User Reviews

I love opera, and I love Cilea's Andriana Lecouvreur for the heartfelt story, intriguing characters-Adriana is unforgettable- and sublime music. This is my favourite Adriana. I could completely forgive the rather grainy picture quality for how well sung and moving this 1976 production was.

The costumes and sets are handsome without being too simple or fancy, and the video directing is good enough. The music is beautifully performed by the orchestra and the conducting is assured without rushing or plodding.

The performances are exceptional. Of the four Adrianas I've seen and heard, the other three being Tebaldi, Freni and Sutherland, all excellent, Montserrat Caballe in a very musical, wonderfully acted performance, is my favourite.

She has a more than perfect support cast, including a dashing Jose Carreras, a superb Fiorenza Cossotto and a fine Ivo Vinco. All in all, an outstanding Adriana Lecouvreur and my favourite production so far of this fine opera. 10/10 Bethany Cox

An oldie but a goodie!!! I'm a big opera fan but I had never seen Adriana Lecouvreur nor heard Montserrat Caballe. I had won the disk of this performance as a door prize at our opera guild meeting several months ago but didn't get around to watching it. Well.... It is superb, moving, powerful, compelling...everything Italian opera should be with lots of sex, treachery, betrayal, poison and, of course, music that penetrates your mind, soul and heart. (Why don't they play this stuff in elevators and shopping malls?) This was a 1975 performance in Tokyo so the staging tends to be traditional, the camera-work stodgy and the audio unremarkable. But that does not detract from the magnificent performances (including a young Jose Carreras in his prime.) The Japanese subtitles don't really pose much of a distraction. The translation on the English titles is a little shaky at times (for example "dame" when I'm sure they meant "lady.") There also is an Italian option and after watching with the English titles it was fun to go back and watch with the Italian ones, which are the exact libretto. This disc turned a drab and boring December evening into a special and memorable occasion!