Verdi: The Pursuit of Success & The Burden of
Success (Kultur/DVD/Telefilm)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Main Program: B+
Newly
released on DVD by Kultur, this fine 1994 BBC production is a general
overview of the life and works of one of Italy's greatest composers, Giuseppe
Verdi. Billed as a "major documentary
film," Verdi: The Pursuit of
Success & The Burden of Success, is divided into two 1 hour segments,
no doubt convenient for television broadcast.
Mark Elder, conductor
and Verdi enthusiast, serves as narrator, literally walking the
viewer through Verdi's life, visiting many scenic locales where he lived
and worked. The film is a judicious balance of narrative, letter
excerpts (with actors Bob Peck and Juliet Stevenson as the voices of Verdi and
Giusepina Strepponi, his longtime paramour and wife), and specially staged
operatic extracts generously sprinkled throughout. Astutely directed by
Barrie Gavin, Verdi eschews the typical "PBS style" pitfalls of
filmatic documentary cliché (i.e. panning of still photos, repetitious montage,
vaguely relevant scholarly interviews etc.).
The
operatic excerpts are among the film's finest moments, presented here in a
decent 1.33 X 1 ratio. Specially staged by American director David Allen,
the stark simplicity necessitated in producing pieces from 11 of Verdi's most
well known operas is turned to advantage. A basic sound stage with a door, a wall, a
pillar, a window, subtly creative lighting and excellent costumes serve all
these excerpts remarkably well, bolstered as they are by fine acting and, of
course, excellent singing in the original Italian with English subtitles. The sound is PCM 2.0 16/48 Stereo and is not
bad for its age.
In
fact, it is of great interest to see the core company of a dozen or so
actors/singers move from role to role, exchanging the lead parts in one
production for supporting ones in others.
There are
some minor flaws. The biographical elements never really coalesce
into a full portrait of the artist, though the fragments revealed in the
letters read by Peck and Stevenson come closest to the real man. The
subtitles of each segment ("Pursuit
of Success" & "Burden
of Success") seem to be rather arbitrary and not particularly relevant
to the finished film, but this is of little consequence. Oddly, though,
Verdi's arguably most successful production, Aida, is not discussed or even
mentioned.
Overall
this is a fine place to start for the beginning student or causal fan of opera
interested in the great master Verdi. His politics, nationalism,
philanthropy and empathy for the common man are all given their due and the
excerpts are outstanding in music and execution. Truly, Giuseppe Verdi
captured "the very essence of the Italian soul."
- Don Wentworth
