Verdi: I vespri siciliani (Bologna, 1986)

Cast: Susan Dunn (Elena), Veriano Luchetti (Arrigo), Leo Nucci (Monforte), Bonaldo Giaiotti (Procida), Gianfranco Casarini (Bethune), Sergio Fontana (Vaudemont); Riccardo Chailly (conductor), Luca Ronconi (producer), Pasquale Grossi (stage director), Luca Ronconi (video director)

Recorded at Teatro Communale di Bologna in 1986

Issued on DVD by Kultur in 2005 [D2845, NTSC/region 1, menus in English, subtitles in English, German, French, Italian, Portugese, Spanish]

Technical details
Aspect ratio 4:3
Sound PCM Stereo

Running Time 171 minutes

Sung in Italian

As an altogether satisfactory production of a relative rarity, this DVD is welcome. If it is not what one might hope, it is more than some better-known operas have received.

The production is literal but with its profusion of greenery and reliance on the curtain, hardly traditional. Lighting is consistently dark by design and stage movement is minimized. Chailly gives the singers substantial freedom but never allows excess. The greatest audience enthusiasm is shown for Nucci's overwrought scena. Luchetti is wooden but vocally adequate; Dunn is light in timbre and volume, but does characterize and manages the fioriture reasonably well. Giaiotti has the right sonority but his intonation leaves something to be desired.

As usual, Kultur's packaging falls short, but the disc is available, economical and adequate. The audience clearly enjoyed the show, interrupting it frequently with extended applause pulling some of the singers markedly out of character.
 
Related website:
Kultur Video www.kultur.com
 
Michael Richter, 2 September 2005
mrichter@cpl.net
 
See also Michael Richter's Introduction to the DVD, for a list of other reviews see the DVD Project page.