[.ca] Puccini: Manon Lescaut - Levine

Glorious:
I dislike reviewers (or anyone else) who use expressions like "must have," "must read" or "buy it!"! The first two expressions are just in, and I'll buy what it pleases me to buy. But Manon. This I thought was glorious music gloriously sung and acted to within an inch of its life by everyone involved. Manon has always been one of my favorite operas, this is the first time I've seen it, and I doubt I'll watch it again, nothing happens, I'll just listen to the CDs. I only had 2 objections. Scotto and Domingo were both a bit long in the tooth for their roles which to me anyway was very hard to take, the illusion that they were 18 or 20 years old was impossible to maintain. Both were wonderful of course, just too told for their parts. And (sigh, which is typical of an opera), it took forever for Scotto to die, in fact, the music notwithstanding (and I've always loved listening to it), I got bored and started laughing at the dialogue or lyrics or whatever its called by those who are in the know. The sets (as others mentioned) were really wonderful. Levine performed as well as the actors on stage. He always seemed to be looking right into the camera or at least facing it, this was particularly prolonged during the intermezzo. I liked Levine (or at least, never disliked him) up until this DVD. The subtitles were thorough, a thing I've not encountered lately on other DVDs. I recomend this DVD 100% musically and for everything except the age of its stars, and if you can find a version as perfectly done with younger lovers (and by younger, I mean young), I wish you'd recommend that to me.

Great Production, Poor Video:
"A woman like Manon can have more than one lover", this is a statement made by Puccini when he decided to write his opera of "Manon", facing the already universally successful "Manon" by his French predecessor Massenet. Distinctively, he brought out his Manon with innocence, vanity, and cupidity, and Des Grieux, Manon's passionate lover, with Italian blood. There is an abrupt jump from Act I to Act II, which may result in discontinuity of Manon's characters, as well as her love to Des Grieux. But as it goes on and as Puccini's music gets more deeply into the agony of the lovers, it gets better. In Act III the emotion has reached its hilt when Des Grieux sings his desperate pleading "Guardate, pazzo son", begging the captain to let him aboard with Manon. The strong dramatics then carries on and gets intensified in Act IV, and ends on Manon's tragic death and Des Grieux's helpless sobbing. Soprano Reneta Scott, who sings Manon, is impressive in singing. Giving the best performance in Act IV, she is amazing in her vocal power, in forte or in piano. But portraying an eighteen-year-old character, Scott needs more than she could in order to be convincing. She delivers Manon with accuracy, if not vividness. Although it is the story of Manon, on the stage of Met shines the brilliant Des Grieux, played by Domingo. His voice is lighter and brighter, and yet, more expressive, and his big outbursts are wallop. He looks young and lean, and his acting is full of feeling. Act IV is purely Pucinni with great intensity. Domingo portrays desperation and rage brilliantly. His sobbing is heartbreaking. One big problem with this DVD is its video and audio quality. Almost every motion on the screen has a ghost tail following behind, somewhat distracting, and at times, annoying. The audio is not as bad as video, but just acceptable. What a pity that this production couldn't be caught on camera with the same sharpness as the opera itself!

A Superb DVD.Get It !:
What a superb DVD experience,even to an italian opera strayed guy like me!This actually great performance,without any speck has an inebriant "Manon" by Scotto,Domingo(what about the love duet on Act II?It's unbeliavable!),the most rich production,the accurate Met orchestra(I think R.Elster was the principal harp at that time.A formidable orchestral player)Levine and so on. If Wagner and Strauss operas holds much of your time like to me,listen my advice;ignore the libretto's debility and move on. Get it!

The best yet:
Until we got to Act 4 I felt that this knocked spots off the Sinopoli/Te Kanawa version. It's still the best Manon I've seen or heard on DVD or CD, and the first one that makes a convincing claim for this opera to stand alongside Puccini's other top-flight works. For the first time in my experience Acts 1 and 2 are dramatically-convincing in themselves and as integral parts of the whole opera. Because, let's face it, there is a tendency for Manon to come across as four loosely-connected tableaux. Here, the work progresses organically. Acting is superb throughout. Pablo Elvira as Lescaut and Renato Capecchi as Geronte breathe abundant life into roles that can seem like afterthoughts in a run-of-the-mill performance. Philip Creech is new to me and his interplay with Domingo, Emondo to the latter's Des Grieux, is a delight. Here are two authentic young men horseplaying in a manner you'll immediately recognize if you can concede to being young yourself once. And then there's Scotto. She makes you believe totally in her rather complex character, unlike Te Kanawa, who is wooden in the Sinopoli version and seems to have trouble understanding, or believing in, her role. Scotto studied Manon in the original as well as in Puccini's libretto and acts her part from the inside out, giving it the three dimensions it generally lacks in most performances. Act 3 itself is absolutely searing, Domingo tearing your heart out as he begs the Captain to be allowed to accompany Manon on board ship. When he and Scotto appear for their curtain calls at the end of the Act they are visibly drained, they have left everything on the stage. And maybe that's were the problem lies because there is a perceptible drop in emotional temperature in Act 4. It's as if those curtain calls broke their concentration and the spell they were weaving. Not that Act 4 is bad. It's just a slight anti-climax after what has gone before. Singing matches the acting's high standard throughout but is marred by a technical issue. This is an early Met broadcast, the first via satellite. They obviously had something to learn about miking back then and there are frequent occasions when a voice fades, particularly when the singer turns sideways to the audience. With the male singers this is not such a problem, but Scotto did not always project well at the Met at the best of times, and you'll have to crank your centre speaker up to do her justice. Levine's conducting is a pleasant surprise. I'm a big fan of Sinopoli in this opera, both on CD and DVD. But Levine matches him in all respects and his orchestra rises to the occasion. I like Menotti's production. It gives the opera a humanity, and particularly a sense of humour, that suits it. It may be hard to produce a dull Tosca or Boheme, but Manon struggles to lift itself off the stage in a poor production. This is the best I've seen. Despite the reservations noted, I have to give this performance five stars. A little generously, I gave the Te Kanawa version four and this is far superior in almost every way, but especially as a dramatic experience. It may not be the perfect Manon, but I've yet to see or hear better.

The Singing is Not Very Good:
I have contributed this video to the library because I couldn't stand the singing. Both leads sing uncharacteristically but consistently flat in the early part of the opera. The chorus is limp and other minor parts are are sung with too much wobble to be distinct. The strongest part of the singing is the excellent Lescaut of Pablo Elvira, but it just isn't a big enough part to make up for the rest. The orchestra plays well and the last two parts of the opera are well staged.