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For La forza del destino, Verdi created one of his most famous melodies, the "fate" motif that permeates the whole of the score. Music and action alternate in masterly fashion between large-scale crowd scenes and intimate interiority, in that way illustrating Verdi's real theme: the manner in which fallible human beings are destroyed by a cruel fate.

Didn't entirely work for me but not that bad a Forza

I do quite like La Forza Del Destino. Sure, it has a sprawling nature and is not always consistent, but it has many fine moments with Verdi&#39;s best overture and a lot of the arias(Pace Pace Mio Dio, Urna Fatale, La Vita E Inferno)) and duets(Invano Alvaro, Solenne Quest&#39;Ora) are among his most memorable also. This production falls short of being great but is at least serviceable. It is certainly better than the Nina Stemme production, but for the best Forza on DVD the Renata Tebaldi/Franco Corelli production fits the bill perfectly, with Montserrat Caballe&#39;s a close second. Visually the production is a mixed bag. It&#39;s well lit, not too dark but in keeping with the opera&#39;s atmosphere. Most of the costumes don&#39;t present a problem and are appropriate. The moving sets are evocatively done, especially at the beginning of the first act and in the monastery scenes in the latter half of the opera. Where it&#39;s not so good is in the cramped sets for Act 3 and how over-dressed Alvaro and Carlo look as they go off to battle. The staging is not really all that successful either. The best touch is at the start of Act 3 with a wounded Alvaro being worked on upstage and Leonora&#39;s death is touching, however the duets between Alvaro and Carlo lack fire and intensity and the static nature of most of the production made the spiritual struggles of the characters unconvincing. Musically, it&#39;s fine on the whole. As long as you don&#39;t expect the &quot;golden age&quot; sort of singing and playing and take the production as it is(the comparisons will be inevitable, but I do think it&#39;s at least fair to judge it on its own) you&#39;ll be alright, otherwise look elsewhere. The orchestra play with assurance, beauty of tone and secure musicianship. It isn&#39;t a powerhouse standard, but it is hardly chamber music quality either. The chorus sing attractively and with vibrant sound. The stage direction doesn&#39;t allow them to do as much as they could&#39;ve done, however they are at least involving. Lucas Karytinos&#39; conducting is authoritative and accommodating, and he does a good enough job in keeping the singers and orchestra together. The video directing doesn&#39;t cheapen the production, it focuses well on what is going on on stage and isn&#39;t too over-reliant on close-ups. The picture and sound quality are very good. Susanna Branchini is not one of the great Leonoras(to name them though would be unfair to her), but that is really a tall order to ask for. For her to give a good performance is good enough for me, and Branchini gives that. Her voice I do feel is too small for the role, but the voice itself is beautiful and expressive with floating top notes. Like with many of her colleagues she doesn&#39;t have a huge amount to work with but still does bring a certain nobility and heart to the role. Pace, Pace Mio Dio is very deeply felt. Renzo Zulian has impressive things about him too but he didn&#39;t wow me over. In I Vespri Siciliani I described his acting as very good, here he is only competent. And I think a large part is that with Arrigo in Vespri he was enabled to do much more with the role, the staging here was rather static and unimaginative so didn&#39;t allow for Alvaro&#39;s tormented struggles to come through enough. He has a pleasant voice, comprising of a beautiful middle register and an ability to sing with pathos, but also has phrasing that tends to spread too much and a top that can sound strained. Marco Di Felice- in a performance that is so much better than his Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana opposite Ildiko Komlosi- acts with authority, and brings a good amount of menace to Urna Fatale if not quite enough intensity for Invano Alvaro. I liked that he had sneer and punch to his voice(there have been times actually where I have preferred baritones who have steel to their voices), and it is mostly a solid and full sound if sometimes a little monochromatic as well. Paolo Battaglia showed much promise as Padre Guardiano. He is young, perhaps too young, but the resonance and warm sonority is definitely there- though it&#39;s occasionally a little dry as well- as well as a noble and sympathetic stage presence. As Melitone, Paolo Rumetz is only let down by some unsteadiness at the top, the amusing and irascible characterisation is spot on and his voice has much character and energetic style. Tiziana Carraro sings with a lot of warm colour and vivacity, and does light up the production when she&#39;s on stage. Overall, not bad but doesn&#39;t entirely work. 6/10 Bethany Cox

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La forza del destino

Didn't entirely work for me but not that bad a Forza

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