Ramey, Samuel

Jules Massenet - Manon / Dessay, Villazon, Ramey, Lanza, Henry, Perez, McVicar (Gran Teatre del Liceu 2007)

This imaginative Barcelona production of Massenet's tearjerker about a woman gone wrong in the dissolute world of 18th-century Paris features a brilliant performance of the title role by Natalie Dessay and an abundance of fine vocalism from most of her colleagues. Dessay's expressive face makes Manon's thoughts instantly accessible to the viewer, the way she holds her body, light in Manon's good moods, heavy when the tragedy unfolds. Her singing intensifies the drama as well, her opening aria innocent, her remembrances in Adieu mon petite table touching, the coloratura in her waltz song thrilling, the pathos of her demise fully captured. Rolando Villazón is the Chevalier Des Grieux, and he's his usual openly emotional self, the epitome of puppy love at the first encounter with Manon, convincing as her lover, and in the Saint Sulpice scene, he makes a seamless transition from rejecting her to re-igniting his obsessional love. But Villazón does have moments where his customary smooth vocalism gives way to inappropriate verismo style and its attendant strains. As Manon's cousin, Lescaut, Manuel Lanza plays up the character's nasty side while displaying a neatly textured baritone while Didier Henry is appropriately creepy in his portrayal of Brétigny. Smaller roles are well done but the singing of veteran bass Samuel Ramey as Des Grieux's father exhibits considerable vocal wear and tear. Victor Pablo Pérez who chooses apt tempos throughout, expertly directs the Orchestra and Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

David McVicar's staging plays well in Tanya McCallin's traditional costumes and unconventional sets. Manon enters wearing functional, boyish traveling clothes, later graduating to a gold, green, and cream gown, and finally, a ragged shift for the finale. The aristocrats are in foppish outfits, wigs, and beauty marks, underlining McVicar's apparent subtext of Manon as a condemnation of 18th-century French high society, something that would likely have surprised Massenet. That theme is carried throughout the opera, as the stage is often littered with onlookers, sometimes in the on-stage tiered amphitheatre and even in the intimacy of the room shared by the lovers, where extras not only appear in the wings but also arrange themselves in awkward positions that divert the viewer's attention. To the degree such stagings lessen the sentimentality of the narratives, they're a plus; but McVicar's viewpoint does take something away from the story's intimacy. His production does succeed mightily in suggesting where each scene takes place with minimal props--a table here, some chairs there, and we are in a room, a gambling hall, a dark quayside. Francois Roussillon's TV direction is also smoothly functional, letting us take in the scenes while also getting close to the characters. --Dan Davis

Two of Opera's hottest stars- Natalie Dessay and Rolando Villazon- meet on the stage for the first time in this DVD of Massenet's Manon!

For their first-ever encounter in a staged opera, Natalie Dessay as Manon and Rolando Villazon as des Grieux were the much-awaited highlight of Barcelona's Liceu season this June 2007 in David McVicar's beautiful stage production of Massenet's Manon. The DVD, available from Virgin Classics, captures on film this outstanding stage production of Massenet's most popular and enduring opera, which has maintained an important place in the repertory since its 1884 creation in Paris.

Disc one
#1. "Massenet: Manon - Act I - Prelude"
#2. "Massenet: Manon - Act I - Hola! He! Monsieur l'Hotelier!"
#3. "Massenet: Manon - Act I - Allez a l'auberge voisine"
#4. "Massenet: Manon - Act I - Je suis encore tout etourdie"
#5. "Massenet: Manon - Act I - Revenez, Guillot, revenez!"
#6. "Massenet: Manon - Act I - Regardez - moi bien dans les yeux"
#7. "Massenet: Manon - Act I - Voyons, Manon, plus de chimeres"
#8. "Massenet: Manon - Act I - J'ai marque l'heure du depart"
#9. "Massenet: Manon - Act I - Et je sais votre nom..."
#10. "Massenet: Manon - Act I - Plus un sou! Le tour est tres plaisant!"
#11. "Massenet: Manon - Act II - Prelude"
#12. "Massenet: Manon - Act II - On l'appelle Manon"
#13. "Massenet: Manon - Act II - Enfin, les amoureux"
#14. "Massenet: Manon - Act II - Allons! Il le faut!"
#15. "Massenet: Manon - Act II - Adieu, notre petite table"
#16. "Massenet: Manon - Act II - En fermant les yeux..."

