This appears to be the best DVD of La Sonnambula available. Amina (Eglise Gutierrez) is amazing, so this one will be on my to-buy list hoping the price will come down on used copies someday (it is a more recent production):
Meanwhile, I purchased this one for a very reasonable price ($1.75 USD used) and Amina (Eva Mei) sings beautifully on it, but the staging is quirky at best:
It is also available for more money in a newer release:
But as this is my first La Sonnambula, it will do quite nicely to get acquainted with this opera.
Maybe so, though I don't find him terrible, though certainly not exceptional. But I have to whet my appetite for this opera in anticipation of finding a deal on the best one. Eva Mei is wonderful and it cost less than a CD of the opera which is how I had been introducing myself to operas. I did read the mixed if not negative online reviews too.
The Oren Sonnambula DVD finally arrived and I listened to some parts. I can see already that any deficiencies in the tenor are more than made up for by the absolutely wonderful voice of Eva Mei. I have no regrets. The tenor is not exceptional, but certainly adequate.
Well, we must not have any La Sonnambula lovers here at TalkClassical. I am loving this opera very much and really enjoy Eva Mei's voice, so much that I don't know that I even want the other DVD I first listed at the top. I am sure it is wonderful but it will never top Eva Mei. I had to get a CD of the opera though and so found a nice deal from NAXOS featuring Luba Orgonosova as Amina:
The music and singing in this opera are wonderful!
I still can't figure on this whole site, nobody seems interested in this wonderful music. I am stuck on the NAXOs CD posted above, am playing it over and over, just can't leave it alone, it is beautiful. Luba is a great soprano, but I sure wish they had the soundtrack of the DVD with Eva Mei--her voice is absolutely beautiful on that DVD.
Trying to add to my Sonnambula DVD collection. I have Eva Mei and Anna Moffo is on order. As much as I like the Dessay Sonnambula on CD I can't bring myself to get it on DVD because they modernized it. Guess I'll have to pony up the bucks and get the Gutierrez Sonnambula I posted an image of at the beginning of this thread.
It takes a certain type of daring to play the ingenue at 60, I'll grant you! :devil:
Now I enjoy Joanie's studio recording of the opera as much as anyone, but I'm willing to bet that, on stage at least, and at this point in their respective careers, Dessay makes the more convincing Marie.
Nobody answered my post. I bought it. It is great!
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Classical Music Forum
2.6M posts
40.5K members
Since 2004
A forum community dedicated to classical music for musicians and other enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about composers, compositions, arrangements, collections, recordings, techniques, instruments, styles, reviews, classifieds, and more!