Verdi: Alzira Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Verdi: Alzira Blu-ray Movie Review

Apocalypto, Verdi style.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 29, 2013

Many times producers will opt for staged readings to save time and trouble, but in the case of Alzira, a little known and very infrequently performed opera by the legendary Giuseppe Verdi, one might question the wisdom of that approach. This is one of Verdi’s most exotically set pieces, and seeing it stripped of its original sixteenth century Peruvian locale means that at least something has been lost in translation here. On the other hand, having very little to look at does at least offer the “viewer” the chance to listen to some of Verdi’s most lustrous music, so there’s a definite silver lining to be found.

Alzira is based on a philosophical play by Voltaire, and its clash of religious and societal ideas did not sit well with audiences when the opera premiered in 1845. Yet another piece about doomed love, Alzira at least had the benefit of being set during the demise of the Inca empire, which gave it a certain evocative allure. Verdi doesn’t fully exploit the setting in terms of his musical language, which remains steadfastly sumptuous and even hedonistic at times, which also unfortunately leads to at least a slight disconnect between the subject and its presentation. Still, Alzira is among the most infrequently seen operas of Verdi’s entire oeuvre, and this staged reading offers some beautiful singing from the likes of Junko Saito as Alzira, Thomas Gazheli as Gusmano and Francesco Facini as Alvaro. Ardent Verdiphiles may well want to check this out simply for curiosity’s sake if not for any intrinsic worth of the actual piece.

Verdi: Alzira Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Alzira is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of C Major and Unitel Classica with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. This staged reading frankly doesn't give viewers much to feast their eyes on, with only the different colored gowns of the two principal females offering much of a palette in an otherwise pretty staunchly black and white clad affair. That said, the high definition presentation is quite sharp and well defined, with only a few very minor combing artifacts showing up when the camera catches bows in quick movements and the like.

Verdi: Alzira Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Alzira features both a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mix as well as an LPCM 2.0 stereo fold down. Perhaps because the singers and orchestra share the same stage, there is less of a spatial difference between these two tracks than might otherwise be the case. Both of these tracks offer very good fidelity and overall the balance between the orchestra and the singers is fine.

Verdi: Alzira Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Introduction to Alzira (1080i; 10:26). C Major and Unitel Classica have been standardizing most of their Tutto Verdi releases with these informative little introductions to the various operas. While this featurette gives the typical historical background and synopsis, it would have been interesting to have heard something about the unusual "staged reading" concept this particular production employs.

Verdi: Alzira Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Alzira is frankly a pretty turgid piece of melodrama, an obvious decision by Verdi to try to clothe some heady philosophical matters in a supposedly exotic locale, though with very little in the way of the music actually suggesting that locale. But taken on its own merits, there is a lot of really gorgeous music in Alzira, and my hunch is many Verdi fans will want to see this production simply because it's next to impossible to see Alzira at all.