Verdi: Aida 3D Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Verdi: Aida 3D Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 1, 2014

It’s a perhaps unavoidable consequence of the march of time (if not necessarily of progress) that most people nowadays conflate entertainment spectacle with special effects laden films, typically the kind of science fiction or action outings that regularly dot the film landscape over the summer months and have become synonymous with the too often used word “blockbuster”. The 19th century had its own spectaculars, of course, but these were stage productions, and while Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle is perhaps the best overall example of this trend, other pieces like Giuseppe Verdi’s immortal Aida helped set the bar rather high for what could be achieved with what was in its day “state of the art” multimedia presentations. Opera has long been called the most perfect combination of all the Arts, and if that description is perhaps growing a bit creaky with the advent of newer, hipper forms of entertainment, productions like this mammoth Aida help to reinvigorate the description, if only a little. The fact that this particular Aida is staged in the Arena di Verona, a beautifully preserved amphitheater which recalls spectaculars of an even earlier epoch than the 19th century only helps to make the presentation all the more impressive. Aida was in fact the first opera staged at the Arena in 1913, and so this production would seem to mark the centenary year of that premiere, though truth be told this production actually dates from 2012. That said, this effort actually attempts to recreate most of the aspects of the original staging. As the liner notes to this release explain:

It is important to point out that the staging of Aida is true to the 1913 mise-en-scene of the opera, since the costumes, directions and sets all reflect those of that historic production. The sets are at the same time linear and imposing, in keeping with the fanciful visual image of Ancient Egypt of that period, when a powerful evocation of a faraway land was enough to draw audiences into the environment in which the story takes place. Two tall obelisks at either side of the proscenium lead into a view of the facade of the palace in Memphis which dominates the entrance to the central arch, framing it with statues and Sphinxes such that the events enacted there acquire greater emphasis.

The sheer number of characters onstage is impressive: within the set around 200 supernumeraries, 164 members of the chorus, 60 of the corps de ballet, 14 children, 35 musicians in costume; and beyond the set itself, pretty much the same number again. Not to mention the four gray horses which bow before the King during the famous Triumphal March.

Perhaps ironically, the “spectacle” of Aida did in fact lead to a “real” centenary production at the Arena di Verona in 2013, but the famed (but sometimes despised) Catalan group La Fura del Baus, whose high tech production featured puppets and mechanical accoutrements, both of which invited serious brickbats from the purists. By contrast, this 2012 outing is resolutely “old school”, with a gigantic set, scores of performers and (as noted above) even a few animals entering the mix from time to time. The Arena di Verona is (not to state the obvious) outdoors, which adds a certain unpredictability to the production, but which also adds an interesting (if occasionally problematic) element as dusk turns to night. (I'm going to assume anyone coming to this review will have at least a passing knowledge of Aida's plot, and so will not spend a lot of time resummarizing it here.)

One of the intrinsically ironic things about Aida is that, despite its obvious spectacle, the opera is often ravishingly intimate. This tone is set from the first moment by Verdi, who instead of browbeating the audience with a glitzy, fully orchestrated prelude, instead gently seduces the listener with an almost wistful and melancholic theme played entirely by strings. It might seem to be an odd way to start a piece of such gargantuan ambitions, but it helps to set the right emotional tenor, something that this particular production frankly struggles to maintain at times, again ironically because of its size and scope, especially within the almost surreal confines of the ancient Roman amphitheater.

Chinese soprano Hui He has become linked with Aida over the past several years, and in fact has essayed the role virtually annually (including several times at Arena di Verona). She was (rather incredibly) the first Chinese singer to tackle the role, but in a way she seems born to play the part, with a lustrous chest voice which explodes into a fulsome and never brittle upper register, an instrument able to easily navigate the sometimes treacherous topography of Verdi’s arias. Her performance anchors this Aida in a certain amount of actual humanity, divorced from the almost overwhelming pageantry which surrounds her. Marco Berti’s Radames is also quite enjoyable on a musical level, if dramatically not quite as adept as He.

Verdi: Aida 3D Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Aida is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Opus Arte with AVC (2D) and MVC (3D) encoded 1080p transfers in 1.78:1. This disc is authored so that if you play it with only 2D equipment, it will automatically default to the 2D version. Similarly, if you have a 3D setup, the disc will automatically play the 3D version. (In other words, there is no way to play the 2D version on a 3D display, not that you would probably want to.) The 2D version is a generally sharp looking presentation, with good color saturation (though quite a few of the costumes are white) and decent contrast, something that comes into play as the lighting changes over the course of some two and a half hours. There are occasionally soft looking shots, most coming either from very wide shots or sometimes from a camera that is placed down left (in stage parlance), perhaps indicating either faulty cameras. There are a couple of very brief anomalies, where motion seems to stutter for just a moment (pay attention when the courtiers enter through the pillars in the opening scene).

Perhaps surprisingly, the 3D presentation here offers substantial depth, at least given reasonable expectations of what a live stage performance can really do with this format. Things are helped substantially by the fact that the set is "bifurcated" by the four pillars and two obelisks, which automatically provide a depth of field as well as a reference point for figures in front of or behind them. Cameras placed at a three quarters angle to the action tend to provide more of a sense of visual immersion than some of the cameras aimed squarely at the stage. The wide shots (and there are quite a few of them, especially in the dance moments) are fairly flat looking, with little dimensionality. The increasing darkness tends to play a bit of havoc with the depth as well, as increasing shadows loom over the stage and deprive the eye of any sense of the size and scope of the stage. Rather oddly, video director Tiziano Mancini opts for quite a few close-ups as the piece moves into its fourth act, further exhausting any possibility of substantial depth.

Verdi: Aida 3D Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Aida features both a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and an LPCM 2.0 track (in the original Italian). For an outdoor concert, especially one in a venue this immense, the mixes here are surprisingly well done, with only a few balance issues along the way. The 5.1 mix offers a beautifully rendered sense of the open air space, as well as providing a bit of extra low end that helps to energize some of Verdi's bigger brass moments. The production seems to be mic'd entirely by floor microphones placed at the lip of the stage, but there are very few times when the orchestra drowns out the singers. The ensemble sounds nicely full and nicely burnished, and overall the reproduction here is amazingly good.

Verdi: Aida 3D Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Cast Gallery (1080p; 00:56)

Verdi: Aida 3D Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The pomp and circumstance of Aida can frequently overwhelm any attempt at "mere" human emotion, but it's to the credit of this absolutely gargantuan production that there actually is at least a scintilla of heartfelt content here, most of it coming from the achingly beautiful singing of He in the title role. It's fun in a historical way to revisit what 1913 audiences supposedly saw, and it's also useful to contrast this "archival" approach to some of the high tech versions which have followed in the wake of earlier presentations. The production values here are uniformly very high, the orchestra plays with precision and nuance, and perhaps most surprisingly, the 3D aspect works rather well, generally speaking. Aida continues to be one of the most popular pieces in the entire operatic repertoire, and this production helps to bring it alive in a viscerally exciting, if hyperbolic, way. Recommended.