Bellini I Puritani opera to libretto by Carlo Pepoli. Directed 2016 by Emilio Sagi at the Teatro Real de Madrid. Stars Miklós Sebestyén (Lord Gualtiero Valton), Nicolas Testé (Sir Giorgio), Javier Camarena (Lord Arturo Talbo), Ludovic Tézier (Sir Riccardo Forth), Antonio Lozano (Sir Bruno Robertson), Annalisa Stroppa (Enrichetta di Francia), and Diana Damrau (Lady Elvira Valton). Evelino Pidò conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Real de Madrid (Chorus Master Andrés Máspero). Stage design by Daniel Bianco; costume design by Peppispoo; lighting design by Eduardo Bravo. Directed for TV and edited by Jérémie Cuvillier; Producer was Xavier Dubois; Executive Producer was François Duplat. Sung in Italian. Released 2017, disc has 5.1 dts HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Richard Lawrence at page 84 of the February 2018 Gramophone highly praises the singers but pans the plain and colorless sets, props, and costumes in this production. The chorus, he complains, "stand or sit in rows, as though performing an oratorio." One also has to wonder what all those chandeliers have to do with the Puritans.
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