Search - Lucia Di Lammermoor on DVD

Laudable performance, despite noticeable decline of Ricciare

Niel Rishoi | Ann Arbor, MI USA | 09/09/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This Bel Canto Society DVD of Lucia di Lammermoor dates from 1982 in Bregenz,Austria.It stars Katia Ricciarelli in the title role, José Carreras as Edgardo, Leo Nucci as Enrico, John Paul Bogart as Raimondo, Ermanno Lorenzi as Normanno, Waltraud Winsauer as Alisa, and John Dickie as Arturo. Lamberto Gardelli

conducting the Wiener Symphoniker.



The "tragedy" is ascribed not only to the story, of course,

but in hearing the two leads, Ricciarelli and Carreras,

both already in 1982, prematurely on their way out of a

too-early peaked vocal prime.



It WAS a tragedy, because: the soprano and tenor had two of

the most sheerly beautiful, natural voices in opera. Both

lost the sheen in their voices by the choices they made -

singing repertoire wrong for them. Lucia and Edgardo were

roles that could have been theirs, by nature: few singers

had such RIGHT material for this repertoire. But both had

"higher" ambitions. And their soon-to-be blown-out voices

bore out their choices.



The loss, when hearing them in this performance, is

palpable indeed. So much is so good you just want to weep.



Ricciarelli just takes your breath away in Lucia's

*sortita*. The opening bars of "Regnava nel silenzio" has

never sounded so contoured, lyrical, and with such plushy,

velvety tone. All her other set moments of pure lyricism -

"Verranno a' te," "Soffriva nel pianto," her contributions

to the wedding scene, and "Ardon gli incensi" are

absolutely, ideally sung. She luxuriates in the long,

sculpted line, and it makes you realize the advantage

Italians have in this music: it just sounds impeccably

"right."



Ricciarelli's soft-singing is spellbindingly beautiful: it

had a genuine float and with that ubiquitous "suspension"

quality. The unmistakable Italianate *morbidezza*,

belonging only to to her birthright, is all there.



Furthermore, her performance is constantly alive: she acts

out Lucia with a good deal more involvement than you

usually see. "Regnava" is atmospheric, "Quando rapito"

rapturous, "Verranno a te" quietly joyful. Watch her face

prior to "Il pallor funesto"; she gives Enrico looks that

kill. Ricciarelli and Nucci really play off each other

well. When she's given the letter, she collapses with

convincing abandon. You see clearly how's she lost hope;

and it makes sense when Raimondo convinces her to put her

family's honor first. But you see the steel in the

character's backbone: she does not merely come off as a

passive simp. You see a natural consequence of the lies and

manipulation.



In the wedding scene, Ricciarelli's `La mia condanna ho

scritto" is heartbreaking. She and Carreras create a rare

tension: both face off in the story's dilemma with unerring

skill. "Chi mi frena"is charged, febrile. Her Lucia reacts

violently, hysterically to Edgardo's denunciation. The

entire scene is feverish, excitingly sung (but with cuts! -

and the Wolf's Crag scene is missing. Plus the trio after

the mad scene. what gives??).



The Mad Scene is anything but a canary-bird exercise.

Ricciarelli's tonal weight and timbral luxuriance give it

a welcome gravitas. Like Callas, she doesn't deal in

looney-tune hysterics. Ricciarelli allows the pathos of

the score dictate her moves - like a lost, forlorn ghost

recalling happier days. Moreover, Ricciarelli is beautiful

to watch, both physically and in the way she carries

herself. There is no cadenza with flute - just a short,

simple a cappela vocalise; after the word `sará' we have

Donizetti's original, eloquent ending - the harmonic

resolution is intensely poignant, and needs no

substitution, actually.

In general, Ricciarelli inserts no upward extensions, and

very, very spare "extra" notes. It is interesting hearing

the score like this, but given the factors involved, there

is no choice.



The problem, then? Ricciarelli has audible trouble with

most notes above the staff. The cabalettas to the sortita

and the mad scene tax her sorely. Her upper tones are

tight, spread, and lacking freedom (despite a passable D

flat at the end of the sextet - who knew she had it in

her!). A lot of her passagework, lacking ideal fluidity and

freedom, suffers. Sometimes she has an approximate trill,

more often, not. You can imagine, then, my frustration at

hearing someone so ideal for Lucia, falling short of that

at all the crucial moments. That Ricciarelli took the

direction she did and ended up so is a sad tale indeed.



Then we have Carreras, who was gifted with one of those

beautiful tenor voices in the last 50 years. A nice, light,

lyrical tone, just the match for Ricciarelli. Could have

had a sensational career as a major bel canto tenor - but

no, Verdi, Giordano, and Puccini beckoned.



One will scarcely find a more suitable Edgardo, physically

and vocally. Romantic, properly Byronic-looking. An

exciting, intense actor who gives his all - more

spontaneous and "real" than the generic, too-intellectual

Domingo, far more involved than the static Pavarotti. That

golden, Spanish tone turning "Fra poco a me ricovero" into

a lesson in Donizettian lyricism. But. All the pushed,

forced highs - from training, beating his voice in the

meantime into Verdian submission - painfully manifest.



