable, el elenco muy afiatado y experimentado en esta notable ópera.

Not much to add to the previous reviews. Excellent production, good singing from the three principals. But the acting or Mr. Vargas is pretty bad, his facial expression at the dramatic "Amami Alfredo" is embarassing to those that are following the pangs of Violetta. On the other hand, Ms. Georghiu's constant "close mouth saliva production" before she begins singing is a distraction to the viewers that are absorbed in the ongoing drama. Opera singers, used to the large theater stages and the safe distance from the live audience, should begin to be concerned with the close-ups the new media allows. Better yet, video producers should have moved the camera to another target everytime she begins pressing her lips, munching the void in search for a humid environment for her voice to reach our ears. Really ugly...

This otherwise excellent production was annoyingly flawed by out of balance sound. The orchestra would often drown out the singing. I like to listen with the sound a bit loud. If I set the sound volume to get the singing where I wanted it at a loud part, the orchestra would at times be deafeningly loud and force the turning down of the volume. So I was forced to watch the performance with the sound turned down so far that the singing seemed like it was recorded with the microphone too far away from the singer. Sad. If they ever fix this, they also ought to reduce the loudness of the applause.