La Puccini: La Boheme

The film does look dated now--Mirella Freni's Mimi, sung with moving clarity, has the doe-eyed look of a 1960s pop star and the camera work is a tad unsophisticated--but the singing still puts the listener through the wringer. Gianni Raimondi's Rodolfo ("Che gelida manina") struggles manfully to come to terms with his emotional shortcomings, and Adriana Martino (Musetta) has some fine comic moments before playing her vital part in the overwhelming sadness of the final scenes. Soul food for the tragically inclined. --Piers Ford

Fifteen years or so later, the new interpretation by Karajan and Freni, with the impeccable performance of Pavaroti, added serious depth to this sweetbitter love story.

So if you are looking for a more-or-less historic semi-"offstage" documentary type of film, you would definitely like this DVD. Otherwise, go directly for the CDs - and they will have to be Freni, Pavaroti, and Karajan.

Final note: MET production is fun to watch but once is enough; Australian opera production is refreshing - Cheryl Barker has been a rising star; San Francisco Opera is another fine production worth collecting. But again, we have the CDs. Amen.


Total disagreement with other reviewer   September 3, 2002
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I absolutely disagree with Robert G. VanStryland from Denton, TX USA and his review of this DVD.

I own the Australian, the Zeffereli at the Met 1982 and this one, all three and view them all repeatedly. I disagree with just about every statement made by Mr. Van Stryland. The Australian production is really fresh and totally fun. The Met production with Zeff is beyond beauty, it is a spectacular creation. This one with Ms. Freni? Sorry.


The best video "Boheme"   August 6, 2002
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Of all the available videos of "La Boheme' this one is by far the best. Mirella Freni is nearly perfect as Mimi and all the other singers are excellent as well. This film was made before Luciano Pavarotti achieved world fame, so another tenor, Gianni Raimondi, was selected. He doesn't have quite the vocal allure that Pavarotti could have brought to the role, but he's an excellent and stylish singer. Karajan's conducting is not bested on any other video of this work, and Zeffirelli has never made a better opera film (he has made several far worse ones). There are no visual excesses or contradictions of music or text. The evocation of nineteenth century Paris is entirely convincing. NOTE: A Freni/Pavarotti video of Boheme (San Francisco Opera) is available on DVD but the performance is far inferior to this one, primarily because of uninspired conducting but also because the two leading singers (then in their fifties) take the downward transpositions in Act I. There is a Metropolitan Opera telecast available that might seem promising, but in spite of great conducting by James Levine and a visually arresting production (also by Zeffirelli), the performance suffers from the out-of-condition singing of Teresa Stratas and Jose Carreras (both fine artists but just not at their best on the occasion) and the miscasting of Renata Scotto, at that time in the worst voice of her career, as Musetta. No other Boheme video comes close to this film, certainly not the Australian Opera performance which has routine playing and conducting, and singing that ranges from mediocre to really bad. So, if you're looking for a "Boheme" DVD, Karajan/Zeffirelli/Freni is the one to get.