Tutto Verdi The Complete Operas Boxset Disc 22 : La Forza Del Destino (2012) [full Blu Ray]

From the innovative and gorgeous "Tutto Verdi" project comes a chance to catch all the high points! The "Tutto Verdi" highlights DVD and Blu-ray discs include arias from 20 Verdi operas. The selections hail from the best-known and -loved productions like Aida, La Traviata, and Rigoletto as well as lesser-known beauties, all in HD and surround sound.

For "La forza del destino", Verdi created one of his most famous melodies, the "fate" motif that permeates the whole of the score. Music and action alternate in masterly fashion between large-scale crowd scenes and intimate interiority, in that way illustrating Verdi's real theme: the manner in which fallible human beings are destroyed by a cruel fate.

Commissioned for the coronation of Leopold II in Prague, Mozart’s last opera is a deep, humane reflection on relationships, power and forgiveness. With the composition of some of the most beautiful passages in his oeuvre, Mozart has succeeded in giving this opera seria both a noble sobriety and transparent instrumentation, to which this commanding production by the Herrmann partnership does full justice on all levels. Susan Graham’s most extraordinary Sesto and Christoph Prégardien’s superb Tito set the standard for this riveting Opéra national de Paris performance, conducted by the outstanding Sylvain Cambreling.

La forza del destino (The Force of Fate), premiered in St. Petersburg 1862, is one of Verdi’s most important opera compositions. Its plot is complicated and combines a sequence of interlaced unfortunate strokes of fate. Donna Leonora is the centre of events, together with her brother Don Carlo di Vargas and her lover Don Alvaro. The story was originally set in 18th century Spain, however the French director Nicolas Joël established the action in a slightly later period, in the time of the Empire, the early 19th century.

It is appropriate that the first recording of the first version of Forza should come from St Petersburg, where the work had its premiere in 1862. However, whilst the premiere was predominantly an Italian affair, this set is given entirely by Russian artists. The differences between this version and Verdi's 1869 revision for La Scala are marked: they are delineated by two essays in the accompanying booklet but even more discerningly in Julian Budden's indispensable The Operas of Verdi (in this case Vol. 2, Cassell: 1978). So it isn't necessary for me to rehearse here all the changes (even if I had the space to do so), only the main ones.

This marks the final offering from Opera Rara's laudable restoration of BBC broadcasts from the 1970s and '80s of Verdi's first thoughts on specific operas, and it is quite up to the standard of the series. It differs only in being given without an audience, and was broadcast two years after the recording.

Martin Kušej’s thrilling contemporary interpretation of Verdi’s late period opera proved the perfect vehicle for the Bavarian State Opera’s dream team of Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros. The imposing sets’ references to terrorism and the implosion of modern civilization bring the opera’s inherent drama to a breathtaking pinnacle. Specialist promo & marketing activity.

In the original St. Petersburg version of 1862. Giuseppe Verdi’s drama of love and destiny in times of war remains one of the best–known operas by this Italian master. In the „Milan version“ of 1867, it has become an essential part of the repertoire of great opera houses, both in Europe and further afield. This DVD video recording, however, is quite distinct from the numerous other recordings currently available: the conductor Valery Gergiev has used the rarely–heard original 1862 version, composed for St. Petersburg, and containing wonderfully dramatic scenes and arias later deleted from the „Milan version“. And furthermore, the stage–set for this 1998 live recording in the Marinisiky Theatre recreates the original designs produced by Andreas Roller for the St. Petersburg premiere over 130 years ago.