Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro [The Marriage of Figaro] (complete opera recorded in 2006) BLU-RAY

Note: This Blu-ray Disc (BD) is not compatible with standard DVD players

"Here is a Figaro to put with the 1973 Glyndebourne production placed among the top five operatic DVDs. Figaro and Susanna are very much the centre here, and we like them not only because they sing and act well but because they are sympathetic in a modern way. Dorothea Röschmann's Countess is an unusually active, passionate woman... The Count's in an unenviable role... Finley goes grim-faced from one defeat to another, singing like a true aristocrat all the way"
(Gramophone)

"…so accomplished a cast, in which Gerald Finley's Count, Miah Persson's Susanna and Rinat Shaham's Cherubino stand out as ideal."
(BBC Music)

David McVicar's spellbinding production of Le nozze di Figaro is set in 1830s post-revolution France, where the inexorable unravelling of an old order has produced acute feelings of loss. In the relationship between Finley's suave, dashingly self-absorbed Count and Röschmann's passionately dignified Countess, which lies at the tragic heart of the opera, the sexy ease between a feisty Figaro (Erwin Schrott) and a sassy Susanna (Miah Persson) is starkly absent, the tenacious spark between Marcellina (Graciela Araya) and Bartolo (Jonathan Veira) suggesting what might be rekindled. The production is superbly complemented by the beauty of Paule Constable's lighting and Tanya McCallin's evocative sets. Antonio Pappano conducts (and accompanies the recitatives) with invigorating wit and emotional depth.

'This sexy, raunchy, romp of an opera is a triumph. Director David McVicar has searched for the essence of the composer and found it; fun filled, sensitive, romantic and serious by turns, all reflected in this production.This is a 'Must See' opera! …You'll regret it if you don't!' Musical Opinion

Bonus material:

The Magic of Mozart: Interviews with Antonio Pappano, David McVicar and principal cast.

Cast gallery and illustrated synopsis.