Oberto

Energetic!!
There are far more pressing questions in today's world than why did Bartolomeo Merrilli, the manager of La Scala, sign Verdi to a contract for three operas after Oberto was performed in November, 1839? But for the operatically curious, this disc provides the answer. At the outset here, I want to be totally clear: my 5 ***** rating is based on evaluating this performance for what it is; not in light of what Verdi would become, but rather what he was and what he composed in 1839 as his first opera.

It had become trendy by the end of the 19th century, as well as the first half of the 20th, to dismiss almost all of the Bel Canto operas and all of Verdi's early works (before Rigoletto) as trashy and inconsequential. Fortunately for opera lovers, the last 50 or so years has resulted in a re-examination of these works and a welcome proliferation of performances and video recordings of them. Works that had been consigned to the trash bin of history are now seen to be excellent,...

A good start
This set is a good beginning in two ways. First, it is Verdi's first opera and the start of a great career. Second it is the launch of Tutti Verdi, a massive undertaking to issue a DVD of every Verdi opera (plus the Requiem). As for Oberto it is a decent beginning. It is not a hard listen. Verdi never bores. Even at the beginning of his career Verdi has the genius necessary to create an interesting opera.
As for this recording it does justice to this early work. The artists are all unknown to me. The singing is pretty good, the drama not so, but then this is not a great libretto. Best of the singers is the tenor Fabio Satori as Riccardo. Unfortunately in today's opera world he will not have a great career since he is not film star handsome. Nor is he any shakes as an actor. The director does little. He stops the action at times by having his characters pose in Robert Wilson-like gestures. I guess this gets him through some static sections but it doesn't show much genius. The...

Not the correct video
Like a previous writer, I have also bought two versions of this DVD and they both were a video of samples of the whole series, while the label on the DVD correctly said Oberto. I have been trying to call UNITEL CLASSICA to tell them of this problem but has not been able to reach them. Very frustrating.

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