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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Romeo, Tybalt and Juliet are an absolute perfect trio!!!,
By
This review is from: Bellini: I Capuleti ed I Montecchi (Audio CD)
This opera by Bellini is rather unknown. Luckily, a recent production at the Los Angeles Opera has put is in the limelights, though the absence of a video or DVD recording is definitely a handicap for the audience, because this opera is absolutely fabulous. At first I was surprised by the choice of a soprano for Romeo. But The opera is built to use this fact at the highest level possible. The duets between Romeo and Juliet come to a perfect blending of the voices, the couple becoming one, and that is a marvelous way of expressing this total and unbreakable love that unifies them two. But the duets between Romeo and Tybalt are also enhanced by this fact because then we have the rivalry between the two characters expressed by the opposition between the soprano and the tenor. Bellini slightly betrays Shakespeare. Romeo is the real head of the fighting Montagues, and Tybalt is the same on the Capulet side. Romeo has killed Juliet's brother. Yet Romeo and Juliet are deeply in love, but Tybalt is also deeply un love with Juliet, though she does not respond to this love. The rivalry between the two families is thus reduced and at the same time multiplied because of the two men who love the same woman. The dramatic tension is strengthened by this simple fact. We are no longer in a fight between two families, but between two lovers. The feelings and sentiments are thus extremely more powerful. And then we understand the choice of a soprano for Romeo. Tybalt is the one who is trying to break, unknowingly at first, the love between Romeo and Juliet. The music is very surprising in some pieces. The use of brass instruments at the beginning or here and there does not evoke a war, but rather a hunting party. Yet in the love scenes, the really dramatic scenes in the opera, the music gets to either a tremendous delicacy to express the beauty of the feelings (the use of a guitar for instance) or a phenomenal tension. The singing itself is as pure and multifarious as the tortured and split loyalties of Romeo or Juliet, especially Juliet, or Tybalt require. Pure because of the voices, because of the solos, but also because of the very precise and accurate composition of the duets or the chorus. Multifarious because no two scenes have the same coloration. We feel the evolution of the drama, of the questioning in the minds and hearts of the characters due to these slight changes in the music from one scene to the next. An expert would probably hear now and then an echo of Mozart or some other great opera composers, but it is only an evanescent echo when it happens, a couple or very small number of notes, or even nothing but a tone, a chord that sounds like coming from somewhere else, but it is so well blended in the whole that it sounds just perfect, not one note too many, not one variation too many, just the right number of notes and words, just perfect. So the death of Romeo and Juliet becomes all the more volcanic, heavy and fiery, because of those changes in the plot and because of those perfect notes and arias. This opera deserves a better coverage in our musical culture. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Paris Universities II and IX.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.6 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews) 18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A New Standard for I Capuletti e i Montecchi,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Bellini: I Capuleti ed I Montecchi (Audio CD)
This recording sets a new standard forthis opera, and should emerge as the best recorded accounting of this opera. While the recent RCA recording is lovely, I found myself wanting to hear slightly more dramatic voices in the roles of Romeo, and Giulietta. In this recording I find I have everything I've waited to hear. Hong and Larmore are accomplised artists as are Mei and her Romeo, however I find that Hong and Larmore's voices are more appropriate and excitiing! Hong and Larmore have been singing together regularly in concert as well as in a collection of duets, and have perfected a wonderful blend to their sounds. Not only is their coluratura beautiful, but the dramatic esclamations are not lost, but fully realized. I hope this set is just the begining of their collaborations! Hong's silky beatifull Giuletta is unmatched, and Larmore's Romeo is heroric, and agile! This is the Bellini Romeo and Juliette to buy!
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great bel canto opera, beautifully sung.,
By D. R. Schryer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Bellini: I Capuleti ed I Montecchi (Audio CD)
I readily acknowledge a passion for Bellini's wonderfully melodious music. But I Capuleti e i Montecchi is beautifully melodious even by Bellini's high standards. Furthermore, despite its beauty, it is not at all lacking in drama. This outstanding opera deserves a place in the standard repertoire. Perhaps this fine recording will help it gain the recognition which it so amply deserves.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Capuleti e it Metechhi/Larmore,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Bellini: I Capuleti ed I Montecchi (Audio CD)
Jennifer Larmore's magnificent, dusky mezzo-soprano voice is an instrument of perfection, as always, and Hei Kyung Hong, with whom Larmore often collaborates, is excellent. A real treat!!
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