The revelation in this performance is Leo Nucci. Probably

the best performance of Enrico I've ever seen. His facial

contortions are difficult to watch, but this singing actor

acts the hell out of his role. His "Cruda, funesta smania"

is tense, furiously nasty and powerful. His intensity is

amazing -it oozes out of his pores.



John Paul Bogart is one of the better Raimondos. He sings

with a fine, resonant tone, and manages to make his two big

scenes engaging, sympathetic and weightier than we usually

see.



The sets and costumes are spectacular. The atmosphere is

wonderfully, dank, cavernous and Poe-like gloomy. Some

interesting staging effects. Lucia and Enrico have their

duet in her bedroom, where it is obvious that she and

Edgardo have had a tumble in the sheets prior to his

leaving (And::: - in a surprise move of indiscretion, the

program notes coyly mention the affair between Ricciarelli

and Carreras! - "They remained lovers for 13 years and sang

many performances together, among them this Lucia, warmed

by their love" !!! So don't tell anyone. Be nice and

respect their privacy.)



Just as Edgardo is about to sing "Tu che a Dio spiegasti,"

a curtain rises, and Lucia, dead on her bed, is there; he

finishes his scene by stabbing himself and topples in death

at her side. A nice touch, actually.



Despite my frustrated reservations, this really is a very

fine performance, in many respects, much better than most

I've seen. It remains a bittersweet document of the "could

have been" aspect of the 2 leads. Still - you don't get

this kind of Lucia and Edgardo much these days, and the

luxury of having two such artists and voices is still a

tantalizing lure, and I'm sure I'll return to it from time

to time.

"

Fabulous Lucia

M. S. Davis | Sydney, Australia | 09/09/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After reading Toni Bernhard's review I bought this disc. This is a really fabulous Lucia, although it is 1982 and both Carreras and Ricciarelli are both past their best they are still great. Ricciarelli's "Mad Scene" is magnificent both in her singing and her acting, the "Verranno a te" duet is first class as is the rest of the opera. Ermanno Lorenzi's Normanno is excellent and John Paul Bogart's Raimondo is absolutely superb, the orchestra under Lamberto Gardelli was magnificent, but one would expect nothing less from this great maestro, his detail in the orchestration is up to his best standard which is always superb. The picture is not as good as it could have been but it is still very watchable, I would have thought that in the transfer to DVD some of the long breaks between scenes and Acts would have been cut, they are a bit annoying at times. Overall this is a fabulous Lucia, forget that there are no subtitles, all the cast in this production paid really great attention to the pronunciation of the words so they are eminently understandable, buy yourself a libretto and learn the principal arias first then gradually learn the rest of the libretto it will be well worth your time and effort.

A marvelous performance from all concerned, congratulations."

The Love Duet is Unforgetable

Colston | Las Vegas | 01/18/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Every time I play this DVD, I never fail to demand an encore immediately after the love duet. Of course, all I had to do is to play back electronically. The Ricciarelli-Carreras duet is emotion-packed. It is so addictive I have to play back at least once. They must have sung this many, many times together, and know the love that Walter Scott intended. Ricciarelli's Mad Scene is arresting, with admirable emotional impact. She is superb. The final scene with Carreras' soliloquies is an impassioned performance. He delivers an aura of pain intended by Donizetti. Of the famous Three Tenors, Carreras has always been my favorite. This DVD demonstrates why.



If there is a disappointment to this DVD, it is the audience. With a handful of exceptions, the audience seem to be mostly neuter genders, oblivious to this heart-wrenching performance. The disappointment is even obvious on the faces of the performers as they line up to acknowledge the passive applause at the end. These artists know this is one of the best performances ever! The audience do not."

The best Lucia di Lammermoor on DVD.

Abel | Hong Kong | 12/08/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This was recorded live back in 1982. For the past 27 years, believe it or not, no other video of this opera has managed to surpass this one.

The immense success of this live performance that wasn't really 'properly' recorded (there was no subtitles, no libretto, plain track description only, no photos)lies solely on the performance itself.

The performers are ALL so good...Katia Ricciarelli is simply the most convincing Lucia on video - blonde, sweet, vulnerable, resolute...and with one of the most beautiful bel canto singing to boot. Some reviewers here pointed out that in this performance, Ricciarelli was already past her vocal prime. I can testify to this fact, but even so, her portrayal of Donizetti's Lucia did not suffer significantly, though it is noted that the Mad Scene here was being cut short.

Title role apart, the two male leads in the form of Leo Nucci's Enrico and Jose Carreras's Edgardo really made this performance a 'must see'.

Nucci is the perfect Enrico - unscrupulous, schemy, yet still caring for his sister. His suppression of conscience as the story moves on was so well portrayed in this performance that his was the definitive Enrico todate.

Jose Carreras's Edgardo similarly boasts as being one of the best ever. Edgardo's pathos in this drama was so well carried through vocally that there is no other top tenor ever could surpass. Added onto this is the all-time wonderful visual portrayal by Carreras - his acting was so ardent, so real that even stones would weep, as one reviewer pointed out here.

Lamberto Gardelli led the orchestra in one of the best ever renditions of this opera. The musical drama from the pit follows the vocalists on stage as if hand in glove. Much credit also goes to the director, who did a truly wonderful job in synchronising the musical drama with the theatrical drama, some thing that is so seldom seen these days any more."