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3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 More than just great opera Nov 11, 2008
For me, there has just always been something about Manon Lescaut that moves me deeply. So I admit that I am hard to disappoint when it comes to performances of Puccini's first big hit. Still, I consider myself to be pretty critical and picky, even if I get a little sentimental. I personally think this version easily competes with other DVDs available, and not just because of the musical performances.
I attended this performance live at a local movie theatre and was quickly drawn into the compelling, unrelenting melancholy of this opera. It took me a while to warm up to Marcello Giordani's initially wooden Des Grieux, but his portrayal gradually relaxed and took hold, imparting passion and depth to the role. His beautiful singing is full of emotion, even if it is imperfect (whose isn't?). I had high hopes for Karita Mattila as Manon, and she does not disappoint me. I have no trouble believing this is a teenager who cannot manage beauty, love, wealth and an untimely death. Granted, there are some unattractive sounds that emerge from Mattila during this performance, but my impression is that they are in character and maybe even planned. Like most of Puccini's heroines, this is a treacherous role, but Mattila handles it well and her singing is beautiful when it needs to be, which is most of the time. Her characterization is what I find the most impressive. Levine in the pit is thoroughly absorbed in the gorgeous music, and he clearly loves every note Puccini wrote, bringing to life all the suffering, sorrow, and remorse that fill the score. My favorite moment: the soaring duet in Act IV where Des Grieux, Manon, and the orchestra reach a most thrilling, devastating climax.
All of these recordings of the Met HD broadcasts offer so much more than just an audience seat at the opera house. True genius has practically created another art form out of the genre, with everything from a birds-eye to a fly-on-the-wall view of everything going on, before, during, in-between, and after the four acts, both on and off stage. We follow Maestro Levine to the pit and the singers on and off stage, and hear insightful and entertaining interviews given by the esteemed Renee Fleming (maybe the beloved soprano could have another career in broadcast journalism?). We also learn in this production about how animals are trained to be creatures of the theatre and get glimpses of the detailed work that goes on when the curtain is down.
Taken as a whole package, this DVD production of one of my favorite operas is a welcome addition to my collection, one that I will surely return to again and again.
5 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Uneven, yes, but ultimately very rewarding Sep 22, 2008
When I first started watching this DVD, I became very apprehensive. The two stars are among my favorite performers, yet unpleasant sounds often came out of their mouths and their acting left much to be desired. But in the third and (particularly) fourth acts, both Karita Mattila and Marcello Giordani were singing and acting beautifully. I think it just must have taken them some time on that day to settle into their performances. Both were producing some exquisite singing and very convincing acting. Ms. Mattila's performance of "Sola, perduta, abbandonata" was perhaps the best I have ever heard or seen. She sang with tremendous musicality and intense emotion, but the performance was not overheated and never did she sacrifice beautiful tone for dramatic effect.
Of course, close-ups filmed in HD will do nothing to hide the facts that opera singers are typically old enough to be the parents of the characters they portray and must sing and must act in a way that will, in fact, reach the Family Circle, but watching the DVD is nevertheless a moving and satisfying substitute for seeing the performance live -- particularly when the principals (including the ever-reliable Dwayne Croft as Lescaut) are as good as they are here.
22 of 24 found the following review helpful:
 An uneven, frustrating performance Aug 28, 2008
First off, I'd like to say that I am a huge fan of Karila Mattila. I saw her in Jenufa, and then in Salome, and the Salome remains one of the most memorable of my operatic experiences. I remember the trance-like feeling I got during her performance. So thoroughly did she inhabit the amoral and sensuous Salome that I thought, "This is a soprano who can do anything." Well, this Manon Lescaut proves that she can't.
It's hard to tell whether the years have just taken their toll on Mattila, or that she's fundamentally unsuited to the part of Manon Lescaut. Since I am a great admirer of Ms. Mattila, I would like to believe the latter theory. But still, I was alarmed by what I heard. Her voice seems to have a lost of richness, and sounds very white and occasionally harsh. She lunges at the high notes in a distressing way, and to make up for her lack of a chest voice she uses an overly glottal attack. Occasionally under pressure the voice even has a hint of a wobble. Frankly, she screams a lot, and her pitch falters. All of this would be forgiven if her portrayal was convincing. But alas, it is not. Mattila is usually a very sensitive, arresting stage actress, but her she overplays. Her expressions are hammy, and she looks a bit grotesque, as if she were projecting to the standing room of the Family Circle. It's hard to tell whether she's overacting or that she's simply struggling with the role, but Manon should not constantly look as if she was about to die. Manon is not Tosca. "In quelle trine morbide" is sad, wistful, but Mattila makes it overwrought. This is disappointing as she was able to convey a touching girlishness as Jenufa and a sultry, desperate vampiness as Salome. With a frumpy old-lady white wig, she looks even more unflattering. She seems fundamentally unsuited to the role.
Marcello Giordani, the Lescaut, is a most frustrating tenor. He is a very uneven performer, and this doesn't mean that one night he sounds great and the very next night awful. It means that one minute he can sound great and the next minute awful. At its best, his voice has a ringing brightness and "squillo" that recalls the great Italian tenors of yesteryear, like Franco Corelli or Mario del Monaco. But he can also sound distressingly strangulated, hoarse and out-of-pitch, like a late-day Giovanni Martinelli. His acting is of the generic variety, but he's very natural onstage, and gives an ardent performance of des Grieux. He is best in the third and fourth acts. I really don't have many complaints about his performance.
The fussy, ornate production by the Met might have looked good maybe 20 years ago, but it now has a dusty, careworn look, a bit like Miss Havisham's mansion. You half expect to see cobwebs on the curtains.
The Met has another video of Manon Lescaut, with Scotto and Domingo, filmed around 1982. These were the days when Scotto's top was no longer reliable or attractive, but her voice has the right sound, and she is more at home with Puccini's music and style than Mattila.
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