[.ca] Verdi - La Forza del Destino / Gergiev, Gorchakova, ...

From Amazon.com:
This is a 1998 performance from the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, of the original 1862 St. Petersburg version of Verdi's La Forza del Destino. While the world-famous version premiered in Italy in 1867 is the superior work, few will want to miss the rare opportunity to see and hear such a well-staged version of Verdi's first thoughts. Here the earlier libretto by Francesco Maria Piave is restored, the original, considerably darker ending is intact, and even the sets are constructed to the 1862 designs. There are other differences, though the story remains the familiar mixture of love, misunderstanding, and war, the characters ranging from the nobility to monks, soldiers, and gypsies, the tone spanning low comedy to high drama. The result is a lavish production, full of life and vitality, shot through with musical urgency and some tremendously powerful singing. Particularly striking is Gegam Grigorian, making a commanding Don Alvaro, whose role here is rather more expansive than in the later version. Galina Gorchakova reprises her Leonara from the 1997 CD recording of the work with passionate intensity, and conductor Valéry Gergiev keeps the epic scale tightly focused. The direction for video unobtrusively brings out the heart of the drama on stage. --Gary S. Dalkin, Amazon.co.uk

Well staged, attractive 1862 version:
This production is VERY attractive and the image quality is very high. The sets are attractive and the lighting is good, unlike many operas discs I have seen. Melitone is somewhat over the top, but I think that's how he's supposed to be. I found Preziosilla to have a very Russian sound. The crowd and army scenes are well done, especially the inn scene when Carlos is introduced. I tried not to be distracted by the appearance of the male leads, Carlos and Alvaro. It's hard to take a pot-bellied, balding man seriously as a love object for a young woman. Alvaro looked like Tweedledee and finally looked like he was in the correct costume when he appeared in monk's garb! However I enjoyed his singing very much, as long as I didn't think about looks matching the part. Though I prefer Verdi's revisions and think we should honour his intentions (i.e., revisions), it was interesting to see his early ideas for this opera, and we get more tenor singing in this version than in the revised one, which I am glad to hear. I would not buy this version for your only Forza, since it's not Verdi's APPROVED version, but for a second one, I like it.

A Spanish tragedy, Russian style:
There are other DVD versions of 'Forza' that I would recommend over this one which is conducted by Valery Gergiev, namely the superb1958 performance that was recorded with Renata Tebaldi and Franco Corelli. However this 'Forza' has the original ending that Verdi wrote for the opera's premiere performance at St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre in 1862. In fact, it is performed in that same theatre, and if there are times when you wish the tenor _would_ leap to his death in the last act, then this might be the version for you. Galina Gorchakova has an attractive, lyric soprano, perhaps a bit pinched on top but with a nice lower register. Her "La Vergine degli angeli" is clear and rapturous, and her soprano rises with ease over the heavier voices at the inn, and later at the monastery. Gegam Grigorian is an unkempt, alcoholic Don Alvaro who sings with the weight of his past sins forever on his shoulders. When Don Carlos (Nikolai Putilin) taunts him into a rage, he is truly frightening. His portrayal makes it easy for us to understand why he threw himself off of the rather shaky cliff at the end of Act IV. In just few short years, Valery Gergiev has risen from an obscure assistant at the Kirov to one of the most sought-after conductors in the opera world. We catch a brief, intense glimpse of him here, conducting the overture. His fingers tremble and stroke the air as though he were playing vibrato on his orchestra, but for all of his emoting on the podium, he leads the orchestra through a secure performance of the mad jumble of 'Forza's vengeful nobility, pilgrims, muleteers, war-mongering gypsies, brawling soldiers, and quarrelsome monks. My favorite scenes in the production take place when the action moves out into the noisy, crowded inn, the monastery, the brawling army camp. The Kirov (Mariinsky) chorus gives us piety, patriotic ardor, the melancholy brought about by war and starvation, and even laughter. The comprimario roles are well cast and the singers paint minor masterpieces on a sprawling canvas. I never realized how truly 'Russian' this Italian opera could be until I watched and listened to the chorus on this DVD. Keep an eye for the gold-toothed monk! Brian Large is listed as the video director for this DVD. I'm not sure what this means, but I wish it meant that he had paid more attention to keeping the video in synch with the audio. In the final dueling scene between Alvaro and Carlo, the audio seems completely disconnected from the action on stage. I was so annoyed I had to subtract a star.

Not Impressive:
I decided to review this DVD because I think that the Original version of "La Forza Del Destino" presented on this recording clearly is much weaker than the updated one. This is why I love Verdi and this is why he is geniuous: first version of "la forza" is not as nearly impressive as Verdi's other masterpieces, like "Rigoletto", "Il Trovatore", "Traviata". It clearly lacks the line and for me it seems very separated. So what Verdi did is that he revised his work: first of all he changed Overture, which became a masterpiece. Than he just removed several lines in the duets between Leonora and Alvaro (I act), Leonora and Padre (II act) and finally he completely revised tha last scene, which now is one of my favourite moments in the opera. So I want to say that although the singing and conducting on this recording is superb, the whole music, the whole opera is not impressive whereas revised version of "la forza" I think can be considered as masterpiece alongside with Verdis' other operas. My suggestion is if this is your first time listening to "la forza", listen to old recording featuring Correli, Tebaldi, Bastianini. That one is the best!