Don Carlo (1977) watch online HD

Don Carlo is one of Verdi's best operas. It is perhaps his most complex, not just in story and the character of King Phillip but also for the music and the demands for the conductor(Otello and Il Trovatore in regard to the last point come very close though).

Available on audio CD, this is an excellent La Scala Don Carlo. I wasn't able to see what it was like visually, but the quality of sound is good with not too much fuzz.

On a musical level, the production meets the demands of the opera wonderfully. The orchestra are superb, and play with just the right ferocity and pathos required. Claudio Abbado's conducting makes for a dramatic and characterful reading. The chorus are well balanced and pitched.

The performances are a joy across the board. There isn't anyone I consider bad actually, though while she sings with evenness in the range and with great style Yelena Obraztsowa's Eboli could have done with being a little more feminine and some of her Italian diction is on the curdled side, and while Yevgeni Nesterenko has a commanding basso with quite thunderous low notes I would have liked a more black-hearted voice(like Talvela, Hines or Furlanetto) for the Grand Inquisitor.

I think there are two standouts. The most obvious one to me is Nicolai Ghiaurov. King Phillip is considered one of his best roles, and hearing him here it is not hard to see why. His sumptuous cello-like voice still sounds wonderful, and whether King Phillip is scary, moving, conflicted or intelligent, Ghiaurov embodies the character better than a lot of other basses in the role. The other is Mirella Freni, while I do consider her a lyric soprano rather than a spinto soprano that doesn't stop Freni from giving a deeply felt and musical Elisabetta, her rendition of Tu Che Le Vanita is among the best I've heard her sing.

One shouldn't dispute Jose Carreras or Piero Cappuccilli either. Carreras sings wonderfully in this taxing role(alongside Otello, Rodolfo from Luisa Miller and Duke of Mantua, Don Carlo is one of the most demanding Verdi tenor roles), though more pianissimo singing wouldn't have gone amiss. Cappuccilli is one of my personal favourites, and he is excellent as Posa, shining especially in Dio Che Nell'Alma Infondere, his big duet with Ghiaurov and O Carlo Ascolta. I personally prefer his performance here than his performance in the 1986 production, he is excellent there too, but here there is more beauty of tone and his high notes are more effortless.

All in all, excellent. 9/10 Bethany Cox