Very enjoyable!
I must disagree with the previous reviewers! OK, there are often strange elements in today's staging of operas. Opera audiences have to live some curious and often annoying conceptions of stage directors. But this production isn't bad! The singers are really world class, and they both sing and act well. Apart form the scene featuring cowboys and indians, I think that the production is coherent and well staged, not least the set design. Picture and sound is beyond praise, as is the playing of the Vienna State Opera Orchestra under the direction of Zubin Metha. To give this disc only one star is a depreciation. My wife and I enjoyed it a lot.
Excellent
This DVD is excellent in every regard. The orchestra and the singing are superb. The production, though slightly modernistic, was faithful to the text and enhanced the overall experience. This DVD deserves five stars.
I am happy for the chance to review this version of La Forza. For a long time, it has had a "one-star" viewer rating --- based on only one reviewer! I fear many potential customers have been scared away from buying it. What was the negative reviewer's complaint? The presence of cowboys and cowgirls in two scenes of the production. But these weren't American cowboys and cowgirls; they were Spanish. The opera is set in Spain. Spain has its own version of horsemen or "cowboys": caballeros. And their appearance in this opera does not violate the libretto or, in my opinion, the intentions of the composer.
try another version
This was my first viewing of La Forza and I will try again with another version. As the first reviewer says, attempts to add color - ie cowboys - when the setting presumably involves Spaniards and Incas - fall flat. In fact this production involves a mishmash of historical references that just complicate an already complicated (not complex) opera. Paradoxically, most of the singing is of the old-fashioed 'park and bark' variety! I'll try another production before I write the opera off completely.
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