Anna Bolena

Donizetti Anna Bolena opera to a libretto by Felice Romani. Directed 2011 at the Wiener Staatsoper by Eric Génovèse. Stars Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Anna Netrebko, Elīna Garanča, Dan Paul Dumitrescu, Francesco Meli, Elisabeth Kulman, and Peter Jelosits. Evelino Pidò conducts the Chor, Orchester und Bühnenorchester der Wiener Staatsoper (Chorus Masters Thomas Lang and Martin Schebesta). Set design by Jacques Gabel and Claire Sternberg; costume design by Luisa Spinatelli; lighting design by Bertrand Couderc; video direction by Brian Large.  Released 2011, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A+

Opera Now (August/September 2011 at page 85) praised the singers but panned the stark, dark stage production for this Anna Bolena as "pretty much . . . a concert version of the opera."

So the sets were boring in the theater. Was this a weakness, or could it be possible that the sets were designed to look good in the video that would be made of the show? In any event,  Brian Large knew what to do for his home theater audience: he turned the near-empty set into a black velvet-lined presentation box. And in this box, with maximum vividness and clarity,  he displays the rich jewels of the star singers and the chorus members, all in resplendent costumes. Thus Large produces a gorgeous event that Gordon Smith declares to "be a milestone in opera production with superlative singing, acting, filming, orchestral recording, the lot . . . "

Gordon has a lot more experience with opera video than I. But as for my part, the brilliance of the singers and the acting was so impressive, I didn't notice the set. Gordon plans to show Anna Bolena to the L'OperaDou Jury. But even without a verdict from that august panel, we agree on an "A+" grade for this show.