BELLINI: Beatrice di Tenda (Zurich Opera, 2001) (PAL)

Vincenzo Bellini
Beatrice di Tenda

Beatrice di Tenda - Edita Gruberova
Filippo Maria Visconti - Michael Volle
Agnese del Maino - Stefania Kaluza
Orombello - Raúl Hernández
Anichino - Miroslav Christoff
Rizzardo del Maino - Bogusław Bidziński

Orchestra and Chorus of the Zurich Opera House
Marcello Viotti, conductor

Daniel Schmid, stage director

Recorded at the Opernhaus Zürich, December 2001

Picture format: PAL 16:9
Sound format: LPCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (All Region)
Subtitles: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish
Booklet notes: English, German, French,
Running time: 144 mins (Opera) + 26 mins (interview with Marcello Viotti)
No. of DVDs: 2 (1x DVD 9 + 1x DVD 5)

• One of Bellini's lesser-known operas is repackaged and re-issued at midprice in a fabulous production directed by award-winning Swiss filmmaker Daniel Schmid and boasting the unmistakable voice of Edita Gruberova.
  
  
• The music for this tale of unrequited love forms the perfect vehicle for Gruberova, who relishes Bellini's characteristic solo passages of high emotional tension and theatrical histrionics, and it illustrates why later composers such as Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini and even Chopin owe such a debt to Bellini and the importance he placed on melody.
  
  
• This sympathetic treatment of the text led Richard Wagner to acknowledge: "Bellini's music comes from the heart and closely follows the text".

"Gruberova looked like a silent-movie queen, posing as if for a fashion magazine against the staircases and pillars of Bernhard Kleber's revolving set. Daniel Schmid, renowned Swiss filmmaker, decided to direct this tragedia lirica in the manner of an Asta Nielsen movie. And how beautifully Beatrice suffered! Gruberova still tosses off coloratura with glittering brilliance, opalescent colours bathed in tears. The softest murmuring sighs suddenly burst into volcanic eruptions of anger, yet she retains Beatrice's noble mien, unable to act dishonourably." Opera News