Product Details

• Actors: Renata Scotto, Cornell MacNeil, Isola Jones, William Lewis, Gail Robinson
• Directors: Placido Domingo, Piero Faggioni
• Format: NTSC, Digital Sound, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled
• Language: Unknown (Dolby Digital 5.1), Unknown (PCM Stereo), Italian (Dolby Digital 5.1), Italian (DTS 5.1), Italian (PCM Stereo)
• Subtitles: German, English, Spanish, Italian, French
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
• DVD Release Date: September 11, 2007
• Run Time: 155 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000PC1N40
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,483 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #43 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Languages > Italian

Editorial Reviews

ZANDONAI:FRANCESCA DA RIMINI - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Francesca Possible......, December 31, 2007

By 

OperaLover "eastsunrise" (Fort Lauderdale, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zandonai: Francesca Da Rimini (DVD)

While I agree with the other review about the merits of this performance, I do not agree that his review should be a forum for the merits of Francesca di Rimini as an opera. Francesca is well known to the opera cognoscenti for generations. Zandonai had a unique voice which was never to everyone's liking. Nevertheless, Francesca has remained in the repertory in Italy without interruption. Clearly there are enough supporters of the opera to keep it popular. If you don't like this opera, don't buy it. Meanwhile don't damn this superior DVD with only three stars because you don't like the piece in the first place. This is not a forum for your learning curve.

As to the performance itself, without the likes of Magda Olivero or perhaps Raina Kabaivanska in her prime, Renata Scotto brings a sense of authority and style to this music that is incomparable. Perhaps one may not like this high note or that, but her supreme knowledge of the verisimo idiom makes her the only choice for this role at the time of this broadcast. Domingo is in spectacular form and looks the part to perfection. MacNeil also displays vocal flaws but performs the role to the manner born: he is truly menacing. The production is exquisite in every way and gives the opera the best possible presentation imaginable: this includes intentionally stylized acting, presumably recreating the style that was prevalent at the time the opera was written. James Levine conducts magnificently as if this opera were indeed a masterpiece. I do wish (and I know this is a controversial opinion) that some cuts had been made, especially the redundant music written for Francesca's handmaidens. Cuts in this opera are routine in Italy however controversial they may be.

This DVD is a MUST for any lover of the verismo idiom! Thank you DG for this wonderful re-mastering.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The stars were in perfect alignment..., May 13, 2009

By 

B. Cathey "ParsifalCSA" (Wendell, NC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Zandonai: Francesca Da Rimini (DVD)

I saw--and absorbed---Francesca da Rimini when the Met offered it, and like almost everyone else, I was swept away. Oh, yes, Zandonai is not Puccini, not Mascagni, but there is just something "special" about Francesca da Rimini that has always captivated me (well, I also like very much Spontini, Montemezzi, Auber, R.Strauss, and Mussorgsky). With the right cast and staging it DOES work...and the Met production, with Domingo, Scotto, and MacNeill, all in stellar voice, and those magnificent sets, well, it was indeed an "event" of the first order. And this DVD preserves it all.

I must confess that I really adore all the twists and exotic turns musically, as well. Ovderheated? Oh, yes, most definitely. Not something you want to hear or see everyday...but, wow, yes, most assuredly from time to time. The love duet at the end of Act III and the final feverish scene of Paolo and Francesca are simply spectacular, passion-filled, volcanic eruptions....I don't fight them, rather I just enjoy them.

Magda Olivero, Leyla Gencer, and Raina Kaibavanska sang Francesca, and I enjoy each of their interpretations, but this Met production remains unique and special.

Let yourself go, let the music (as overblown as it may seem, at times) and the drama envelope you. Have a glass of wine with it all, and simply enjoy it. Highly recommended.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A landmark in opera, March 23, 2009

By 

Dino Starcevic Rivera (San José, Costa Rica) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Zandonai: Francesca Da Rimini (DVD)

Superb, amazing, exotic, erotic. As Gabrielle D'Annunzio's poetry, such it is this Metropolitan Opera production of Francesca da Rimini. A classic on recorded operas, we have to thank the Met for registered this magnificent production.
If the sum of talents weren't enough, there is Renata Scotto. As the critic of the moment (1984) remarked, she found HER character. I haven`t found a better Scotto on video, no matter how much I love her Giorgetta. Here, as Francesca, she reinvented herself and reach the stars. She MUST be seen.
Do not miss this one.