Stars: Joan Sutherland, Lauris Elms, Kenneth Collins, Donald Shanks, Jonathan Summers, Cynthia Johnston, Robin Donald, Australian Opera Chorus, Sydney Elizabethan Orchestra, Richard Bonynge

Director: Elijah Moshinsky

Summary: Verdi's classic opera recorded in Australia at the height of Joan Sutherland's career in 1983.

Soprano Joan Sutherland stars as Leonora in Elijah Moshinsky's production of Verdi's opera Il Trovatore. Leonora is the object of the desires of two men - troubador Manrico and the Count di Luna (played by Kenneth Collins and Jonathan Summers). The adversaries are driven to murder by their love for the same woman. The Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra and the Australian Opera Chorus, conducted by Richard Bonynge, provide a colourful backdrop to the on-stage action.

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Il Trovatore, Verdi's 1853 maelstrom of passion, infanticide, double-crossing and revenge, would be a mightily gamy affair if it didn't contain some of his finest arias, a cracker of a tenor's role and one of opera's most powerfully-written characters in the old gypsy woman, Azucena. Although Joan Sutherland, who plays the self-sacrificing lady-in-waiting Leonora in this 1983 Australia Opera production at Sydney Opera House, is the headline star, in truth the supreme assets of this recording are mezzo-soprano Lauris Elms' Azucena, a beautifully sung performance of haunted, wild-eyed sadness; and Sydney Nolan's wonderfully infernal sets, all purple and burnt ochre with suggestions of distorted faces.

Sutherland came late to a part which allowed her to sing up a storm without taxing her rather stolid acting style. Her husband and musical director Richard Bonynge gives her the space to unleash some of Verdi's most fluidly opulent melodies--"D'amor sull'ali rosee" is a case in point--whose beauty is often at odds with the underlying horrors of the tale, based on a rather dodgy Spanish melodrama by Gutierrez. Sutherland has strong support from tenor Kenneth Collins as the doomed Manrico and Jonathan Summers as the vengeful Count.

On the DVD:Il Trovatore on disc offers the inevitable shortcomings of a filmed for television performance: to the detriment of Nolan's designs (and the hard-pressed make-up team), the lighting doesn't translate well to video. Presented in 4:3 picture format, the quality is frequently murky. The PCM Stereo soundtrack also has its flat and fuzzy moments, particularly during chorus scenes ("Vedi! Le fosche notturne spoglie") when the orchestra drowns out the singing. But on the whole Sutherland et al sound great.--Piers Ford

Aspect Ratio:	4:3
Main Language:	Italian
Region:	Region 2
Subtitles:	English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
Year:	1983
Release Date:	July 1, 2002
Runtime:	142 minutes
Certification:	Exempt.
Catalogue Number:	100 276
Keywords:	Music, Opera, Works, Trovatore, Stage, Verdi, Classical, Performing, Operetta, Il, Arts
Genre:	Music/Performing Arts