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The cast is a dream team wrote the Financial Times after the premiere of this production of Verdis La forza del destino at the Wiener Staatsoper. Topping the list is Nina Stemme, who gives a full-blooded portrayal of Leonora. Passionate forceful readings are also provided by Salvatore Licitra as Alvaro and Carlos Álvarez as Don Carlo. Zubin Mehta leads Staatsoper Orchestra with agility, subtleness and relaxed mastery, and right from the start David Poutney establishes an atmosphere of entrapment by fate. With the aid of a bizarre, unforgettable stage construction, the acclaimed director finds an ideal setting to illustrate the merciless powers of chance and destiny.
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The cast is a dream team --Financial Times
[] Zubin Mehta conducts with easy-going mastery, letting the score breathe and live. The Staatsoper Orchestra plays with conviction. [] The cast is a dream team, headed by Nina Stemme as Leonora --Financial Times.com
...Nina Stemme's Leonora? A hugely well-acted assumption of the role, with the uncanny presence and vocal fury previously offered by Price, Barstow or Freni. Sound and vision are both helpful and this is the best realised of the four current Forza DVDs --Gramophone,Mar'12
[] Zubin Mehta conducts with easy-going mastery, letting the score breathe and live. The Staatsoper Orchestra plays with conviction. [] The cast is a dream team, headed by Nina Stemme as Leonora --Financial Times.com
...Nina Stemme's Leonora? A hugely well-acted assumption of the role, with the uncanny presence and vocal fury previously offered by Price, Barstow or Freni. Sound and vision are both helpful and this is the best realised of the four current Forza DVDs --Gramophone,Mar'12
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
Although the producers of this DVD would have us believe its cast is ideal, my impression of their efforts is that it is over-sung, a term which refers to singers who try (almost desperately) to make an impression. In many cases this is a directing flaw, not a flaw in the singers' technique -- a flaw in the approach to a character, not of expressiveness or musicality, and it is a flaw evident to the hilt in this souped-up, minimalised 'scary' version of a great Italian opera.
Having mentioned this caveat to the buyer, I will close with one more: this is one of those 'modernized' productions of Italian opera which robs it entirely of setting, pacing and plot (and hence of character,) depending on mood, atmosphere and anguished singers' faces (many close-ups in this DVD, though the lighting is often so poor, and the make-up so exaggerated, that one cannot see the singers' faces anyway) to communicate what, so such directors must believe, is the essence of the drama to audiences too ignorant to know what is 'really' going on. This seems to come from the fairly recent notion -- a false one from the start -- that the words of an opera (especially an Italian melodrama!) aren't important anyway; what really communicates is the music. Hence, exaggerate the singing, exaggerate the anguish on the face, and presto! a melodrama it is!
No -- I'll settle for listening to the old (1965) Leontyne Price - Richard Tucker Forza, which is still available on CD, until a performance that retains the dignity and humanity of Verdi is finally put on a digitally versatile disc.
PS: Anyone for the risible? Try thinking: Preziosilla in an Annie Oakley outfit, with Spanish soldiers dressed as cowboys. One of those moments that insults everybody: singers, musicians, audiences, opera-lovers,even the dusty composer, who is weeping in his grave. Unfortunately not the only laugh in the show.
Buyers beware.
Having mentioned this caveat to the buyer, I will close with one more: this is one of those 'modernized' productions of Italian opera which robs it entirely of setting, pacing and plot (and hence of character,) depending on mood, atmosphere and anguished singers' faces (many close-ups in this DVD, though the lighting is often so poor, and the make-up so exaggerated, that one cannot see the singers' faces anyway) to communicate what, so such directors must believe, is the essence of the drama to audiences too ignorant to know what is 'really' going on. This seems to come from the fairly recent notion -- a false one from the start -- that the words of an opera (especially an Italian melodrama!) aren't important anyway; what really communicates is the music. Hence, exaggerate the singing, exaggerate the anguish on the face, and presto! a melodrama it is!
No -- I'll settle for listening to the old (1965) Leontyne Price - Richard Tucker Forza, which is still available on CD, until a performance that retains the dignity and humanity of Verdi is finally put on a digitally versatile disc.
