List Price: $37.98You Pay Only: $33.99 You Save: $3.99 (11%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 5099920630492
Format: Classical, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Label: Emi Classics
Manufacturer: Emi Classics
Number Of Discs: 2
Number Of Items: 2
Publisher: Emi Classics
Release Date: September 16, 2008
Running Time: 157 minutes
Sales Rank: 14445
Studio: Emi Classics
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
The Metropolitan Opera's acclaimed Live in High-Definition series, which projects live performances into theaters across the globe, has met with unprecedented critical and commercial success and has made opera convenient and affordable to millions of viewers worldwide. Now, EMI Classics is proud to collaborate with The Met to release 6 new DVDs made from these broadcast performances.
A new production of Verdi's haunting opera by English director Adrian Noble, conducted by James Levine, and starring Andrea Gruber, Roberto Aronica, and Lado Ataneli. Hailed by the New York Times as 'stylistically eclectic, grimly effective and, at times, intriguingly playful.'
Amazon.com:
Verdi’s admiration for Shakespeare led to such masterpieces as Othello and Falstaff, and if the earlier Macbeth isn’t on their exalted level it’s still a powerfully dramatic opera that hews closely to the original’s story line. The MET’s production retains the dark aura of the opera while updating it to a vaguely post-modern context. So the witches are bag ladies in various stages of decrepitude, with children in tow. The Banquet Scene features lowered chandeliers, a plethora of chairs, and a slew of extras dressed in tuxedos and party gowns. Macbeth sports a leather coat, the soldiers are in drab brown uniforms and seem to have fingers on their triggers even when they’re supposed to be in non-threatening situations. Director Adrian Noble also has Lady Macbeth do an inordinate amount of writhing around and singing from a lying-down position, adding to the feeling that a less interventionist directorial hand might have generated more impact. Mark Thompson designed the sets and costumes, making a leafless forest an integral background to both outdoor and indoor scenes. Movable pillars contract or expand the spaces in which the action takes place. Video director Gary Halvorson keeps his cameras moving with plenty of close-ups and odd angles, which accentuate the weirdness of the situations and the entrapment of the main characters in their greed and murderous ambition.
The Macbeth couple offer some of the juiciest leading roles in all of opera. Lady Macbeth is well done by Maria Guleghina, whose big voice and stage presence are pluses here. If her intonation is sometimes dubious and her high notes occasionally curdle she does project the role well, especially when cajoling her indecisive husband to murder. He’s sung by Zeljko Lucic, whose sturdy baritone is sufficient to inhabit an acting and singing performance of considerable power. Banquo is sung beautifully by bass John Relyea, and Macduff is well done by tenor Dimtri Pittas. But the MET chorus and orchestra, under the fiery baton of James Levine, are the real heroes of the performance, their contributions enhanced by lively sound that distinguishes this High Definition DVD. Dan Davis
Macbeth is an all-regions HD disc in 16:9 ratio. Sound options include PCM Stereo and DTS 5.1 Surround. Extras include interview material with MET director Peter Gelb, conductor James Levine, and the principal singers and stage director Adrian Noble. Sung in Italian, subtitles include English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Lensopinion
I found this DVD of Verdi's Macbeth entertaining and look forward to replaying and enjoying this version of Macbeth many timws !
Rating:  - Powerful acting and superb orchestra work overcome the vocal inadequacies of this "Macbeth" from The Met
In reviewing the Barcelona Opera DVD in which Maria Guleghina also appears as Lady Macbeth, I've already expressed my view (not shared by everyone here) that "Macbeth" is one of Verdi's underappreciated operas. Forgive me if I quote what I said there rather than rewrite it: "Verdi took great source material and used it to compose an opera with choruses that range from spooky (the witches) to weary and heartbreaking (the people of Scotland); arias for Lady Macbeth with vocal leaps and pyrotechnics that are Mozartian in difficulty; a great marital spat duet in which Lady M's diabolical hold over her husband is revealed; a final aria for the title character that garners sympathy for him, cold-blooded murderer though he is. The score is taut; not a wasted note."
As in her Barcelona Opera performance, Guleghina's intensity and utter commitment to the role go a long way to make up for her vocal difficulties. She struggles with the coloratura requirements of the role and is sometimes sloppy in her execution of the music, allowing her fiery acting to interfere with her singing. Verdi said he didn't want a Lady Macbeth with a beautiful voice, but that didn't mean he wanted one without discipline. (Listen to a Callas CD of Lady Macbeth's arias to hear that perfect combination of "ugliness" and discipline that Verdi was looking for in Lady M's voice.) But despite Guleghina's vocal shortcomings, hers is a Lady Macbeth that will be seared in your memory long after the opera is over; such is the ... Read More
Rating: - A Surprise Production
I must admit at the onset that I had no intention of seeing, let alone buying this set, but the local PBS station KCET broadcast it and since I was not planning an outing I stayed in and watched it. I should say at the outset I have only seen this opera twice on stage, with San Francisco,1955 (Borkh and Weede--an under used and utilized singer) and in Vienna in 1972 with Christa LUdwig and Kostas Paskalis, one of the great evenings at the opera).Of course I owned the Verret performance and had heard the EMI edition of Callas. It is best to draw a veil over the Suliotus and the second Verret recordings. A friend lent me a VHS of the Glyndebourne performance with Paskalis and Barstow. I don't hesitate to state that in my pantheon of great performances this DVD is still the leader of the pack in spite of shortcomings and elements that can be criticized.
But on to the DVD at hand. First off I had great reservations about the Lady. I was aware that the "bel canto" elements of the vocal line were beyond her capacities so it came as no surprise that parts of the Brindisi were smudged as it were; this occurred elsewhere but then at times she could surprise you and bring it off. What she did have was a committment and involvement that was absolute. Considering that she is not in the first flush of youth and that she has been singing a fairly heavy diet of spinto and dramatic roles she has more voice that I would have expected. At the time of her training in Russia I have no doubt that she was ... Read More
Rating:  - Save your money!
This was one of the most disappointing of all the Met broadcasts. I love this opera, but this performance was extremely disappointing with lackluster singing and unimaginative sets.
Rating:  - Verdi's weirdest opera
For the record, I'm writing this review without having watched the actual DVD, which hasn't been released yet and which I don't plan to buy, I'm basing it solely on having seen the HDTV broadcast at a local cineplex several months ago. Under those circumstances, perhaps I have no right to write a review in the first place, and I'm sure some readers will write comments telling me this. So be it. I'm not reviewing the DVD, I'm reviewing the production and the opera, which are the same as what I saw in the theater. Even though I am a huge fan of Verdi, and the Met, and James Levine, I found this performance to be nonessential viewing.
I admit, Macbeth is far from being my favorite Verdi opera. The main reason, Verdi wrote this during his early period, while he was still adhering to many of the elements of bel canto style(at the same time reshaping them into his own unique sound, sure, but at this point he hadn't quite achieved a total transition). Well, bel canto, a rigidly structured, florid, and, let's face it, occasionally shallow style of music is a poor match for vintage Bard, particularly his darkest play. I'm convinced that if Verdi had waited a few more years and written an opera of Macbeth around the time of Luisa Miller, Stiffelio and Rigoletto, he would have given us a great opera. If he'd waited even longer and done it near the end of his middle period, or even in his late period, he might have produced his greatest masterpiece. There is evidence to support this. He actually did ... Read More
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