MASSENET

Manon

 

Manon Lescaut               Natalie Dessay soprano

Le chevalier des Grieux Rolando Villazón tenor

Le comte des Grieux       Samuel Ramey bass

Lescaut                                     Manuel Lanza baritone

Guillot de Morfontaine     Francisco Vas tenor

Monsieur de Brétigny      Didier Henry baritone

Poussette                      Cristina Obregon soprano

Javotte                          Marisa Martins mezzo-soprano

Rosette                                     Anna Tobella mezzo-soprano

 

Orquesta Sinfónica e coro del Gran Teatre del Liceu / Victor Pablo Pérez

 

For their first-ever encounter in a staged opera, Natalie Dessay as Manon and Rolando Villazón as des Grieux were the much-awaited highlight of Barcelona’s Liceu season this June 2007 in David McVicar’s beautiful stage production of Massenet’s Manon.

 

The DVD, out only 6 months after the performances, captures on film this outstanding production of Massenet's most popular and enduring opera which has, since its creation in Paris in 1884, maintained an important place in the repertory.

 

Along with Natalie Dessay and Rolando Villazón the cast boasts American bass Samuel Ramey, and Spanish baritone Manuel Lanza as Lescaut.

 

Natalie Dessay and Rolando Villazon’s performances on DVD are amongst the Virgin Classics’s recent best selling releases: Natalie Dessay’s “Live on Stage” (November 06): over 60,000 copies ww, Rolando Villazón in L’Elisir d’Amore (November 06): over 55,000 copies ww.

 

DVD specs:

Running Time approx. 2h 55mn

Audio: PCM linear Stereo, DTS 5.1, Dolby digital 5.1 / Picture Format 16:9

Subtitles: French, English, German, Spanish, Catalan

 

DVD BONUS FOOTAGE (TBC)

Bonus footage (tbc): “Manon (Natalie Dessay) in Barcelona” documentary by ESTI: A fascinating full-hour’s worth of the two great singers Natalie Dessay & Rolando Villazón in rehearsal on stage, with director David McVicar.

 

"McVicar at the peak of his art"

 

"Not easy to represent Manon when keeping to the libretto without falling into a banal illustration. This squaring of the circle was solved with brio in the Liceu’s production. It’s the result of the conceiving led by David McVicar, by singers who are also actors and by an orchestral performance which gives full justice to Massenet’s rich score”.

 

“Natalie Dessay and Rolando Villazón bring to their characters the generosity of their commitment […] the French soprano Natalie Dessay is poised to succeeding brilliantly her evolution towards the repertoire of lyric sopranos […] the Mexican tenor Rolando Villazón brings to life a most convincing young lover […].Billed along these stars a homogeneous cast, where each character has depth.”

 

“Victor Pablo Pérez reveals as of the overture special affinities with Massenet’s style – he draws from the orchestra of the Liceu both fluidity and reactivity which reveal to the full the elegance of the score.”

 

 “Fully justified ovations hailed the conductor and the orchestra; and although Rolando Villazón and Natalie Dessay got the upper hand in the applauses, the whole line-up was hailed by the Liceu”.

www.forumopera.com

 

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