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Verdi: Aida
 
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Verdi: Aida

Paata Burchuladze (Actor), Ghena Dimitrova (Actor), Derek Bailey (Director) | Rated: NR (Not Rated) | Format: DVD
3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)

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Product Description

Amazon.com Essential Video

La Scala went all out for its 1986 production of this grandest of grand operas, with a strong cast and, most important for a video recording, a larger-than-life staging. The Triumph Scene in Act II is by no means Aida's only attraction, but it is the part that makes the strongest and most lasting impression and it is the visual and musical climax of this production. Stage director Luca Ronconi brings on a procession to dwarf all processions: looted treasures, heroic statuary, miserable captives struggling under the lash of whip-bearing slave drivers. On par with these visuals is Lorin Maazel's first-class performance of the popular Grand March with the outstanding La Scala chorus and orchestra. In Act III, the contrasting tranquility of the Nile Scene also gets a visual treatment to match the music's qualities.

When it is not an epic spectacle, Aida is a tragic story of love, jealousy, and horrible revenge. The shifting focus between vast spectacle and intimate moments--sometimes awkward in a live performance onstage--presents special opportunities and challenges for a video recording. In this Aida, the camera work shows an acute awareness of those opportunities and challenges.

The soloists have a variety of strengths that outweigh a few small weaknesses. Luciano Pavarotti sings one of his signature roles in superb voice, but his weight problems are visually evident and detract from his impact as the dashing hero Radames. Maria Chiara has moments of vocal imperfection but gives a dramatically compelling performance. Ghena Dimitrova sings powerfully and the supporting cast is excellent throughout. --Joe McLellan

Video Details

This magnificent production of Verdi's much-loved masterpiece was a triumphant success when it opened at La Scala in December 1985, and Luciano Pavarotti's long-awaited performance as Radames--his first in Italy--was greeted with rapturous applause. In this live recording of that same production, Pavarotti heads an exceptional cast with Ghena Dimitrova, Maria Chiara, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Paata Burchuladze, and Juan Pons all in peak form. Lorin Maazel's reading of the score shows a rare understanding of Verdi's music. Verdi wrote Aida in response to a request by the Khedive of Egypt for an opera with authentic Egyptian flavor to open the Cairo Opera House in 1871. The opera's appeal was immediate and lasting, with this production capturing perfectly the imposing grandeur of the land of the pharaohs and the ochre hues of the desert. It is an ideal setting for the magnificent spectacle of the opera, which combines so consummately with the drama of human emotion, played out in Radames's love for the slave girl Aida and the jealousy of Amneris, daughter of the Egyptian king. In Italian with English subtitles. 160 minutes.

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Customer Reviews

19 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (5)
2 star:
 (5)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.1 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4.0 out of 5 stars Gran Aida., Oct 26 2003
This review is from: Verdi: Aida (DVD)
A nivel general esta es una gran version de Aida, comenzando por la puesta en escena de LUCA RONCONI, bella y coherente visualmente en todo momento, sin los alardes tipicos de la obra, pero con un inteligente movimiento de figurantes.
Luego, en el apartado vocal tenemos al sobresaliente Radames de LUCIANO PAVAROTTI, en uno de sus dias de gloria, a la poderosa Amneris de GHENA DIMITROVA (sin los medios de la Zajick, pero muy notable tambien) y a esos lujos para los papeles secundarios que se llaman PAATA BURDZULADZE (Ramfis), JUAN PONS (Amonasro) y NICOLAI GHIAUROV (Rey de Egipto), todos de lujo en sus respectivas partes.
La Aida de MARIA CHIARA cumple bien, aunque no llega a arrebatar vocalmente, impone una presencia escenica bastante interesante. Aunque prefiero a Aprille Millo...
LORIN MAZZEL lleva comodamente la direccion de los cuerpos estables de la Scalla de Milan, todos ellos muy ductiles, rematando asi una version de Aida bastante interesante.
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3.0 out of 5 stars Out-Heroding Aida, Oct 21 2003
This review is from: Verdi: Aida (DVD)
The singing was wonderful, but the staging ranged from distracting to hilarious.

You like slaves? This production has them in abundance, cluttering up the action, groaning and moaning as they pull and push stones and monuments like a pack of crack-smoking ants. They were especially annoying in the triumphal scene, where the chorus could barely squeeze on stage, cowering in the background while the over-acting wretches took center stage. (Hey slaves! Triumphal celebration going on! Take five!)

It was also kind of weird in Act I, Scene II, where the rocks just popped up out of the ground, noisly banged about, and occasionally formed,one assumes, significant shapes.

Act II, Scene I was bizarre. First, there were topless women "bathing." Let me tell ya, topless women are always a distraction, except in a topless bar, and even there they distract. What was the point of them here? Second, while most ballets in this scene feature the usual gaggle of Egyptian girls "walking like an Egyptian," they changed it up a bit by having young boys--very young boys!--hopping about in thongs, while being whipped by some old dudes. (Speaking of pointless, don't miss the entrance of Radames in the Act II, Scene II, with the scantily clad young hunk standing over him, ready for action.)

Finally, Herr Pavarotti was big enough; hanging curtains on him only added to the effect. (One could almost hear the slaves lamenting, "We can pull the sphinx across the stage, but not that tenor!")

It is also noted that the once discriminating La Scala audience fell for this MTV approach like wrestling fans marking out to a Hulk Hogan pose down.

All in all, an absurd and sterile desecration of Verdi's opera.

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5.0 out of 5 stars An Aida to treasure., Jun 28 2002
By 
Plaza Marcelino (Caracas Venezuela) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Verdi: Aida (DVD)
A cast like this is practically impossible to find or replicate today. Pavarotti and Dimitrova were in their prime (the latter would "progress" to the Aida rôle shrotly afterwards) and Maria Chiara, in spite of a tentative start, amply shows that she still was in very fine form, her portrayal soon growing into a warmth and securenes seldom seen. The Ronconi production was spectacular and shed some of the traditions that tended to be the norm (like dancing, remember the ballets were asked for by Verdi to accomodate Parisian tastes when the original production moved from Cairo to Europe) and thence you will encounter the ballet music firstly to accomodate pranks by kids who brusquely interrupt the languor and peacefulness of Amneris's bath, and later to accompany some heavy labouring by slaves in the triumphal scene. Mazzel's conducting is precise and to the point, the La Scala orchestra irreproachable as is also the very idiomatic chorus. And what's more, to have Ghiaurov, Buchuladze and Pons to support Pavarotti, Chiara and Dimitrova as Amonasro, the Paraoh and Ramfis was a splendid luxury only a theatre like La Scala could attract. The opera was recorded live some 15 years ago and, along with the Met's rival version with Millo and Domingo on a DG dvd, belong in any collection. You can't go wrong with either, although I'd slightly prefer this La Scala production, in spite of the lack of ballet criticised by some colleague reviewers. And don't mind the (for me unobtrusive) nudity that accompanies the Amneris' bath scene: after all, it's only natural that people undress to bathe!
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