Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #124544 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-10-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Amazon.com
The many talents of the world-renowned Canadian tenor Jon Vickers are showcased in this powerhouse solo performance from a 1984 concert filmed for the Canadian Broadcasting Company. In four fully staged scenes, Vickers portrays the central characters from Handel's Samson,Verdi's Otello, Beethoven's Fidelio, and Britten's Peter Grimes. In spite of some questionable costume choices, liberal application of stage makeup, and Otello's '70s-styled 'fro, Vickers manages to captivate the viewer with not only his impressive range as a versatile tenor, but also his skillful dramatic portrayals of the characters in the scenes of their respective climactic crises. In fact Vickers is so convincing in each scene it is a wonder that he can inhabit the role so completely without the context of the entire opera. The concert is interspersed with somewhat awkward introductions that, while informative, disrupt the mood of the performance as a whole. As an added feature, there is a concert performance of a scene from Wagner's Die Walkure filmed in 1969 with Irene Lensky. Again the singing here triumphs over cheesy video effects superimposing giant images of Vickers and Lansky over the orchestra. --Karl Wachter

Customer Reviews

In His Last Public Years, Vickers Still Shines.
Amazon,

I am happy to be the first to review this DVD for you. This is amazon review #2 from me. I am probably a bit young to offer proper analysis for this great singers work, but here goes.

Let me just say that Jon Vickers is my Favorite Singer out of a long list of great singers, including Fischer-Dieskau and Domingo. I have been inspired by his work for the last six years since I was first introduced to this leagendary voice on one of his recordings of Don Jose in Carmen.

This video performance made in his fourth, and last, decade of public performance finds Vickers in, still, fine vocal condition. Yes, the high chest register, so profoundly present in the two previous decades is not what it once was( yet the lovely pianissimo head tones are still as glimming and haunting as ever).

All four excerpts are well introduced, and there is a fine digitally remastered excerpt of his work from a 1960s concert performance of "Die Walkure.

In this video includes work that will set the standard of performance and interpretation for all Heldentenors and heroic singers to come.

There are many of us who will miss Vickers when he is gone. The Opera world won't see much of his like again. All of his recorded and preserved work is invaluable.

I highly recommend this DVD for all Singing Artists.

PS. As always will be the case, his excerpts of his work of Peter Grimes are worth the price of the whole product alone.

Jon vickers in scenes from his greatest roles.
I'm a huge fan of Jon Vickers, having seen him at the Met in the 70's, my favorite Otello, a performance with Scotto, was brilliant, and I was lucky to be in attendance at the that stunning production of Tristan with Nilsson and Vickers in the 70's. Both of those performances will remain in my memory for as long as I live.