Product Description

The Metropolitan Opera's acclaimed Live in High-Definition series, which projects live performances into theaters across the globe, has met with unprecedented critical and commercial success and has made opera convenient and affordable to millions of viewers worldwide. Now, EMI Classics is proud to collaborate with The Met to release 6 new DVDs made from these broadcast performances.

Finnish soprano Karita Mattila gives a career-high performance- the New York Times called her "riveting" in Puccini's passionate opera. With an equally superlative performance by James Levine and the Met Orchestra, this is unparalleled music making at its finest.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24177 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-09-16
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: Italian
• Subtitled in: Italian, German, English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 92 minutes

Customer Reviews

An uneven, frustrating performance
First off, I'd like to say that I am a huge fan of Karila Mattila. I saw her in Jenufa, and then in Salome, and the Salome remains one of the most memorable of my operatic experiences. I remember the trance-like feeling I got during her performance. So thoroughly did she inhabit the amoral and sensuous Salome that I thought, "This is a soprano who can do anything." Well, this Manon Lescaut proves that she can't.

It's hard to tell whether the years have just taken their toll on Mattila, or that she's fundamentally unsuited to the part of Manon Lescaut. Since I am a great admirer of Ms. Mattila, I would like to believe the latter theory. But still, I was alarmed by what I heard. Her voice seems to have a lost of richness, and sounds very white and occasionally harsh. She lunges at the high notes in a distressing way, and to make up for her lack of a chest voice she uses an overly glottal attack. Occasionally under pressure the voice even has a hint of a wobble. Frankly, she screams a lot, and her pitch falters. All of this would be forgiven if her portrayal was convincing. But alas, it is not. Mattila is usually a very sensitive, arresting stage actress, but her she overplays. Her expressions are hammy, and she looks a bit grotesque, as if she were projecting to the standing room of the Family Circle. It's hard to tell whether she's overacting or that she's simply struggling with the role, but Manon should not constantly look as if she was about to die. Manon is not Tosca. "In quelle trine morbide" is sad, wistful, but Mattila makes it overwrought. This is disappointing as she was able to convey a touching girlishness as Jenufa and a sultry, desperate vampiness as Salome. With a frumpy old-lady white wig, she looks even more unflattering. She seems fundamentally unsuited to the role.

Marcello Giordani, the Lescaut, is a most frustrating tenor. He is a very uneven performer, and this doesn't mean that one night he sounds great and the very next night awful. It means that one minute he can sound great and the next minute awful. At its best, his voice has a ringing brightness and "squillo" that recalls the great Italian tenors of yesteryear, like Franco Corelli or Mario del Monaco. But he can also sound distressingly strangulated, hoarse and out-of-pitch, like a late-day Giovanni Martinelli. His acting is of the generic variety, but he's very natural onstage, and gives an ardent performance of des Grieux. He is best in the third and fourth acts. I really don't have many complaints about his performance.

The fussy, ornate production by the Met might have looked good maybe 20 years ago, but it now has a dusty, careworn look, a bit like Miss Havisham's mansion. You half expect to see cobwebs on the curtains.

The Met has another video of Manon Lescaut, with Scotto and Domingo, filmed around 1982. These were the days when Scotto's top was no longer reliable or attractive, but her voice has the right sound, and she is more at home with Puccini's music and style than Mattila.

More than just great opera
For me, there has just always been something about Manon Lescaut that moves me deeply. So I admit that I am hard to disappoint when it comes to performances of Puccini's first big hit. Still, I consider myself to be pretty critical and picky, even if I get a little sentimental. I personally think this version easily competes with other DVDs available, and not just because of the musical performances.

I attended this performance live at a local movie theatre and was quickly drawn into the compelling, unrelenting melancholy of this opera. It took me a while to warm up to Marcello Giordani's initially wooden Des Grieux, but his portrayal gradually relaxed and took hold, imparting passion and depth to the role. His beautiful singing is full of emotion, even if it is imperfect (whose isn't?). I had high hopes for Karita Mattila as Manon, and she does not disappoint me. I have no trouble believing this is a teenager who cannot manage beauty, love, wealth and an untimely death. Granted, not every note Mattila produces during this performance is beautiful, but that is not necessary to be effective and compelling in verismo opera. Like most of Puccini's heroines, this is a treacherous role, but Mattila handles it well and her singing is lovely when it needs to be, which is most of the time. Her characterization is what I find the most impressive. Levine in the pit is thoroughly absorbed in the gorgeous music, and he clearly loves every note Puccini wrote, bringing to life all the suffering, sorrow, and remorse that fill the score. My favorite moment: the soaring duet in Act IV where Des Grieux, Manon, and the orchestra reach a most thrilling, devastating climax.

All of these recordings of the Met HD broadcasts offer so much more than just an audience seat at the opera house. True genius has practically created another art form out of the genre, with everything from a birds-eye to a fly-on-the-wall view of everything going on, before, during, in-between, and after the four acts, both on and off stage. We follow Maestro Levine to the pit and the singers on and off stage, and hear insightful and entertaining interviews given by the esteemed Renee Fleming (maybe the beloved soprano could have another career in broadcast journalism?). We also learn in this production about how animals are trained to be creatures of the theatre and get glimpses of the detailed work that goes on when the curtain is down.

Taken as a whole package, this DVD production of one of my favorite operas is a welcome addition to my collection, one that I will surely return to again and again.

Excellent Manon!
I'm surprised by the critical reviews of Karita Mattila's performance as Manon Lescaut although I've never seen her before, so I had nothing to compare her to. (Wrong! She is the star of my favorite production of Fidelio!) I thought she was perfect! She held nothing back in her acting or singing and during the entire performance I kept thinking she is the best I've seen. Admittedly, she is too old for the part but so is Marcello Giordani, who was excellent also.

I was impressed with all the singers. Dwayne Croft was excellent as Lescaut and Dale Travis was great as Geronte. I could picture him as Baron Ochs in Strauss' Rosenkavalier. Sean Panikkar was the best Edmondo I've ever seen. I even thought the lamplighter, Tony Stevenson, was good. The chorus was also good. No weak links anywhere.

The sets and period costumes were excellent. The music was perfect.

This is a great production. I've seen many Manon Lescaut's and this one is one of the best.