I got this DVD as a 'bonus' with the first issue of the Del Prado part-work.
I have to say that this is one of the, if not the, most boring operas in my DVD collection. Not as in, oh my god, this is dross, but it just doesn't grab me. I don't feel emotionally invested in any of the characters, despite all round robust performances. The music is pleasant enough, and the sets and costumes are praiseworthy. It's well sub-titled. The acting and singing in all cases is at least adequate, and in some cases - Cecilia Bartoli and Robert Lloyd - very good.
I can't even really slag off the actual opera. The music is always pleasant. It's just boring. The plot seems ridiculous. Which it oughn't to be, because it was based on a play by a censored, satirical play by Beaumarchais. If I was in charge of Directing a version of this, I'd go all Eurotrash and have a mightty explosion at the end that finishes them off. Scrap that, I'd have it once the orchestra had played the really quite sublime Overture, and Figaro had finished his Largo al factotum, bringing Basilio's calumny aria forward. But then, that would obviate the need for Mozart's Marriage of Figaro. And the world would be poorer without it... I'll take the three of on a compilation CD and forget a whole DVD.
Mind you, the reviewers at Amazon really like it, so it must be me.
I think the Glyndebourne one is highly rated.
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