La traviata

La Traviata has always been one of my favourites of all time, it never fails to move me and the music is some of the most beautiful I've ever heard. For me this 2001 production is not the best Traviata I've seen, this is coming from someone who has a lot of fondness for the Zeffirelli(Stratas, Domingo and Macneil) and Anna Moffo(Moffo, Bonisolli and Becchi) films and the Fleming-Villazon-Bruson, 1981 Cotrubas-Domingo-Macneil Met and Gruberova-Shicoff-Zancarnaro productions, but it is still good. The costumes and sets are rather sparse and darkly lit, with any splashes of colour coming across as gaudy. Some of the camera work is at times a little too distant, though the picture quality is serviceable. On the other hand, the sound does do justice to the poignancy of Verdi's score, the orchestral playing is full of style and pathos, the chorus animated and well balanced and the conducting genteel and nuanced enough. The staging has nothing dull or offensive, and works well. Darina Takova captures Violetta's vulnerability wonderfully, and as well as showing a full-toned and flexible(in technique) voice her performance is commanding and very moving indeed. Giuseppe Sabbatini is not the most exciting Alfredo I've seen, but still shows a ringing, unstrained performance vocally, and his chemistry with Takova still convinces. Vittorio Vitelli looked quite young for Germont, nonetheless he makes for a stern yet sympathetic father figure. All in all, well-performed and good production overall, great even if the production values had been more sumptuous. 7/10 Bethany Cox