VERDI three Attilas on DVD

Attila:Samuel Ramey (bass) Ezio: Giorgio Zancanaro (baritone) Odabella: Cheryl Studer (soprano) Foresto: Kaludi Kaludov (tenor) Uldino: Ernesto Gavazzi (tenor) Leone: Mario Luperi (bass)
Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro alla Scala/Muti
Recorded live at Teatro alla Scala, Milan 1991

VL Klassik VLRT 057

This German VL DVD received for review twice, and also found on line, has no subtitles, no synopsis, indeed no booklet at all; not even the performance date on the box. A bizarre, skimpy presentation to be avoided, one which seems to be a licensed copy?

But help is at hand with a very positive review of the same filmed recording in MusicWeb (the Seen&Heard live music section of which I founded, and remain its Editor Emeritus)...

- - not the best of operas*; but by any standards this must be one of the best performances of it - - Robert McKechnie

That is the one to go for [R: £10 from Naxos Direct].

But, another twist in the tale, it can be watched complete on YouTube, [1'54"], so maybe you don't need to buy either DVD?

Peter Grahame Woolf

* Edward Downes, who conducted 25 of Verdi's 28 operas, premiered Attila at Covent Garden in 1990

P.S. Received summer 2012: - another copy of this in a different box, but with same faults.

Why?

Beware !

PGW

Note: The Italian only libretto can be found at librettidopera.it.