VERDI, G.: Simon Boccanegra (Vienna State Opera, 2002) (NTSC)

Giuseppe Verdi
Simon Boccanegra

Simon Boccanegra - Thomas Hampson
Maria Boccanegra - Cristina Gallardo-Domâs
Jacopo Fiesco - Ferruccio Furlanetto
Gabriele Adorno - Miroslav Dvorský
and other singers

Chor und Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper
Daniele Gatti, conductor

Peter Stein, stage director

Recorded at the Wiener Staatsoper, October 2002

Picture format: NTSC 16:9 Anamorphic
Sound format: LPCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (All Region)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
Booklet language: English, French, German
Running time: 137 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

• TDK presents a "visually alert, musically sensitive and disturbingly coherent" (The Standard) production of Simon Boccanegra on DVD, one of Verdi’s lesser known works yet regarded by many opera lovers as one of his finest.
  
  
• The staging was directed by one of the giants of the European theatre, Peter Stein, who ran the Berliner Schaubühne between 1970 and 1985, and later became theatre director at the Salzburg Festival. His production of Simon Boccanegra was first seen at the 2000 Salzburg Easter Festival. Two years later he developed the production in Vienna, using the same sets and costumes as in Salzburg.
  
  
• American baritone Thomas Hampson is one of the most versatile opera and lieder singers of the present day. He first sang Simon Boccanegra in Vienna, receiving rave reviews for "using vocal means alone to indicate the decisive moments in the action with the mastery of the lieder interpreter. Rarely are striking theatrical emotions such as faith, love and hope on the part of a reluctant ruler, desperate lover and loving father so credibly realised in music as they are by Thomas Hampson." (The Standard).
  
  
• The supporting cast also includes Ferruccio Furlanetto as Boccanegra’s antagonist, Jacopo Fiesco, now regarded as the foremost representative of the basso cantante repertory, international star Chilean soprano Cristina Gallardo-Domâs, and Israeli baritone Boaz Daniel.