Since at least one distinguished member is on sort of a Bellini trip these days here are my thoughts on a dvd of said composer's I Puritani I bought a few months ago. The star attraction here is very much the Russian soprano Anna Netrebko. Sure - Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland or some others may be even better in this repertoire, but Callas' Elvira was never captured on video and Sutherland is definitely more fun to listen to than to watch.
Netrebko does vocally very well in my opinion and she's great to watch too. Not only because she's such a gorgeous looking lady but also because she's a good actress, and one who uses the entire stage to her advantage. In fact, the rest of the cast looks like a bunch of statues compared to her. Vocally most of them are acceptable though, but Netrebko is clearly the star of the show in every meaning of the word. The production is not spectacular, but at least it's traditional. A nice bonus is that Renée Fleming does an interview with Anna between acts and the legendary Beverly Sills adds some comments about the opera also. Not a 'perfect' I Puritani maybe, but lots of fun anyway.
Some youtubes....
Netrebko does vocally very well in my opinion and she's great to watch too. Not only because she's such a gorgeous looking lady but also because she's a good actress, and one who uses the entire stage to her advantage. In fact, the rest of the cast looks like a bunch of statues compared to her. Vocally most of them are acceptable though, but Netrebko is clearly the star of the show in every meaning of the word. The production is not spectacular, but at least it's traditional. A nice bonus is that Renée Fleming does an interview with Anna between acts and the legendary Beverly Sills adds some comments about the opera also. Not a 'perfect' I Puritani maybe, but lots of fun anyway.
Some youtubes....