Product: La Traviata (2001)
Rating: 5.0
A soaring Violetta
I don't remember being this moved by a production of La Traviata in a long time. Are you interested in FEELING the opera in addition to seeing and hearing it? Climb aboard.The three leads are in gorgeous voice, devastatingly dramatic in their respective roles. It took me a little while to warm up to Edita Gruberova's Violetta, but by opera's end I was sold. Her Addio del passato(performed uncut) ranks with the best I've heard, and her physical performance improves over the course of the opera, culminating in a flawless rendition of the character's deterioration, redemption, death, etc. Neil Shicoff might not look the part of Alfredo(he's rather bookish for the ardent loverboy), but his voice is lovely and resounding, and one gets the feeling that if the tenor were blessed with the smoldering looks of a Placido Domingo, he would be much more well known and appreciated. Giorgio Zancanaro is perfect as the elder Germont, making the character more sympathetic than(perhaps) he has a right to be. The final scene is shattering, with both men huddled together, impotently watching Violetta fade out, coming to the realization that they have just been playing roles imposed on them by the society they live in while Violetta is the only real person among them, the only character in the drama who has truly lived, and one gets the impression that these two sad and regretful men feel unworthy to be in the same room with such a soaring free spirit. It's a magnificent bit of acting on the parts of Shicoff and Zancanaro. The fact that Gruberova's Violetta doesn't bear any grudges only reinforces her superiority, and her death is exultant, both vocally and dramatically.The sets are beautiful, somewhat dark, less detailed and opulent than in some productions but no less effective. Carlo Rizzi's conducting is slower than the norm but rarely to the point of being plodding or distracting. There are a couple of cuts in the score, but unfortunately that's a common practice with Traviata unless the conductor is Solti or Levine. In this case, the excisions aren't damaging to the overall performance, just a little annoying.I own two DVDs of La Traviata, this one and the Solti/Gheorghiu production. I'm not going to pick one over the other because both are wonderful. My advice: if you can only buy one Traviata, play a game of eeny meeny miny mo, if not, grab them both.