DONIZETTI

La Fille du Régiment

 

Marie - Natalie Dessay soprano

Tonio - Juan Diego Flórez tenor

La Marquise de Berkenfeld - Felicity Palmer mezzo soprano

Sulpice Pingot - Alessandro Corbelli baritone

Hortensius - Donald Maxwell baritone

La Duchesse de Crackentorp - Dawn French

Orchestra & Choir of the Royal Opera House / Bruno Campanella

 

Stage Director - Laurent Pelly

Associate Director - Agathe Mélinand

Set designs - Chantal Thomas

Costume designs - Laurent Pelly

Lighting - Joël Adam

Choreography - Laura Scozzi

Dialogue adaptation - Agathe Mélinand

 

Opéra comique in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti

French libretto by Georges Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard

 

Live from Covent Garden, Royal Opera House, London – January 2007

London Royal Opera co-production with the Vienna State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, New York

 

Last January 2007, Natalie Dessay, joined on stage by acclaimed tenor Juan Diego Florez - “operatic coupling made in heaven” (Financial Times) - dazzled British audiences in La Fille du régiment.

 

The rave reviews from the press and the audiences’ standing ovations clearly indicate how successfully Laurent Pelly (famous for his spectacular productions) staged this new production, and how the singers were perfectly cast. They gave Donizetti’s opera a new life at the Royal Opera House, after 40 years, when the opera was last staged there, and Virgin Classics delights in adding this DVD to its growing video catalogue.

 

Natalie received standing ovations and The Times wrote: "I have never seen a singer [Natalie Dessay] invest quite so much manic comic energy into a role as Dessay does, and certainly not while tossing out some of the most fiendish coloratura in the repertoire [...]. Simply mesmerising.”

 

Also enthralling the audience, Juan Diego Flórez tackled the famous tenor’s aria "Ah! mes amis, quel jour de fête!", which has been called the "Mount Everest" for tenors, as it features 9 high Cs.

 

The rest of the cast boasts renowned mezzo-soprano Felicity Palmer as the Marquise de Berkenfeld, The versatile Italian bass-baritone Alessandro Corbelli, and the speaking-role of thr Duchesse de Crackentorp boasts popular British comedian Dawn French. As for VC's DVD La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein, the spoken dialogues were adapted by Agathe Mélinand, who regularly collaborates with Laurent Pelly.

 

The production was later given in Vienna in April 2007, and is scheduled at the New York Met in April 2008 (April 21 – May 16). The production was so popular in London that on April 26th, the Barbican will broadcast directly from the Met, La Fille du regiment, live on screen.

 

“A must-see, must-hear [....]. It’s the operatic show of the season." The Times

 

“When the Royal Opera presented Donizetti's La Fille du régiment last winter for the first time since the 1960s, it was champagne for the soul. At the centre of Laurent Pelly's glittering production was the trio of Natalie Dessay, Juan Diego Flórez and Alessandro Corbelli – and they were not merely three of the greatest voices on the planet.” The Independent

 

“The Royal Opera's new staging of La Fille du régiment will probably go down in history as one of the company's great achievements...

 

Laurent Pelly's production casts Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez as Marie and Tonio. Neither, one suspects, could ever be bettered. Dessay, in particular, gives the performance of a lifetime. A remarkable theatrical animal, she acts as well as she sings (…). Vocally, [Juan Diego Flórez] is immaculate, with the nine top Cs of his big aria perfectly placed…

 

You can't fault the rest of it, either. Bruno Campanella's conducting has great elegance and charm. Felicity Palmer's Marquise de Berkenfeld is the operatic equivalent of Edith Evans's Lady Bracknell, while the all-important speaking role of the battleaxe Duchesse de Crackentorp goes to Dawn French, who, generously and wisely, refuses to hog the limelight.

 

A truly outstanding night at Covent Garden, the like of which we haven't seen in ages… The Guardian

 

Sound format: LPCM Stereo / Dolby 5.1 Surround / DTS 5.1 Surround

Menu: English

Sung in French

Subtitles: GB, F, D, IT, SP

 

Virgin Classics DVD NTSC 5190029