Le Nozze Di Figaro

What A Great Figaro!!!!!!!!!!
What can I say but, "Wow!" when I see something like this. This video is astounding!!!!!! First off, Kiri te Kanawa and Frederica von Stade are probably the most famous Countesses and Cherubinos around today. Dame Kiri's, "Dove sono" and von Stade's "Voi che sapete" (always two of my favorites) steal the show. Knut Skram, though relatively unknown, gives a great performance as Figaro- his, "Se vuol ballare" is now tied with Samuel Ramey's as my favorite version of this song. Ileana Cotrubas makes a funny, playful Susanna, if a bit overshadowed by Dame Kiri. Benjamin Luxon makes an ideal Count, with a fabulous Act 3 aria, "Vedro mentr'io sospiro." The smaller parts are all quite good, especially Marius Rintzler as Bartolo- he made me laugh a million times, especially in the Act 3 Sextet. Though Sir John Pritchard may not have as tight a grip on this score as, oh, Bernard Haitink or Sir Georg Solti, but he keeps the orchestra under...

Excellent performance but poor recording
This video is an old issue of 1973 and understandable is not recorded through the newest stereo recording technic system. Everything in this video is excellent, sung by the most popular and best singers like Kiri Te Kanawa, Illeana Cortruba,Benyamin Luxon and Frederica Von Stade, undoubtedly the performance is magnificent and excellent. However, disappointedly the recording is quite poor that the pure notes of the singing were not quite heard in this video. It is still enjoyable to watch and listen to this video, however if we want to listen to the pure notes of the music and singing, we better take an audio CD. Unless this video is reissued with the recent recording stereo technic system, I recommend to get another version or issuance of this opera, consequently also with different singers.



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