DONIZETTI: Linda di Chamounix (Zurich Opera, 1996) (PAL)

Picture Format: 4:3, 2 DVDs
Sound Format: LPCM stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
Running Time: 164 mins
Region Code: PAL All
Booklet Languages: GB, F, D
Subtitle Languages : GB, F, D, I, E

Cat. No: DV-OPLDCM

• Linda di Chamounix has become one of the best showcases for coloratura sopranos. The leading exponent of this singing style, Slovak soprano Edita Gruberova, takes the lead in this rare bel canto opera production from the Zurich Opera House.

• Her stage partner, the late Deon van der Walt was acclaimed for his Mozartian roles, but also for the bel canto repertoire (Tonio in "La filles du regiment"). The cast is completed by the excellent Hungarian bass László Polgár, a decade-long member of the Zurich Opera House.

• With Linda di Chamonix Donizetti has created wonderful, inspired music. Donizetti’s unfailing attention to the last detail becomes apparent in his numerous revisions of the work, the cuts and the new arrangement of the overture, which he had initially composed as a short prelude but had then developed further, to suit the taste of the Viennese.

• For the performance at the Zurich opera, the producer Daniel Schmid changed the sentimental story into an ironical post-card idyll and thus achieved a modern tone. The story is now set in a snow-white mountainous region where passions develop slowly. The subtle lighting by Erich Wonders does the rest. Removed from their familiar environment, the characters lose their connection with reality and become aggressive or insane.