Cheap Verdi - Un Ballo in Maschera / Abbado, Domingo, Ricciarell, Royal Opera (Video) (John Vernon (II)) Price

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Customer Reviews of Verdi - Un Ballo in Maschera / Abbado, Domingo, Ricciarell, Royal Opera

Good performance
Enjoyed this very much. Every one did a wonderful job, I thought. Nothing spectacular or outstanding, but really engrossing and pleasing. (It took the king about as long to die as Desdemona and Gilda! They all kept coming back to life!) I knew before but it didn't take until this show that there really are other sopranos besides Sutherland, Callas and Sills, good ones. Ricciarelli was very good, liquid and warm. Oscar I thought almost stole the show. She was wonderful, a tricky, intricate, demanding part sung with ease, reminded me of Ratti, whose performance I've cherished for years. Domingo (particularly during his curtain calls) seemed just like a very nice guy with a huge talent. Good acting all around. Was struck by everyone's calm self-assured competence during curtain calls. Old pros. Was finally struck by how much more is gotten (at least by me) from watching an opera than just listening to it on CDs. Sets were beautiful, texture of the film or color seemed a little off, but minor, subtitles left lots to the imagination. Subtitle: "I want to see my son." Amelia sings for 10 minutes, no subtitles. "You may see your son." Then her husband sings for 10 minutes, no subtitles. The subtitles were just enough to keep you conscious of what the story was, little better than a synopsis, made me a little angry eventually. If you like this music, I recommend this DVD, even, subdued, quality, good performances.

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The cast in this DVD was ...
After spend some time in researches , I founded a complete list of the cast on this '75 ROH production:

Amelia - Katia Ricciarelli
Gustavo III - Placido Domingo
Anckarstroem - Piero Cappuccilli
Oscar - Reri Grist
Mlle. Arvidson - Elizabeth Bainbridge
Silvano - William Elwin
Samuel - Gwynne Howell
Tom - Paul Hudson
Un giudice - Francis Egerton
Amelia's servant - John Carr
ROH Chorus and Orchestra, Claudio Abbado

Well, I believe that is a better choice than Pavarotti's DVDs. Domingo is better than him as Riccardo/Gustavo, and also Cappuccilli is a more complete singer than Nucci or Quilico. Ricciarelli sings very well, and Bainbridge makes a good job as Ulrica/Mlle. Arvidson. The page (Oscar) is a great role for Reri Grist. And Abbado's conducting in Verdi is truly a fantastic experience.
Unfortunately, the subtitles are ridiculous, but this is a minor fault.

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Excellent, possibly the best I have seen.
This Ballo is just excellent and I am sorry that as a teenager I didn't go and see it.

The Covent Garden production is excellent, although why the other characters retain their Boston status, and King Gustaf his Swedish one, is more of a mystery. Also, Ulrika and Sam and Tom are uncredited and don't take curtain calls - why?

Forget that though, Domingo is perfect and puts into the shade Pavarotti's perfomance in two DVD's from the Met. He seems to have studied the role to every fine detail and executes the role to perfection - as does Katia Ricciarelli ( in much better voice I think that in the Met DVD of the same opera). Piero Cappuccilli gives a good perfomance, but my wife always reckons it "was nice of him to turn up". That is a bit harsh, but I wonder if he deserves to get the huge ovation during Act III from the very reticent 1975 Convent Garden audience. Better perfomances go unapplauded.

This though, is the best Ballo on DVD, and wont be over shaddowed by the second Met Ballo with Pavarotti which is due for release this autum. As a Ballo addict though, I will have all three.