Editor Reviews:

Description:
Opera superstars Renée Fleming and Rolando Villazón star in the sumptuous 2006 Los Angeles production of Verdi's tragic masterpiece, La Traviata. This performance was the highlight of James Conlon's much-anticipated inaugural season as the music director of Los Angeles Opera, a post that followed his impressive tenure at the Paris National Opera. The lavish production was filmed in Hi-Definition Widescreen to capture all of the excitement and drama on stage. Veteran Verdi baritone Renato Bruson rounds out this dynamic ensemble. Renée Fleming's heart-breaking portrayal of Violetta, as captured on this extraordinary DVD, has earned her rave reviews from press and Rolando Villazón returns to the role that made him an international powerhouse after his critically-acclaimed, soldout performances at the 2005 Salzburg Festival.

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This superb 2006 production of the Los Angeles Opera's La Traviata stars Renée Fleming, who joins the ranks of the elite handful of sopranos whose vocal and acting talents make their portrayals memorable. Her Violetta Valéry is a vulnerable figure torn between self-indulgence and love, sacrificing personal happiness to become a victim of the social mores of mid-19th-century bourgeois France. Fleming's acting captures the complexity of the character and her vocalism is flawless. She negotiates the wild coloratura of Act One with aplomb, and is stunning in the lyric passages that pervade the opera, and touching in her scenes with her lover, Alfredo, and his father. Her singing is free of the mannerisms that have sometimes crept into her work and at the same time she brings countless personal touches to the role, phrasing and verbal emphases that shed fresh light on the character. Fleming is a great Violetta, and this DVD proves it.

She's blessed with Rolando Villazón as Alfredo. He brings fiery passion to the role of the impetuous lover, convincing in his anger at what he thinks is her betrayal, and in his regrets in their last-act deathbed reconciliation. His singing is on par with his acting, the voice ringing in climaxes, scaled down to sweet lyricism in the love scenes, husky, almost baritone-like in the more overtly dramatic scenes. As his father, Giorgio Germont, the veteran baritone Renato Bruson tends to mistake stiffness for authority and he's on the dry side vocally, lacking the colors that can make Germont's four-square arias interesting. The smaller parts are capably done and conductor James Conlon leads a thrilling, performance, shaping phrases idiomatically.

Stage director Marta Domingo's direction is firmly traditional, with sets and costumes by Giovanni Agostinucci that reflect the period. The first-act party scene in which we are introduced to the characters is imaginatively moved to the terrace of Violetta's house where the greenery, tables, and openness lend a fresh perspective to an opera that grows increasingly darker. By contrast, Flora's party, where Alfredo denounces the hapless Violetta, is draped in the red of demi-monde Paris. The big stage, so useful in the rest of the opera, tends to be too big for the intimate last act. Surely Violetta, down to her last 10 sous, should be in a more humble abode. The opening of this act also finds the only trace of directorial heavy-handedness. We all know the consumptive Violetta dies at the end, but Domingo places Fleming on a bier-like bed during the prelude and introduces a black-clad figure of Death who swoops into the scene. Fortunately, the rest of the act is free of such meaningless indulgences. Bryan Large's video direction is excellent too, always focused where it should be and without the excessive tight close-ups that distract from the singers by showing their tonsils. --Dan Davis

Rating : - Perhaps the most moving Traviata ever
I will admit to having some doubts about this performance before viewing it. First, several years ago, I gave a glowing review to the DVD and CD of the performance under Solti, finding Angela Gheorghiu to be the definitive Violetta. Second, I have been less than satisfied with some of Renee Fleming's recent performances on CD, finding them to be mannered and self-indulgent. Well, all my misgivings were rendered unwarranted. This performance is a knockout.

Admittedly, Renee Fleming has become "larger than life," to the point that it is not always possible for her to disappear inside her roles; you always know that you are watching the great Renee. But that fact did not diminish her performance, at least after getting past the first act (which for me is merely warm-up for the second and third acts, which, on their own could be the greatest opera ever). She sang with glorious, refulgent tone throughout, but never let it get in the way of her making a dramatic impact.

Rolando Villazon just about matches Ms. Fleming both in beauty of tone and dramatic intensity. He may be the most believable Alfredo on video. And the chemistry between the two leads is palpable.

La Traviata is by far my favorite opera and I have heard and seen it hundreds of times. Nevertheless, this performance left me in tears. Admittedly, Marta Domingo directs with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, and her costume and set designer follows her lead. But such is the magic of the performances by the two leads that if I could have only one recording of the opera, I would choose this one, despite the outstanding work of Angela Gheorghiu in her Covent Garden performance. Renee Fleming gives an equally moving and perhaps even better-sung performance, and Rolando Villazon and Renato Bruson are FAR superior to Frank Lopardo and Leo Nucci (even though, like Nucci, Bruson has passed the point at which he can give a performance worthy of his talent).

This DVD is ESSENTIAL for any opera-lover's collection.