Every morning at dawn, in the Lammermuir hills in Southern Scotland, the beautiful Lucia meets Edgardo of Ravenswood, a mysterious young man with whom she is in love. However, just as in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the lovers are the progeny of two feuding families and do not have the right to love each other. Lucia, a magnificent flower shattered by the violence of a society of men, is embodied by South Africa’s Pretty Yende, a rising star of the opera stage, in this production by Andrei Serban, conducted by Riccardo Frizza.

In a Tyrolean village in the first half of the 17th century. Luisa, Miller’s daughter, and Carlo, a young man she met in the village, are deeply in love. When Wurm, a courtier who is also in love with Luisa, asks Miller for his daughter’s hand in marriage, Miller replies that he cannot give his daughter away against her will. Offended, Wurm then reveals Carlo’s true identity: he is Rodolfo, the son of Count Walter. ‘Luisa Miller’ is an opera in three acts, the fourteenth by Giuseppe Verdi, then aged 36. It premiered at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples on 8 December 1849. Taken from the ‘Tutto Verdi’ box set of 27 Verdi operas. Recorded live at the Teatro Regio in Parma on 20 and 22 October 2007.

Mozarts Don Giovanni, in the beautiful staging by legendary Franco Zeffirelli is a spectacle with a strong aesthetising component, a feast for the eyes. In this production Zeffirelli returns to a representative Super classic line, renewing the complex mechanisms of almost all his other productions (Il corriere musicale) with beautiful classic costumes by Maurizio Millenotti and lights by Paolo Mazzon (L'ape musicale). Carlos Álvarez is of beautiful voice (GP Opera) and presumably todays best Don Giovanni (L'ape musicale) while Irina Lungu is one of the best lyric sopranes (L'ape musicale). Donna Elvira, being sung by Maria José Siri was clearly and advantageously represented by her mellow and beguiling voice. (MTG Lirica)

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The production itself is quite beautiful: recorded in the Basilica di San Marco in Venice in November 2007, it highlights the cathedral's splendor, the reverent audience, the soloists, orchestra and chorus with near-perfect cinematography. The soundtrack is also acceptable, which may have been quite a task to achieve, given the Basilica's over-reverberant acoustics. Alas, the performance itself does not rise to the occasion. Despite the occasional minor insecurity in ensemble and a visible lack of joy, the Symphonica Toscanini musicians play well, the Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino members sing equally well, and the soloists are more than adequate, almost tangibly trying to excel.

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