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Don Pasquale | 
| Director: Felix Breisach
Actors: Oliver Widmer, Valeriy Murga, Juan Diego Flórez, Isabel Rey
Studio: Decca
Category: DVD
List Price: CDN$ 30.99
Buy New: CDN$ 21.72
You Save: CDN$ 9.27 (30%)
New (16) Used (3) from CDN$ 20.91
Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 17099
Format: Classical, Ntsc
Languages: Chinese (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), German (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Italian (Original Language)
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 000944109
UPC: 044007432020
EAN: 0044007432020
ASIN: B000PC1N4U
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Release Date: December 4, 2007
Availability: Usually ships within 1 - 2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW - Shipped within 24 hrs via Airmail from the USA - Average 5 to 10 workdays delivery time. Excellent customer service. NEUF - Envoy? par avion des USA sous 24 hrs - Livraison en moyenne de 5 a 10 jours ouvres. Service clientele en francais.
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| Customer Reviews:
Great Donizetti, too bad about the sound February 1, 2008
captain cuttle (Vancouver, Canada)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Bit of a curate's egg, this one.
Fine acting all round, but particularly from Raimondi in the title role. Excellent ensemble work, especially in Act 3 when the servants give their ten cents on the comings and goings in Don Pasquale's house. But to comment on the singers I have to detail my main reservation on this performance. I just cannot get the sound to reproduce satisfactorily. My equipment is high-end but certainly not the latest, and maybe that's the problem. What I hear reminds me of those early Met dvds where singers drift on and off mike. Adjusting balances either boosts singers uncomfortably at the expense of the orchestra or their own tone, or vice versa. Except that the problem is far less noticeable with either Florez or Widmer. So my comments on the main roles should be taken with that in mind.
Florez is what you'd expect, which is very good indeed, although that steely high range may be getting to be too much of a good thing. I'd blame this on my sound problems except that I also find his singing on the recent Matilde di Shabran cd a little too in-your-face for my liking, and unlike my dvds I play my cd's on state-of-the-art equipment. Matter of taste, I guess. Just to benchmark, I went back to his dvd of Fille du Regiment and there I find him much smoother, if with a little less oomph. These days he can certainly make himself heard over a full orchestra. I cannot say the same about either Raimondi or Isobel Rey (Norina). Rey's voice is lost on my system and the third act duet with Florez suffers accordingly. When she turns up the boosters her tone becomes harsh. Raimondi, too, has a tough time making himself heard at times and the voice is a little threadbare. I love his acting, though. I also enjoy Rey's portrayal and don't for one minute find her "too mature" for the role, contrary to what I've read in other reviews. She doesn't have that "plastic surgery heroine" look so in style in some cultures, but she's all woman and very convincing here as either Pasquale's scourge or Ernesto's heart throb.
Widmer, as Dottore Malatesta, is the big surprise for me. I don't know him, and was impressed by his secure baritone as well as acting.
No problems with the production, as far as I'm concerned. There seems to be a school of thought that wants the sets of any 19th century opera to look like the dingiest rooms of a Victorian museum, and that's not what we have here. Lots of colour, a setting redolent of the 1920s rather than 1810, but the concept is not obtrusive and does not try to vie, as some updates do, with the music.
Conducting, with Nello Santi at the helm, is wayward. A superb overture puts you on the edge of your seat for what follows. But too often coordination between pit and stage falls apart. Still, a sense of humour and buoyancy survives.
All in all, if you're a Florez fan there's no reason to hesitate and not knowing the other dvd versions of this work I can't help you there. Regardless, this is enjoyable Donizetti and that should be enough for most people.
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