Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera

Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Beczała, Piotr, Damerau, Okka von der, Fomina, Sofia, Harteros, Anja, Mehta, Zubin, Petean, George

DVD 739504

Singers' festival at the Bavarian State Opera and role debut for Anja Harteros with Zubin Mehta at the podium • With Amelia, Anja Harteros is now making another Verdi role debut at the Bavarian State Opera. She sees the great challenge in particular in the ensembles, which are written instrumentally and which demand it technically, beyond the role design. But of course, the opera also offers wonderful arias, duets and trios with very beautiful cantilenas and melodies. Surprisingly, the ensembles are kept relatively high and the arias rather low. It requires quite a bit of Anja Hartero's vocal capacity. • The Polish tenor Piotr Beczala, who sings Riccardo, sees things similarly. In his role he almost goes to the limits of a lyrical tenor. In the end, Verdi had composed a "relatively explosive music", says Beczala, which he then transformed back into a very playful one. That's exactly the difficult and also the interesting thing about this role. • In his long career Zubin Mehta has conducted a great deal of Verdi, but so far he has only conducted the "Masked Ball" as a concert. So now, at the age of almost 80, he is performing it for the first time on stage. For the Maestro, this opera is a highlight of Verdi's middle creative period. Mehta appreciates the perfection of this opera, no note is composed too much or too little.

Blu-ray x 1

C Major

01.03.17

0814337013950