Product Description

LYRIC DRAMA IN THREE ACTS

First performed in 1889, Edgar was Puccini's second opera. The libretto is a medievalist phantasmagoria dealing with a Flemish knight torn between love for virtuous Fidelia and erotic enslavement to Tigrana. Dario Balzanelli, Montserrat Marti, Halla Margret, Andrea Rola, Giovanni Tarasconi, Coro e Orchestra Filarmonica Mediterranea, Tamas Pal, directed by Enrico Castiglione. Sung in Italian.

Edgar: Dario Balzanelli
Fidelia: Montserrat Martì
Tigrana: Halla Margret
Frank:Andrea Rola
Gualtiero: Giovanni Tarasconi

Coro and Orchestra Filarmonica Mediterranea
Conducted by Tamas Pal
Stage & Television Direction and Set Design by Enrico Castiglione

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #120218 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-03-27
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Classical, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 89 minutes

Customer Reviews

A most satisfying performance
Festival Euro Mediterraneo provides a very satisfying traditional staging of Puccini's Edgar. The star of this performance is Montserrat Marti, the daughter of Montserrat Caballe, who provides a lovely riveting performance as the heroine. It is a shame she was not cast as the lead soprano in the same company's performance of Le Villi. Halla Margret is far better cast here as the villain than she was as the heroine in Le Villi. Her dark vibrato is somewhat in better control than the wide wobble she provided in Villi and the tonal quality fits the character far better. Her acting style is over the top and reminiscent of Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard. The tenor listed on the DVD box is Dario Balzanelli. In the first act, his voice is somewhat covered but emergings into a bright ringing spinto in acts two and three. The baritone, listed as Andrea Rola, is also quite moving. I reference the listings on the box, since with the exception of Marti, the singers are unfamiliar. On the Le Villi box soprano Marti was incorrectly listed in the baritone role of Guglielmo. The chorus is consistently good in this performance and the orchestral accompaniment basically solid. A good value particularly in the absence of competition.

World's Worst Soprano Shrieks Again
The same team that brought us Puccini's Le Villi now brings us his second opera, Edgar. Once again it features a soprano who will make cats flee. She sings not just one note but those surrounding it as well. These tone clusters are further enhanced by a fierce vibrato. (Think Florence Foster Jenkins.) In addition she is a terrible actress of the Look-Ma-I'm-Acting school. The other voices are no great shakes either (pardon the pun). The opera is wisely performed without an intermission which prohibits the audience from leaving. Perhaps one day there will be a good performance of Edgar on DVD. Until then stick with the CD with Scotto, Bergonzi, and Killebrew.

Morality Play
Halla Margret gives the only positive performance. The others are wooden, but she makes her role and the whole story believable (or as close as you can get in opera!). This is a morality play where the churchgoers are immoral. Edgar twice barbarously dumps his lover, Tigrana, who loves him and gave him pleasure. Edgar prefers Fidelia, who's presented as a parasitic socialite. Everyone else is too busy being judgmental to be moral. The town drives out Tigrana for being sexually active and for singing sympathy for a lamb attacked by a vulture. The town shows its own morals by its love of violence, first against Tigrana, then in battle. Good music and mostly firelit scenes along the way.