Lucrezia Borgia - Gaetano Donizetti (2009)
1 DVD ISO+ booklet | 720x480 | MPEG-2 DVD | LPCM, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1 | Language: Italiano | Subtitles: It, EN, FR, GER | 133 MIN | 6.62 GB
Artists: Edita Gruberova, Pavol Breslik, Alice Coote, Franco Vassallo...
Stage and set: Christoph Loy | Conductor: Bertrand de Billy | Direction: Brian Large | Recording Date: July 2009 | Place of recording: Nationaltheater, Munich
1 DVD ISO+ booklet | 720x480 | MPEG-2 DVD | LPCM, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1 | Language: Italiano | Subtitles: It, EN, FR, GER | 133 MIN | 6.62 GB
Artists: Edita Gruberova, Pavol Breslik, Alice Coote, Franco Vassallo...
Stage and set: Christoph Loy | Conductor: Bertrand de Billy | Direction: Brian Large | Recording Date: July 2009 | Place of recording: Nationaltheater, Munich
Lucrezia Borgia is not one of Donizetti's masterpieces, but it nonetheless can be enormously stageworthy. Despite a wonderful piece or two for tenor and baritone and the justly famous "Il segreto" for mezzo, most of the burden falls upon the shoulders of the heroine. As in Lucia, if there isn't a great Lucrezia, it's not a great Lucrezia.
The raison d'être for this Munich production (recorded in July, 2009) clearly is the soprano Edita Gruberova, now in her 60s and in her fifth decade of performing, who still owns a voice remarkably intact. Always a brilliant coloratura with a rock-solid upper extension, she is practically a cult figure in Munich, Vienna, and Zurich; fans follow her everywhere. Her voice never was a beautiful instrument per se, but few singers are as well-trained: impeccable coloratura, blazing, right-on high notes, an ability to spin out long, legato phrases, a command of messa di voce that is unparalleled, and, in the past decade, a level of commitment that has turned her into a great singing actress. What she may have lost in vocal velvet (some high notes are paint-peelers) she has made up for in a solid middle octave and a no-holds-barred chest voice.
