Verdi Macbeth Chailly

Claude D'Anna's film of Verdi's Macbeth is a gloomy affair, stressing the descent into madness of the principal villains. It's acted by the singers of the Decca recording of the opera (with two substitutions of actors standing in for singers) and the lip-synching is generally unobtrusive. The musical performance is superb, conducted by Riccardo Chailly with admirable fire, and sung by some of the leading lights of the opera stages of the 1980s. Shirley Verrett virtually owned the role of Lady Macbeth at the time, and she delivers a terrific performance, the voice equal to the role's wide register leaps and it's suffused with emotion, whether urging her husband on to murder or maddened by guilt in the Sleepwalking Scene. Leo Nucci's resonant Macbeth may lack the ultimate in vocal color and steadiness (his last notes of the great aria Pietà, rispetto, amore are wobbly) but he compensates with intensity in both singing and acting.

Country:

United Kingdom

Genre:

Music

Duration:

133 minutes

Year:

1987

Director:

Claude d'Anna

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Company:

Deutsche Grammophon

Cast:
Leo Nucci

Macbeth

Shirley Verrett

Lady Macbeth

Samuel Ramey

Banquo

Anna Caterina Antonacci

Dama de Lady Macbeth

Veriano Luchetti

Macduff

Crew:
Francesco Maria Piave

Writer

Henry Lange

Producer

Giuseppe Verdi

Original Music Composer

Claude d'Anna

Director