Tutto Verdi: The Complete Operas Highlights Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Tutto Verdi: The Complete Operas Highlights Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 26, 2012

C Major and Unitel Classica have embarked upon a rather ambitious project of releasing all of Giuseppe Verdi’s operas on Blu-ray to commemorate the bicentenary of the composer’s birth. As was mentioned in our review of Verdi’s Giovanna D'Arco, part of this set, that may be jumping the gun just a bit, at least for the 2012 releases. As was also mentioned in the review of Giovanna D’Arco, with a collection such as this, you’re bound to get the chaff along with the wheat, but Unitel Classica has at least somewhat helped to abrogate the dilemma of some consumers who may not be rabid completists by offering this highlights disc which presents little snippets of all of the operas included in the release schedule. Along with stalwarts like Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata and Aida are a number of lesser known Verdi pieces, and at least this way, those interested can sample a little bit of each production to determine whether or not they want to get any individual title or in fact all of them.

This compilation includes excerpts from:

• Oberto
• Un Giorno di Regno
• Nabucco
• I Lombardi
• Ernani
• I Due Foscari
• Giovanna D’Arco
• Attila
• Macbeth
• Il Corsaro
• Luisa Miller
• Rigoletto
• Il Trovatore
• La Traviata
• I Vespri Siciliani
• Simon Boccanegra
• Un Ballo in Maschera
• La Forza del Destino
• Aida
• Falstaff

Tutto Verdi: The Complete Operas Highlights Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Tutto Verdi is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of C Major and Unitel Classica with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. There is of course a variety of quality here, but overall this "sampler" offers well above average clarity and sharpness, though perhaps not quite at the level we're used to seeing in some releases by other classical labels like Opus Arte. A lot of these productions feature extremely dimly lit stages or unflattering lighting schemes, and both of those elements tend to rob the image of some fine detail, as well as to add some softness from time to time. Generally speaking, though, there's nothing too horribly awry with any of the snippets here, aside from some occasional softness and lack of shadow detail.

Tutto Verdi: The Complete Operas Highlights Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Though there is no setup menu, there are both a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mix as well as an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 stereo fold down available on this disc, accessible by using your Audio button on your remote. All of these productions feature generally superior sounding audio, with excellent reproduction through all frequency ranges. There are occasional niggling balance issues between singers and orchestra, but given the "sampler" nature of this outing, overall everything here offers excellent fidelity, clarity and decent dynamic range.

Note: As with the audio options, the two subtitle options are only accessible by using the appropriate button on your remote. There is no Setup Menu to access either audio or subtitles.

Tutto Verdi: The Complete Operas Highlights Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Introduction to Un giorno di regno (1080i; 10:40)


• Introduction to Nabucco (1080i; 10:38)


• Unitel Classica – TV Trailer (1080i; 2:00)

Tutto Verdi: The Complete Operas Highlights Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tutto Verdi offers a very budget friendly way to check out this series and see which titles may interest you. There's a nice assortment of well known stars in some of these outings, but probably none of these is going to jump to the head of the list in terms of "must see" releases, so this "sampler" disc is a perfect way to see which ones suit your particular fancy. For what it is, this highlights release comes Recommended.