Disc two
#1. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 1 - C'est fete au Cours-la-Reine"
#2. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 1 - La charmante promenade"
#3. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 1 - A quoi bon l'economie"
#4. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 1 - Voici les elegantes!"
#5. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 1 - Je marche sur tous les chemins"
#6. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 1 - Obeissons quand leur voix appelle"
#7. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 1 - Oui, c'est Manon"
#8. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 1 - Pardon! Mais j'etais la"
#9. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 1 - Repondez moi, Guilllot!"
#10. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 1 - Ballet: Preambule 'La Presentation'"
#11. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 1 - 1ere Entree"
#12. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 1 - 2me Entree"
#13. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 1 - 3me Entree"
#14. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 1 - 4me Entree"
#15. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 2 - Le Parloir du seminaire..."
#16. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 2 - Quelle eloquence! L'admirable orateur!"
#17. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 2 - Epouse quelque brave fille"
#18. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 2 - Je suis seul! ....Ah! Fuyez, douce image...."
#19. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 2 - Pardonnez-moi, Dieu de toute puissance"
#20. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 2 - Toi! Vous!.... Oui! Je fus cruelle...."
#21. "Massenet: Manon - Act III - Scene 2 - N'est-ce plus ma main que cette main presse?"
#22. "Massenet: Manon - Act IV - L'Hotel de Transylvanie"
#23. "Massenet: Manon - Act IV - Le joueur san prudence livre tout au hazard"
#24. "Massenet: Manon - Act IV - A l'Hotel de Transylvanie"
#25. "Massenet: Manon - Act IV - C'est ici que celle que j'aime..."
#26. "Massenet: Manon - Act IV - C'est la belle Manon avec son chevalier"
#27. "Massenet: Manon - Act IV - Manon, sphinx etonnant...."
#28. "Massenet: Manon - Act IV - Ce bruit de... - A nous les amours et les roses!"
#29. "Massenet: Manon - Act IV - Oui, je viens t'arracher a la honte"
#30. "Massenet: Manon - Act V - Le Route du Havre"
#31. "Massenet: Manon - Act V - Manon, Pauvre Manon!"
#32. "Massenet: Manon - Act V - Capitaine, o gue, es tu fatigue"
#33. "Massenet: Manon - Act V - Tu pleures!"
#34. applause
#35. credits

Bizet - Carmen / Levine, Baltsa, Carreras, Metropolitan Opera

Metropolitan Opera Gala - James Levine's 25th Anniversary

Verdi - Nabucco / Ramey, Guleghina, Pons, White, Hughes Jones, Deshorties, Levine, Metropolitan Opera

Herbert Von Karajan - His Legacy for Home Video - Mozart - Don Giovanni

Herbert Von Karajan, Music Director of the Berlin Phiharmonic from 1956 until his death in 1989, is one of the pre-eminent musical figures of the century. He conducted some of the most technically precise, luxurious sounding recordings in all of classical music. The Karajan Legacy film series documents many of these definitive performances, were directed by Karajan, and are among his only digital recordings. The release of these films on DVD brings the superb artistry of this man to fuller expression than ever before. The wonderful opera "Don Giovanni" by Wolgang Amadeus Mozart is performed by Herbert Von Karajan with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring Samuel Ramey and Anna Tomowa-Sintow, recorded live July 1987 at the Salzburger Festspiele.

Boito - Mefistofele / Arena, Ramey, Benackova, San Francisco Opera

Arrigo Boito's treatment of the Faust legend has never been as popular as Gounod's, but Boito was an imaginative composer and a great librettist (he wrote the words for Verdi's Otello and Falstaff, the two finest librettos in Italian opera). As the title suggests, his Mefistofele puts the spotlight on the diabolical villain of the story at least as much as its hapless hero. It is a role ideally suited to Samuel Ramey, requiring a rich, deep voice, a striking stage presence, and only elementary acting skills. He has taken it to most of the world's great opera houses with spectacular success, and it is good to have it in a first-class video recording.

