Edgar

Edgar is never going to be one of my favourites, and is perhaps my least favourite Puccini opera. The opera does have its good points, the Requiem in Act 3 is stunningly beautiful and the last act is truly thrilling. This performance is only a little bit better than the same team's Le Villi, which was also mediocre at best. The competition is very slim for the opera on DVD, but the better version is the 2008 Cura, Nizza and Gertseva one, which had a couple of not-so-good points but was excellent in most aspects. About this performance, I did like it did look nice and traditional, apart from the mostly ridiculous wigs. The orchestral playing, conducting and chorus are very involved especially in Act 3. Montserrat Marti is not in the same league as her mother Montserrat Caballe, but as Fidelia she is riveting with a lovely voice. Andrea Rola is also a very moving Frank. However, the final act while thrilling in the 2008 performance is dramatically lukewarm and dull here, and excepting the Requiem that is true of a lot of the production actually. Giovanni Tarasconi is a heartfelt Gualtiero but his voice lacked steadiness at times. Dario Balzanelli has a bright and ringing voice as Edgar, though slightly over-covered to begin with, but is wooden as an actor. But the let-down was Halla Margaret as Tigrana. Margaret's voice is darker and not as insufferably wobbly as she is in Le Villi, but it is still not a pleasant voice here, a lot of it is unsteady and very shrill. She isn't a very good actress either, attractive she may be but her over-the-top histrionics really started to grate after a while. So overall, marginally better but left wanting still. 5/10 Bethany Cox