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46 of 49 persons found the following review helpful.
The best video “Boheme”
By Robert G. VanStryland
Of all the available videos of “La Boheme’ this one is by far the best. Mirella Freni is almost perfective as Mimi and all the other singers are splendid as well. This film was made before Luciano Pavarotti achieved world fame, so another tenor, Gianni Raimondi, was selected. He doesn’t have rather the vocal allure that Pavarotti could have brought to the role, but he’s an magnificent and stylish singer. Karajan’s conducting is not bested on any other video of this work, and Zeffirelli has never made a better opera film (he has made various far worse ones). There are no visual excesses or contradictions of music or text. The evocation of nineteenth century Paris is completely convincing. NOTE: A Freni/Pavarotti video of Boheme (San Francisco Opera) is available on DVD but the performance is far inferior to this one, primarily because of uninspired conducting but likewise because the two leading singers (then in their fifties) take the downward transpositions in Act I. There is a Metropolitan Opera telecast available that might seem promising, but in spite of great conducting by James Levine and a visually arresting production (also by Zeffirelli), the performance suffers from the out-of-condition singing of Teresa Stratas and Jose Carreras (both fine artists but just not at their best on the occasion) and the miscasting of Renata Scotto, at that time in the worst voice of her career, as Musetta. No other Boheme video comes close to this film, surely not the Australian Opera performance which has routine playing and conducting, and singing that ranges from mediocre to genuinely bad. So, if you’re looking for a “Boheme” DVD, Karajan/Zeffirelli/Freni is the one to get.
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful.
A BOHEME to treasure !! Is it Rodolfo’s or Mimi’s Boheme ?
By An Opera Fan
Britten – Peter Grimes (The Metropolitan Opera HD Live Series)
37 of 43 humans found the following review helpful.
One little quibble: Gheorghiu’s Mimi
By Ivy Lin
This is one of the better DVD releases of the Met’s recent enormously frequent live HD moviecasts. The cast sings well, the production is one of Franco Zefferelli’s less tacky creations, and La Boheme remains one of the singer-proof operas. Puccini’s music is so affecting that even rather intermediate singers may make the experience moving.
Fortunately this La Boheme has collected a cast that is far from average. I saw the production in it is opening night with the same cast. I found both Vargas and Gheorghiu’s voice to be a tad little for the big cavernous Met, but one cannot argue with the beauty of their voices. Gheorghiu’s voice in peculiar has a dusky, husky, fragile sounding timbre that gives us the illusion of a consumptive. Her snow-white skin and dark black hair also adds to the aspect of someone who has been sick for rather awhile, even though for my cash no one was ever capable to look as believably consumptive as Teresa Stratas in the earlier Met video with Jose Carreras. She has some strange phrasing for the duration of “Si mi chiamano Mimi” — she seems determined to take the aria at a slower pace than the conductor, and she also eschews the established portamenti. Vargas’s voice is bright, ardent, and he’s a sensible musician. He hits the high C in “Che gelida manina” delicately and if his voice is a bit too little and lyric for the role he still always sounds beautiful. Ainhoa Arteta makes no peculiar impression as Musetta but she is much better than the screechy, over-the-hill Scotto in the Stratas/Carreras video.
Dramatically, this Boheme does not work as well. Ramon Vargas is another in a long line of enjoyably plump and more or less phlegmatic Rodolfos. (Caruso, Bjoerling, Tucker, Pavarotti all were way too plump to be completely believable as a starving poet.) But he makes Rodolfo sweet and likable, which is more necessary than looks. More problematic is Angela Gheorghiu’s Mimi. Her stage persona has a sure hardness, and she makes Mimi a rather aggressive pursuer of Rodolfo. She says backstage that Mimi “is not innocent” but she goes too far in the other direction, in my opinion. The minute she enters the garret, swaying her hips knowingly and with a more or less smug smile, you know that this Mimi in all probability blew out her candle on intent to meet Rodolfo. There is no reason Mimi ought to be a wilting innocent flower (after all, she does supposedly run off with a rich count, and early reviews of La Boheme upbraided Puccini for celebrating loose morals), but to make her so in an open way seductive kind of ruins the charm of the opening scene amongst Rodolfo and Mimi. At it is best, it proposes two young people falling in love unexpectedly. These complaints are for the most part in the primary two acts. By the third act, Gheorghiu’s Mimi has turned believably tragic. She is less fussy, and content to let her voice and the music speak for itself. The Act 3 quartet is very affecting.
So in other words, another worthy addition to the Boheme video collection. Of the videos I have I love the Australian Opera production, and the Scotto/Pavarotti video. But as usual, Puccini’s opera is the real winner. There is a reason why audiences all over the world never tire of this simple story of boy meets girl, boy loses girl. It’s a perfective opera.
Note: to respond to the review above, I did attend opening night but I likewise watched the moviecast. This review is I guess based on a mix of my own memories of opening night AND the moviecast.
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