List Price: $24.98You Pay Only: $22.49 You Save: $2.49 (10%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 5099921742095
Format: Classical, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Label: Emi Classics
Manufacturer: Emi Classics
Number Of Discs: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Emi Classics
Release Date: September 16, 2008
Running Time: 92 minutes
Sales Rank: 27349
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.
Finnish soprano Karita Mattila gives a career-high performance- the New York Times called her 'riveting' in Puccini's passionate opera. With an equally superlative performance by James Levine and the Met Orchestra, this is unparalleled music making at its finest.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - More than just great opera
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 ... Read More
Rating: - Uneven, yes, but ultimately very rewarding
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.
Rating:  - An uneven, frustrating performance
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 ... Read More
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