The libretto stands out, among operatic treatments of Faust, for its effort to capture the full, epic scope of Goethe's drama, including its moments of unearthly sublimity. The prologue and the conclusion are among opera's most memorable moments of choral grandeur, as this production makes clear. Elsewhere, Boito is witty, colorful, and, sometimes, philosophically dry. --Joe McLellan

Samuel Ramey won overwhelming critical acclaim for his performance in the San Francisco Opera's production of Boito's adaptation of Goethe's classic conflict of good versus evil, under the baton of Maurizio Arena.

Samuel Ramey: Mefistofele
Dennis O'Neill: Faust
Daniel Harper: Wagner
Emily Manhart: Pantalis
Douglas Wunsch: Nereo
Gabriela Benacková: Margherita/Elena
Judith Christin: Marta

Giuseppe Verdi - Macbeth / Nucci, Verrett, Riccardo Chailly, Teatro Comunale di Bologna (1987 film)

Claude D'Anna's film of Verdi's Macbeth is a gloomy affair, stressing the descent into madness of the principal villains. It's acted by the singers of the Decca recording of the opera (with two substitutions of actors standing in for singers) and the lip-synching is generally unobtrusive. The musical performance is superb, conducted by Riccardo Chailly with admirable fire, and sung by some of the leading lights of the opera stages of the 1980s. Shirley Verrett virtually owned the role of Lady Macbeth at the time, and she delivers a terrific performance, the voice equal to the role's wide register leaps and it's suffused with emotion, whether urging her husband on to murder or maddened by guilt in the Sleepwalking Scene. Leo Nucci's resonant Macbeth may lack the ultimate in vocal color and steadiness (his last notes of the great aria Pietà, rispetto, amore are wobbly) but he compensates with intensity in both singing and acting. Samuel Ramey's sonorous bass is the soundtrack Banquo, who's acted by Johan Leysen. Philip Volter is the actor playing Macduff to the brilliant tenor of Veriano Luchetti. So there's little to fault in this performance of a middle-period Verdi opera that's all too rarely done these days despite its Shakespearean pedigree and tuneful but dramatic score.

This film version was hailed in Europe when it was released, but some viewers may find it excessively gloomy while others will feel it suits the dark tale of ambition, crime, and madness. D'Anna's witches are primordial creatures first seen crawling out of the slime of a corpse-filled battlefield. Most of the film takes place in Macbeth's castle, shot in an actual 10th-century Belgian castle's subterranean series of rooms, armories, dungeons, and tunnels. Lady Macbeth's Letter Scene is filmed with Verrett wandering down staircases and through tunnels, all in long shots. Duncan's arrival is like a traveling circus troupe, preceded by a fire eater and a juggler, the king carried in a covered litter, only his hand emerging to be kissed by Macbeth and to stroke the head of the man about to murder him. Banquo's ghost is made visible, seated on Macbeth's throne during the debaucheries of the Banquet Scene.

These and other directorial choices are driven by D'Anna's personal vision of the play and the music, often taking his cue from the latter, as in Duncan's arrival which Verdi set to jaunty orchestral music. Others reflect his linkage of crime with the Macbeth couple's sexual dependence. But his vision of the narrative and of specific scenes doesn't violate Shakespeare's story or Verdi's opera, though there will be moments when sensitive viewers may prefer to glance away from the sheer ugliness of the witches or wonder why the singers occasionally turn their backs to the cameras in mid-aria. Much is explained though, in the 45-minute film on the second DVD on the making of the film in which the sheer physical obstacles of the project are explicated and the director's choices clarified. --Dan Davis

Stravinsky - The Rake's Progress / Lott, Goeke, Ramey, Elias, van Allan, Haitink, Glyndebourne Opera

Teatro La Scala - The 50th Anniversary of the Reopening of the Theater

Verdi - Attila / Ramey, Studer, Zancanaro, Kaludov, Gavazzi, Muti, La Scala Opera