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DVD : Shostakovich - Lady Macbeth of MtsenskIn association with Amazon.com 
List Price: $39.99 Amazon.com's Price: $35.99 You Save: $4.00 (10%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD EAN: 0809478009658 Format: Classical, Color, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: BBC / Opus Arte Manufacturer: BBC / Opus Arte Number Of Discs: 2 Number Of Items: 2 Publisher: BBC / Opus Arte Release Date: January 30, 2007 Running Time: 236 minutes Studio: BBC / Opus Arte Theatrical Release Date: 2006 Sales Rank: 51256 MPN: 965 Related Items:
Editorial Review: Amazon.com: Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, a lurid tale of sex, murder, and corruption, premiered in 1934 and was a success until Stalin saw it two years later, resulting in a Pravda review that viciously condemned it. It was later replaced by an expurgated version, now called Katerina Ismailova after the work's principal character. The original version has now reclaimed its place on international stages. The heroine is the daughter-in-law of Boris, a greedy, lecherous merchant, and the frustrated wife of his impotent son. Katerina poisons Boris and when her husband returns she and her lover, Sergei, kill him too, burying him in the cellar. The body is discovered during their wedding party. Haunted by guilt, Katerina confesses and the newlyweds are consigned to Siberia. When Sergei takes up with another woman, Katerina pushes her into the river and then jumps in herself. Director Martin Kusej keeps the narrative moving inexorably to its fatal ending while indulging in broad satirical portraits of the symbols of society's power to crush the individual. Katerina is a tragic heroine trapped in a cage-like structure that serves as the merchant's house, her bedroom (bare but with a collection of shoes that would satisfy Imelda Marcos), and later the prison transport where she meets her end. Some of the satire is broad--the policemen are out of a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta. And there's abundant acreage of human flesh on display, along with a near-rape and enough consensual sex to warrant an "X" rating. But it all fits a tale where the orchestra is often in porno territory, as in the famous trombone glissandos so prominent in Katerina and Sergei's first coupling. Kusej's only serious flaw is at the end, where he has Katerina lynched by her fellow-prisoners though the text clearly has her committing suicide by drowning. This production has the advantage of one of the world's great orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw, and its conductor, Mariss Jansons. They do everything brilliantly, whether it's a yearning string passage or a coarse depiction of on-stage brutality. As Katerina, Eva-Marie Westbrook is compelling, singing well and acting with convincing authority. Christopher Ventris' Sergei looks, acts, and sings like a burly seducer should. Boris, the dirty old man, is Vladimir Vaneev, whose ample bass and acting present a fully-rounded figure that goes beyond the part's stage villain aspects. Video director Thomas Grimm makes it all lucid on disc, the cameras rarely venturing away from what must be seen. It all adds up to a powerful performance of a powerful opera. --Dan Davis Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Why change the ending?One of my problems with this production is the revisionist ending. Now that there are no longer satellite countries, I guess since this is updated to modern times, the treck to Siberia in the last scene would be unbelievable but the ending is jarring for all the wrong reasons. The staging is effective but odd. The first half taking place within a glass enclosed box obviously representing Katerina's entrapment as the bride of a impotent man. Wooden walls line the back of the ... Read More Rating:  - Magnificent playing, singinging, acting and soundThis is now my third DVD of Lady Macbeth, an opera which I would rank among the very best of all 20th century operas and of all Russian operas. Its strong points are very strong indeed. The musical performance as led by Mariss Jansons is outstanding and there are no disturbingly weak links among the singers/actors. All leading performers deserve the wild applause they receive at the opera's end. And the sound on this DVD is magnificent. There is only one possible fly in the ointment and that is one's ... Read More Rating: - A most remarkable achievement.Following Rostropovich's pioneering effort from the latter days of LP, Shostakovich's second (and last) opera seems to finally reach its deserved status amongst the 20th century's masterpieces in the genre. It is an outstanding work, perhaps among the composer's finest, along with the 1st violin concerto, the Michelangelo Sonnets, the 6th and 10th symphonies, the preludes and fugues for piano, the late quartets or that jewel of an opera, "The Nose". The contrast with his own watered-down version (Katerina ... Read More Browse for similar items by category:
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