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Verdi Macbeth & Donizetti Maria Stuarda at Sferisterio Opera DzMariaFestival 2007mcb

Macbeth – Giuseppe Altomare
Lady Macbeth
– Olha Zhuravel
Banco
– Pavel Kudinov
Macduff – Rubens Pelizzari
Coro Lirico Marchigiano 'V. Bellini' – Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana Daniele Callegari, conductor
Pier Luigi Pizzi, stage director, set and costumes
Filmed 2 & 5 August 2007
Naxos DVD 2.110258

Elisabetta Laura Polverelli
Maria Stuarda Maria Pia Piscitelli
Anna
Giovanna Lanza Leicester Roberto de Biasio Talbot Simone Alberghini Cecil Mario Cassi
Coro Lirico Marchigiano 'V. Bellini' – Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana Riccardo Frizzai, conductor
Pier Luigi Pizzi, stage director, set and costumes
Filmed 3 August 2007
Naxos DVD 2.110268


These two performances were filmed in the same week at Sferisterio's spectacular outdoor venue, and both use the same fixed staging based on long ramps (ideal for processions) with a stepped platform for the key scenes involving the principals. (I wondered if that might have been the inspiration for a similar staging concept for Pelleas & Melisande in London last year?)

The singing does not compare with the best of the competition on CD but, for all who like to see their opera too, these DVDs will give considerable satisfaction and enjoyment. The principals in both take a little time to warm up, but deliver and rise to impressive climactic scenes.

Two pictures below are included to give an impression of the spectacular outdoor festival venue in Sferisterio. There was no attempt at historical realism in the sets, but the costumes were evocative, and the direction by Pizzi and the lighting (Sergio Rossi) helped to make both operas look good on the small screen. The witches as choreographed by Gheorghe Iancu are splendid; they give great scope for imaginative approaches - c.f. those in Bloch's Macbeth seen in London last week.

Recommended.

Peter Grahame Woolfms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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