PS: Anyone for the risible? Try thinking: Preziosilla in an Annie Oakley outfit, with Spanish soldiers dressed as cowboys. One of those moments that insults everybody: singers, musicians, audiences, opera-lovers,even the dusty composer, who is weeping in his grave. Unfortunately not the only laugh in the show.
Buyers beware.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase
In Forza the main characters Leonora,Don Alvaro and Don Carlos have no control over their circumstances,but fate does.First performance in Russia, at Petersburg Imperial Theatre 1862. Zubin Metha conducts the Choir and orchestra of the Vienna State opera with energy and fast tempo,bringing out the marvellous melodies in this opera. The staging is directed by David Pountney. Naturally, it is modern staging, using minimalism in the open acts, and then has a scaffolding effect, with films of the second world war shown. Act four the bare scenery turns into a cross.The monks are dressed in what seems like sufi,islamic dress. The only problem is not the army dressed in red with a white cross on the shoulder, but is the Cowboys and girls. The point the director is making is that the religion peddled by Fr Melitone,is Christian Evangelist of the type peddled in America.Because of the block of red of the chorus,Pountney uses the contrast of Cow persons. I did expect Ethel Merman to sing "there is nothing like a dame".
The staging will bring up the old argument about new and traditional staging, but I like both, so this staging is fine for me. To produce this opera you require five great voices, which this Forza has.The true Dramatic soprano richly sung by Nina Stemme,just hear Madre,pietosa Vergine,beautiful. Alastair Miles is Padre Guardiano,a fine bass,with Italian Swiss the Late Salvatore Licitra,killed in a car crash this year,is an emotional Don Alvaro. Nadia Krasteva Preziosilla,is a fine Mezzo and very pleasing to the eye.Don Carlo is the baritone, Carlos Alvarez, very lyrical.The four main parts all fit the concept of the opera and the famous arias are well sung. The best Forza on DVD or bluray,which are thin on the ground. Nina Stemme is up there with Price and Callas in this part. I am not going to attempt to persuade those who like traditional staging to forget their bias and just enjoy the singing ,they will not. But for those who like modern staging, this is a must. Region code A,B,C. HD 1080i, stereo and Dts 5.0. 161 minutes.
The staging will bring up the old argument about new and traditional staging, but I like both, so this staging is fine for me. To produce this opera you require five great voices, which this Forza has.The true Dramatic soprano richly sung by Nina Stemme,just hear Madre,pietosa Vergine,beautiful. Alastair Miles is Padre Guardiano,a fine bass,with Italian Swiss the Late Salvatore Licitra,killed in a car crash this year,is an emotional Don Alvaro. Nadia Krasteva Preziosilla,is a fine Mezzo and very pleasing to the eye.Don Carlo is the baritone, Carlos Alvarez, very lyrical.The four main parts all fit the concept of the opera and the famous arias are well sung. The best Forza on DVD or bluray,which are thin on the ground. Nina Stemme is up there with Price and Callas in this part. I am not going to attempt to persuade those who like traditional staging to forget their bias and just enjoy the singing ,they will not. But for those who like modern staging, this is a must. Region code A,B,C. HD 1080i, stereo and Dts 5.0. 161 minutes.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase
Why is it that the more famous the director the less he feels obligated to respect the composer? This is beautifully sung but as for the rest.... The costumes are extraordinary. A mixture of the Red Army Chorus, The Texas Cowboys Cheerleaders, the Moslem Brotherhood and Princess Anne in drag! They get odder still as the opera progresses. Add to that rolling backdrops from the Battle of Kursk,V2 rockets, modern factory shelving, scenes that seem to be deliberately photographed out of focus or in lighting extremes that make it very hard to make out what is meant to be on screen. All this in response to Verdi setting the story in Spain and Italy 250 years ago! Absolutely nothing fits together in any logical fashion. This is the wierdest and I have to say one of the most unsatisfactory Blu-ray discs I have come across to date. Mind you with the recent Flying Dutchman and Der Meistersinger there is some competition about for that description! I could not work out to whom such a production was aimed. Purchase with great caution, rent if possible. The problem is that such productions very much discourage speculative buying as you will either love or hate this and it is not on my list of re-watchable blu-ray discs. Such a shame as it is very well sung.
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