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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
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.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
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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. The audience and I thoroughly enjoyed this 'riot' of a production (you will se what I mean at the end of the first half) with it's 'opera within an opera' storyline set in a rehearsal room. The set looks just like a large upper story studio room in an old Brownstone building in New York with magnificent large windows affording a realistic street view and the impression of the march of time is given by day and night lighting effects. The Met chorus' coming and going in their 'civilian clothes' and interaction is wittily done and there is the added interest of a touching fictional "real life romance" between the two "lead characters" which mirrors the plot of the opera in rehearsal so that 'reality' and 'unreality' become blurred. There was much warm laughter as was obviously intended by this fresh take on an old story. I even cried a little as an affecting diamond jewel like tear glistened on the cheek of Natalie Dessay in her wonderful heart rending aria "non credea mirarti". The finale with the cast in folk costume is delightful. We the audience applauded heartily at the end feeling as if we had actually been transported in a magical way to the Met. La Sonnambula has a beautiful score and the acting and romantic chemistry in this production is even better, for me, than the two in "Fille de Regiment". (Perhaps this can be attributed to the fact that Natalie looks more like her adorable self in this production and is not wearing the 'fright wig' which was surely unnecessary in the final act.)
7 of 8 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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
No Stars at all for Crazy Rehersal Room Staging
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... Read more
Published 1 month ago by H. A. Weedon
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 5 months ago by I. Zaneres
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 11 months ago by Geoffrey Butcher
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 14 months ago by Berend van Hoek
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 24 months ago by Dr. J. Baildam
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
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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