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Unbelievable singing and more
I didn't file this a year ago when I bought the dvd because I assumed Amazon would be flooded with reviews, given the magnificence of the performance and popularity of the opera. But I see nobody else has yet offered their opinion so I thought I'd better get my two cents in, because it now faces very stiff competition from the new Dessay/Florez version.
All-round, it is one of my favourite opera dvds. Yes, the plot is scatty but it's also great fun, the singing on this version is out of this world, acting is good to excellent, and I love Frizza's conducting. Above all, it has that indefinable quality, the feel of a great occasion captured on the wing. The Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova audience goes appropriately nuts at the right moments, forcing an encore out of Florez after "Mes amis". He duly pings off the nine high Cs a second time without breaking sweat. As if not to be outdone, Ciofi responds with a beautifully moving "Il faut partir", giving the audience another reason to voice its amazement. And so it goes on, through the entire opera. Singing just doesn't get any better than this. Nicola Ulivieri as Sulpice and a sexy Francesca Franci as La Marquise de Berkenfield provide strong support, though Ulivieri's French is rather unique. The action is updated to WW2, which works without being obtrusive. There is a whole disc of very worthwhile extras.
Reviews of the new Dessay version from Covent Garden get to hair-splitting differences between it and this one. General consensus seems to be that singing is marginally better in Genova, acting has the edge at Covent Garden. Even without seeing it I can believe that Dessay is in a class of her own. She is surely the best actress in opera today. I'll probably end up buying that version too. But I urge people not to overlook this dvd both as a performance and as a record of a memorable occasion.
