User Reviews

Clichéd as it may sound, out of Rossini's operas, The Barber of Seville or Il Barbiere Di Siviglia is my favourite of all. It has a great story filled with many fun coincidences, sublime music and a zany, entertaining titular character in the name of Figaro.

This is a most enjoyable production. Brian Large does a fine job directing the opera, the costumes and sets are nice and traditional and the video directing is excellent. The orchestra play with style, and Ralf Weikert's conducting is suitably snappy.

The music as I've said is sublime. Perhaps the most well-known aria and justifiably so is the baritone showpiece Largo Al Factotum, such a fun piece but fiendishly difficult, especially the high A followed by a descending scale and the bravissimo section that I often sense a lot of stewing over even in performance. But that is not to exclude Una Voce Poca Fa, La Calunnia, A un Dottor Della Mia Sorte, Dunque Io son and All'idea Di Quel Metallo either; musically there is a lot to love about The Barber of Seville.

The performances are great. Rockwell Blake is a dashing and likable Almaviva with a handsome figure on stage, and his tenor is nice and effortless. Enzo Dara and Ferruccio Furtanello are very good as Bartolo and Basilio respectively.

I must disagree with the previous reviewers regarding Kathaleen Battle. I am not disputing whether she was difficult and a Prima Donna, but part of me thinks that's not a fair enough reason to criticise her performance for. Here, while she has been better, she does act very well, has witty and charming chemistry with Blake and Nucci especially and has a light and enchanting voice that is perfect for Rosina.

The highlight though is Figaro, wonderfully played by Leo Nucci. Nucci for me is a fine baritone and one of the better Figaros this side of the twentieth century. Acting-wise he is always entertaining and has an appealing voice that is used to good effect without overdoing it. His Largo Al factotum is also one of the better renditions I've heard, along with Prey, Gino Quillico, Merrill and Milnes he nails the bravissimo section while I have known others(including Pasquale Amato, blast from the past) to rush through it, the interpretation is original and entertaining and vocally- and this is the same with All'idea Di Quel Metallo and Dunque Io son where you can kind of sense a feeling of admiration for him from his co-stars- he performs with terrific gusto.

Overall, very enjoyable. 9/10 Bethany Cox

If you just were out looking for some ordinary easy-to-take-in Barber of Sevilla this is nothing for you. When watching the The Barber of Sevilla it is easy to forget that the gigolo count about ten years later in the story of Beaumarchais's is going to cheat on his wife and try to exploit his right as a feudal landlord. When watching this staging of the opera you can sense all of that. But, you see a pro in action! Rockwell Blake (Count Almaviva) is the The Count of the 20th century, no one else have sung Rossini operas with the same success and done so much for the genre...OK, maybe Leo Nucci then (Figaro). They pair up nice, especially in the duetto "All'idea di quel metallo". The only weak thing with this staging is the primadonna of Metropolitan at that time, Kathleen Battle, who is both boring and sings badly. OK, maybe the director could have done something else with the count's ending cavatina "Cessa di più resistere". It is so rare to hear that piece (usually cut out of the opera because it is to hard to sing for most tenors) and at that stage Blake is really tired so it would have been good enough for him to sing it just standing, not running around and act as a silly divertimento singer with Battle overactingly hitting the piano! But in the end, this is as good as it can be when watching something from Metropolitan - but I recommend another staging with Blake from Turin with Luciana Serra as Rosina (unfortunately just available on CD).

Although I don't doubt the sincerity of the 2006 reviewer's opinion about this version of Rossini's "Barber of Seville", I would suspect that he has absolutely no insight/ knowledge, or appreciation of opera, especially comic opera. In other words, it's hard for me to imagine that anyone with even a smattering of interest, or enthusiasm, for opera could not recognize the very high level of this performance. The acting, the singing, the orchestration, the staging, the filming are all first rate. I think that this is Kathleen Battle's finest performance on film, and I was thrilled to hear that Deutsche Gramaphone is planning to re-release it on DVD sometime in the future.

As for Eve E's comments from Sweden (11-19-07), I'm stuck having to try to absorb a 2nd negative assessment of Kathleen Battle's performance (which I found thrilling, enchanting, and perfectly pitched). I suspect, though, that Battle's notorious off-stage antics (which are suggested by Eve ) colored her appraisal of Battle's on-stage theatrical brilliance. What Eve E. calls "overacting" is actually the impeccably nuanced and exaggerated emphasis which Battle gives to Rosina's flirtatiousness (with Count Almaviva), and her tender, but coy, pouts which are addressed to the ridiculous nature of the marriage proposal directed her way by her aged guardian. Without her sly smiles, batting eyelashes, etc. the comic effect of the opera would be lost.

I recently purchased a mixed bag of operas at a flea market. Some were DVDs, others were VHS. Some were used, others like new. Among them was this VHS in like new condition. I have heard the Barber of Seville several times and have never really cared that much about it. Except for his overtures, I never cared much for Rossini's music. So when I put this movie on, I was prepared ahead of time to not like it. A few minutes after the overture began, I could tell that I was going to hate it. The orchestra played OK, not great, kind of subdued or restrained. I didn't like any of the singers. Even my wife thought that I sing as good as the lead tenor (Rockwell Blake), which is to say "pretty bad". Figaro was sung by Leo Nucci and I think that the acoustics did him no justice. The biggest gripe I have is that it seems as though there was only one microphone and as the singers moved around the volume went up or down. When Kathleen Battles sang she seemed to try to impress us with how loud and piercing she could sing. At this point, she was giving us a headache and the opera as a whole was making us nervous, so that after watching it for less than 40 minutes, we decided to shut it off and junk it. Now I know that everybody's taste is different. You may listen to it and love it, so I am not one to say don't waste your time or money. Decide for yourself!