La Forza Del Destino [Blu-ray]

A Very Satisfying Performance!
OK, let's admit that Forza is a troublesome opera, and it is so on several levels. First, it's hard to cast these days because current trends favor bel canto and Baroque techniques, not true Verdian singing. Second, as William Berger ("Verdi With A Vengeance") puts it, it is ". .. a work that seems to be defiantly thumbing its nose at the conventions of believeable story telling". My one and only experience with Forza onstage, before seeing this disc was a Met performance with Tucker and Price, and an RCA CD set with those singers, with Merrill, Tozzi and Flagello has been my "go to" version when I needed a Forza fix.

But one must be wary of "...bitter old opera people who complain that all singers today are lousy". (Berger) While I am not bitter, I do find myself recalling the performances of Tebaldi, Price, Correlli and Bergonzi with great fondness, and one who is time-locked in this mind set should pass on this DVD. Because I wanted a video of Forza, with all the...

A Powerless Force
La Forza del Destino has always been one of my favorites in the Verdi canon. Starting with Grandmother's RCA Victor 78 of E. Caruso and A. Scotti singing the Act 3 duet "Solenne in quest'ora". I've seen a dozen or more productions over the years both in America (Lyric-Chicago, Met-New York) and Europe (Rome, Verona, Naples, London). I had five versions on LP and now have four on DVD and one on Blu-ray. Needless to say the quality has varied considerably among these productions and recordings but I would say that the present Blu-ray disc is the dullest of them all. My first staged version was Renata Tebaldi and Richard Tucker (mid 50s)that brought down the house. The next was Eileen Farrell and Carlo Bergonzi that was equally successful. And then there were the many times at the Met when the reining ultra Prima Donna was Zinka Milanov and after she finished performing "Pace, pace mio dio" the noise from the audience was louder than anything you'd have heard at Yankee Stadium after a...



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