Decca: Handel — Rodelinda, Renée Fleming, Andreas Scholl, The Metropolitan Opera (2-DVD Set)

Brand new! Factory packaged! As pictured! Buy with confidence!

Product Details:

• Product Type: DVD (Video), 2 discs
• Brand / Label: Decca (The Metropolitan Opera HD Live)
• Catalog Number: 074 3469
• UPC: 044007434697
• Composer: George Frideric Handel
• Opera: Rodelinda
• Librettist: Nicola Francesco Haym
• Conductor / Harpsichord: Harry Bicket
• Production: Stephen Wadsworth
• Orchestra: The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
• Genre: Opera / Baroque
• Language: Sung in Italian

Product Features

• Format: DVD × 2
• Region Code: 0 (worldwide / all regions)
• Picture: NTSC, Colour, 16:9
• Sound: LPCM Stereo / DTS 5.1 Surround
• Duration: 170 minutes (opera)
• Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian (sung language)
• Bonus feature: Backstage at the Met with Renée Fleming, Andreas Scholl, Joseph Kaiser and others
• Menus: English; booklet enclosed
• Condition: Factory sealed (brand new)

Overview

Renée Fleming and countertenor Andreas Scholl headline Handel's Rodelinda at the Metropolitan Opera — the Baroque opera seria that put Fleming's title role among the great showcases for a dramatic soprano. The story follows Rodelinda, a queen torn from her husband Bertarido and pressured to remarry, who holds out against a usurper through aria after aria of grief and defiance.

The role is a marathon. Fleming sings no fewer than eight solo arias, and the New York Times praised her luminous sound and floating high notes; the Observer called her performance remarkable. Opposite her, Scholl's pure countertenor as the exiled Bertarido brings the famous lament "Dove sei" and the radiant reunion duet that crowns the opera.

Stephen Wadsworth's staging relocates the action to Handel's own eighteenth-century Milan, in handsome sets by Thomas Lynch. Harry Bicket leads the Met orchestra from the harpsichord, shaping the Baroque idiom with a specialist's ear. The cast is deep — Joseph Kaiser, Stephanie Blythe, Iestyn Davies, and Shenyang fill out the intrigue. This 2-disc set captures the complete Live in HD broadcast plus a backstage bonus.

Interesting Facts

• Rodelinda premiered in London in 1725 and was one of Handel's greatest early successes, running for an unusually long initial season.
• The title role contains eight arias, making it one of the most demanding soprano parts in the entire Handel catalogue — a key reason it became a signature vehicle for Renée Fleming.
• Bertarido's Act I lament "Dove sei, amato bene?" is among the most beloved arias Handel ever wrote for a castrato, here sung by countertenor Andreas Scholl.
• Iestyn Davies, who sings Unulfo, has since become one of the most sought-after countertenors in the world, known for his role in the play and film Farinelli stagings.
• Harry Bicket, conducting from the harpsichord, is a leading Baroque specialist and artistic director of The English Concert.
• The production was first mounted for Fleming in 2004 and revived by popular demand for this 2011 Live in HD presentation.

Publishers

Released by Decca (Universal Music) in association with The Metropolitan Opera, 2011/2012. A Metropolitan Opera High-Definition production. Catalog 074 3469.

Have this Met Rodelinda? A short review helps other Handel fans find it.