CILEA: Adriana Lecouvreur - Mirella Freni, La Scala (DVD)

Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur
Mirella Freni (Adriana Lecouvreur); Peter Dvorsky (Maurizio); Sara Mingardo (Md. lla Dangeville); Ernesto Gavazzi (L'Abate de Chazeuil);

Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala; Gianandrea Gavazzeni

Stage Director(s): Lamberto Puggelli

Cilea's four-act opera of jealousy and tangled love, first performed in Milan in 1902, is based on the true-life story of Adriana Lecouvreur, an 18th-Century actress at the Comédie Française, whose rival for the love of Maurizio, Count of Saxony, is the married Principessa di Bouillon.


"Mirella Freni in the title-role as the great singing actress might easily have been overparted, but her projection is strong and positive, with the tenderness of her two big arias well caught. Peter Dvorsky is first rate as Maurizio, strong, firm and unstrained, and Fiorenza Cossotto with her rich mezzo makes a splendid foil for Freni. Visually, with Brian Large as video director, the extravagance of the elaborate and ultra-realistic sets and costumes is wonderfully brought out." (The Penguin Guide)

Extra features
Includes a 32 page booklet with libretto by Colautti after the play Adrienne Lecouvreur by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé.