Verdi: Alzira [Blu-ray]

Quella è proprio brutta...
According to the introduction to the opera on this blu-ray Alzira is Verdi's least popular opera and ranks 1445 among all performed operas, between Verdi's Aroldo (1444), Wagner's Die Feen (1446) and Rossi's Cleopatra (1447). According to that same introduction, Verdi wrote to his friend Andrea Maffei after he completed it, that "I composed it almost without thinking and with no trouble whatsoever" - it actually sounds to me like something he could have written in his sleep. There are those who find many fine passages in it. I did not enjoy any of it. Verdi famously commented on it eventually "Quella è proprio brutta" - this one is really bad - I couldn't agree more. The plot hinges on a trite love triangle. This issue was compiled from two concert performances that took place in September 2012 in the impressive Gustav Mahler Saal in Toblach, South Tyrol in northern Italy.

Conductor Gustav Kuhn and the orchestra did all they could for the work with a brilliant,...

A VERY GOOD CONCERT PERFORMANCE
I totally disagree with the previous reviewer. This was a very good concert performance of the opera. All the singers were excellent in their respective roles. The chorus was excellent and the opera itself is most enjoyable. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it and seeing it. The acting was quite good for a concert performance. I liked the introduction to the opera for its summary of the story and information on the opera itself. I recommend this Verdi rarity for all who enjoy the music of Verdi.

John Cahill

Well Done Early Verdi
In "Verdi With A Vengeance" (required reading!), author William Berger notes that second rate Verdi is better than most anything else and I agree. I have been a Verdiholic since late high school, which was a LONG time ago; it was a time when just a handful of the maestro's works were performed, and those were substantially cut (all those trashy cabalettas, don't ya know!).

Now, all of Verdi's works are available on CD, and C Major is making sure that all are availble on DVD as well, in this bicentennial of Verdi's birth year.

Alzira is widely regarded as Verdi's worst opera, not because of the music, which is full of melody and vitality, but because of the story, which Verdi never seemed to care much about ("Quella e proprio brutta" was his later comment).

But the music is a never ending cascade of melody, much of it very energetic, and a concert performance may well be its best venue, to avoid the negativity of faulty dramatics.

All of the...

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