RENATA SCOTTO

In 1979, Renata Scotto sang her first Luisa at the Metropolitan Opera and she did so with her usual devotion. But before she could start her first big aria, a ‘joker’ caused a scandal by shouting ‘brava Maria Callas’ at the top of his lungs.

Sherrill Milnes, here in the guise of Luisa’s father, took the emotional Scotto in his arms and so saved her concentration. And the performance. And the day.

All this was broadcast live on TV and thus it ended up on the pirate videos in circulation. I had been cherishing mine for years, and now the performance has been released on DVD by Deutsche Grammophon, with the necessary cuts, including that famous incident. A pity, but after all it is not about the incidents but about the opera and the performance. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Nathaniel Merrill’s staging is a bit old-fashioned and Domingo looks like hell with his blonde hair, but you quickly forget that because the singing and acting are of absolute top quality and maestro James Levine conducts masterfully (DG 0734027

In the video below, the main actors (Scotto, Domingo, Milnes and Levine) discuss Verdi’s opera and the 1979 production:

DARINA TAKOVA

For his production of Luisa Miller (originally performed at the Nationale Reisopera in 2004, recorded for this DVD in Venice in 2006), director Arnaud Bernard was inspired by Bertolucci’s Novocento. But the influence of the Italian neorealists is also unmistakably present.

Bernard situates the action in the Italian countryside in the 1920s, giving ample coverage not only of class divisions but also of rising fascism. The stage setting is abstract and apart from a few realistic props and metre-high photographs of women, the stage is almost bare.

Luisa Miller was the third of the four operas Verdi based on a play by Schiller. Like all his operas from his ˜middle period”, the work is bursting with wonderful arias and ensembles, and it possesses perhaps the most beautiful overture ever written – a challenge for conductors.

Mauricio Bennini is on fine form with the Teatro La Fenice’s orchestra, although I find his tempi a bit on the slow side at times.

The – mostly young – cast is fine, but I think Ursula Ferri is an irritating Frederica. Her voice is flat and wobbly and her acting is completely off.

Giuseppe Sabbatini (Rodolfo) has an old-fashioned beautiful, slender tenor with good top notes and Darina Takova is a moving, highly imaginative Luisa (Naxos 2110225-26).