Verdi La Traviata opera to libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. Directed 2005 by Willy Decker at the Salzburg Festival. Stars Anna Netrebko (Violetta Valéry), Helene Schneiderman (Flora Bervoix), Diane Pilcher (Annina), Rolando Villazón (Alfredo Germont), Thomas Hampson (Giorgio Germont), Salvatore Cordella (Gastone, Visconte de Letorières), Paul Gay (Barone Douphol), Herman Wallén (Marchese d'Obigny), Luigi Roni (Dottore Grenvil), Dritan Luca (Giuseppe), Wolfram Igor Derntl (Domestico di Flora), and Friedrich Springer (Commissionario). Carlo Rizzi conducts the Wiener Philarmoniker und Wiener Staatsopernchor (Chorus Master Rupert Huber). Set design by Wolfgang Gussman; costume design by Wolfgang Gussman and Susana Mendoza; lighting design by Hans Toelstede; dramaturgy by Klaus Bertisch, choreography by Athol Farmer. Directed for TV by Bryan Large. Sung in Italian. Released 2009, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B-
The Willy Decker/Wolfgang Gussman staging with the red sofa and giant clock became an international hit and has been played many times with many different all-star casts. Netrebko is powerfully spectacular in this, and our grade of B- is probably too low. (We graded it down because we prefer the traditional versions setting La Traviata in the nineteenth century.)
Alert! We bought our copy of this in May, 2009. In May, 2018, the disc was rejected as "unknown" by three different playing devices. So we suspect that some defect has appeared in our disc during the 9 years we have owned it. If you buy this, be sure you have recourse if your purchase will not load on your player!
Below are two images with the sofa and the clock:
And next below is a nice YouTube clip:
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