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Product Description
New York Metropolitan Opera production of Bellini's romantic opera 'La Sonnambula'. Juan Diego Florez, Natalie Dessay and Michelle Pertusi star; Evelino Pido conducts the Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra.
Product Description
Sonnambula (La)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
By Wilkie Fan
I cannot recommend this version of 'La Sonnambula' too highly. The singing throughout is faultless, and the two principals, Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez sing divinely and act with total conviction. The idea of updating the story to a New York rehearsal studio works surprisingly well. I have watched it through 4 times now, and always found new touches to admire. The sound quality is extremely good and the picture clarity is exemplary. Rush out and buy it; you will be in for a rare treat.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By H. A. Weedon
VINE™ VOICE
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This production is very much a case of great vocal performances being ruined by the crazily ridiculous idea of deciding to stage this great Bellini opera as if it were taking place in a modern rehearsal room. Since people watch and listen to opera because it takes them into a very special and wonderful world the last thing they want is to be slapped in the face by the very thing they have come to escape from for a few hours. Imagine having worked hard all day and going to the opera to relax only to be confronted with scenes of other people working hard just as you have recently been doing. This kind of utterly unnecessary nonsense smacks of someone trying to be far too clever for their own good.
All this is a tremendous shame because both singing and orchestration were superb. Natalie Dessay, Juan Diego Florez, Michele Pertusi and the rest of the cast were a joy to hear and they would have come across even better had they been properly staged within the characters they were portraying instead of being cajoled into acting as people acting as players training to sing in an opera. I give absolutely no stars at all for the person or persons who concocted this crazy idea. I'm not given to booing, preferring always to clap performers for just being there and trying; but I do give a big BOO to the crazy, unimaginative idea of staging a great art work in this silly fashion. The three stars I award are purely and simply for the music and the singers - both worth five stars; but I feel I have to deduct some for the rotten staging.
All this is a tremendous shame because both singing and orchestration were superb. Natalie Dessay, Juan Diego Florez, Michele Pertusi and the rest of the cast were a joy to hear and they would have come across even better had they been properly staged within the characters they were portraying instead of being cajoled into acting as people acting as players training to sing in an opera. I give absolutely no stars at all for the person or persons who concocted this crazy idea. I'm not given to booing, preferring always to clap performers for just being there and trying; but I do give a big BOO to the crazy, unimaginative idea of staging a great art work in this silly fashion. The three stars I award are purely and simply for the music and the singers - both worth five stars; but I feel I have to deduct some for the rotten staging.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
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This performance, broadcast on 21st March 2009, comes from the Live in HD series which the Met ran during its 2008/2009 season. A number of these performances have been released on DVD including Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor / Netrebko, Beczala, Kwiecien, Metropolitan Opera (2009) [DVD] [US Import] and Jules Massenet - Thais [DVD] [2008], but so far - despite their original HD transmission - none of them has been made available in blu ray, which is curious to say the least. Picture quality and sound fall into the `pretty good' category, but those who want a souvenir of what they saw and heard in their local cinema will expect much better than that.
Natalie Dessay is in excellent voice in the title role as Amina, who gets into all sorts of trouble when she sleepwalks into another man's bedchamber - unfortunately a different man to the one she is betrothed to. The story is slight, and very much of its time, but this is an enjoyable production if you suspend your disbelief far enough to accommodate the different levels of story-telling which don't quite sit comfortably with each other. Juan Diego Flores does as much as he can as the two-dimensional Elvino, who spends much of his time being disappointed with each of the ladies he declares his intentions to marry.
You are likely to enjoy this lively production as long as you are not put off by the concept of it taking place as/in a modern day rehearsal, although things really do take off in the last few minutes when the modern trappings are abandoned.
Natalie Dessay is in excellent voice in the title role as Amina, who gets into all sorts of trouble when she sleepwalks into another man's bedchamber - unfortunately a different man to the one she is betrothed to. The story is slight, and very much of its time, but this is an enjoyable production if you suspend your disbelief far enough to accommodate the different levels of story-telling which don't quite sit comfortably with each other. Juan Diego Flores does as much as he can as the two-dimensional Elvino, who spends much of his time being disappointed with each of the ladies he declares his intentions to marry.
You are likely to enjoy this lively production as long as you are not put off by the concept of it taking place as/in a modern day rehearsal, although things really do take off in the last few minutes when the modern trappings are abandoned.
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3.7 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Please learn to think in the opera house
This DVD of La Sonnambula, from the Met with Dessay and Florez, is to be highly recommended: the general consensus about the performance (even from the two-star reviewer) is that... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Pauline and Roy
2.0 out of 5 stars
Dire and Irrelevant
The setting seems to be a rehearsal room, what I presume to be villagers are lined up with a conductor. Other characters sit at tables. Read more
Published 17 months ago by I. Zaneres
5.0 out of 5 stars
Almost Perfection
Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez are two of the greatest talents on the opera stage today and here they star in an imaginative production of La Sonnambula which really works. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Geoffrey Butcher
3.0 out of 5 stars
Untraditional but beautifully singing
The set up of the Opera is untraditional and needs getting used to. If you've seen the traditional la Sonnambula performed, you may be disappointed by the very modern setting. Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2011 by Berend van Hoek
5.0 out of 5 stars
Juan and Nat
Have just ordered this, having been to La Sonnambula in Vienna and having got photos and autographs of Florez and Dessay afterwards. A great souvenir of a star-studded performance.
Published on 31 May 2010 by Dr. J. Baildam
5.0 out of 5 stars
Why have we waited so long. !!!!
This is the one and only complete recording of Sonnambula on DVD and well worth the wait. Simply a wonderful entertaining production from start to finish, star performers and... Read more
Published on 10 April 2010 by R. H. Ogden
5.0 out of 5 stars
So entertaining
I went to see this opera in HD relay from the Met at our local cinema so this DVD is a wonderful souvenir of a production starring two of the greatest voices in opera today. Read more
Published on 19 Mar 2010 by Angela
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not to all tastes but .........
Many people will have already made up their mind about this. It was booed by the Met audience and panned by most critics. Not that Met reaction is the final word on everything. Read more
Published on 9 Mar 2010 by captain cuttle
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