PONCHIELLI: Gioconda (La) (Liceu, 2005) (NTSC)

Amilcare Ponchielli
LA GIOCONDA

Deborah Voigt, Elisabetta Fiorillo, Ewa Podleš
Carlo Colombara, Richard Margison, Carlo Guelfi
Orquestra Simfònica i Cor del Gran Teatre del Liceu
Daniele Callegari, conductor
Pier Luigi Pizzi, stage director
Recorded at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, October 2005

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: LPCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: All Region
Subtitles: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Catalan
Booklet notes: English, French, German, Spanish
Running time: 174 mins
No. of DVDs: 2

• From the renowned opera house in Barcelona, TDK presents a new production of Ponchielli's Romantic opera La Gioconda, realised in cooperation with the Arena di Verona and successfully shown in the famous opera festival's 2005 programme. The Barcelona production features internationally acclaimed singers as well as acclaimed soloists and ballet dancers from the Gran Teatre del Liceu.



• The title role is sung by American Deborah Voigt, one of the most important dramatic sopranos of her generation. As her blind mother Polish contralto Ewa Podleš spreads the overwhelming warmth and broad range of her voice while convincingly conveying the character's suffering. Canadian tenor Richard Margison as the exiled nobleman Enzo and Italian baritone Carlo Guelfi as the spy and agent provocateur Barnaba excel opposite the two female characters.



• The overall approach is simplicity and clarity - the costumes are dark and elegant with only some recognisable and significant colourings. The atmosphere of the city of Venice is depicted as the harbinger of death - in director Pier Luigi Pizzi's words, Venice is "metaphysical and cold, moving us to tears... The carnival is not associated with pleasure and illusion but is felt to be a way of exorcising the fear of death".