Otello [Blu-ray]

A Brilliant Entry in to the Otello Stakes
Otello has fared relatively well on DVD. Domingo has three productions: ROH, Scala and the Met. He is also in a film courtesy of Zefferelli which can be ignored in view of the lip-synching and cuts to the score. Vickers has two, a Karajan film and the Met production from 1978 which is a stunning performance and commands the best Desdemona, Renata Scotto. There is also a production with Cura which I have not heard and an antiquity from RAI with Del Monaco which is self recommending for those fans who are willing to put up with zero production values and lip synching. In the interests of completeness, there is a set directed by Barenboim out of Berlin. I admit to knowing nothing as to the merits or demerits of this set.

This most recent taping is from Salzburg (and even with criticisms which muist be made) is highly competitive with the above sets featuring Domingo and Vickers. Even though we live in an era of the star conductor (and surely Muti is that)the cover of the set...

Umido
As he did in Florence 1980 (Scotto, Cossutta, Bruson; audio, various labels) and Milan 2001 (Frittoli, Domingo, Nucci; DVD, first TDK, then reissued by Arthaus), Riccardo Muti at Salzburg 2008 opts for Verdi's 1894 Paris revision of the Act III concertato. His are the only performances in my library, audio or video, that make use of this rewrite. As was so often the case when Verdi revised a movement (e.g. the quartet and various duets in DON CARLOS), the gain is in concentration and clarity. The progress of Iago's machinations as he flits from pawn to pawn is more clearly focal, as his lines are brought into sharper relief, while Desdemona's contribution is significantly adjusted. It is an intelligent alternative that Muti must believe should be respected as the master's final word. But I confess to missing the sheer majesty of the more familiar grand sprawl we usually get in its place.

As the doomed lovers at the heart of the tragedy, Aleksandrs Antonenko (b. 1975) and...

A superb and dramatic version of a hard hitting opera
This is a reissue of a previous disc and my previous review is copy/pasted below. I have heard the disc several times since writing the review and feel no need to modify the comments I made originally. This remains a very fine version of the opera.

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Original review:
This is a very exciting performance of Otello and is exactly what you would expect with Muti as the conductor. Otello is high-voltage Verdi and all the cast plus orchestra fully realise this vision. Not only is the singing of consistently high standard - so is the acting, so essential with opera generally and especially in these days of revealing photography.

The cast is of a uniformly high calibre. Aleksandra Antonenko is a good acting singer and in this performance he does not disappoint. Carlos Alverez makes a suitably devious counterpart as Jago (Iago) and Marina Poplavskaya is a credible Desdemona. The supporting roles are all strong and the overall...

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