I Capuleti e i Montechhi Archive

BELLINI: I Capuleti e i Montecchi (2016)

by Audiophile Audition | Dec 15, 2016 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews

BELLINI: I Capuleti e i Montecchi (2016)  You might want to pass this one up… Performers: Chorus & Orchestra of the Zurich Opera House/  Joyce DiDonato, Olga Kulchynska, Benjamin Bernheim, Roberto Lorenzi/ Fabio Luisi (cond.)/ Christof Loy (stage director)/ Franck Evin (lighting designer) Studio: Accentus Music [9/30/16] Length: 139 min. Video: 1.78:1 for 16:9 screens, color Audio: DTS-HD 5.1, PCM Stereo Subtitles: English, German, French, Japanese Ratings: Audio: ***    Video: ***  One hopes the best for productions of Vincenzo Bellini’s operas, especially—unlike his Norma and il Puritani—the ones out of the repertoire. They still have marvelous music in them. I Capuleti e i Montecchi (1830) is his take on the famous story of Romeo and Juliet, quite different in plotting from Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette (1867). (A contemporary reviewer called Gounod’s opera “always pleasing, though seldom impressive.”) Bellini’s version shimmers like a silver medallion given at an opera-writing competition. Bellini was just establishing his bel canto style and it shines on through. Cast as a “trouser role,” mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato does a splendid job as an indignant and feisty Romeo, more acting than acted upon (unlike Gounod’s Romeo). Olga Kulchynska’s Giulietta is marvelous in several notable arias: her […]