Domingo, Placido

Three Tenors: In Concert

Puccini - Turandot / Franco Zeffirelli - Marton, Domingo, Mitchell, Plishka, Cuenod - James Levine, MET (1988)

The Berlin Concert - Live from Waldbuhne

Sparks fly in this video of the all-star concert from Berlin's equivalent of the Hollywood Bowl in July 2006, part of the World Cup festivities. The electricity is generated by the all-star trio of tenors Placido Domingo and Rolando Villazon and soprano Anna Netrebko in a program of operatic and vocal favorites. The crowd estimated at 20,000 eats it all up, and so will home viewers who'll relish the prospect of great singers performing great music.

Domingo is his usual self, still remarkable at an age when most tenors have called it quits. He sings with intensity and a voice undimmed by the passing of time. Domingo's duets with his partners are notable for his acute phrasing, the highlights being the first-act love duet from Verdi's Otello with Netrebko's gorgeous lyric Desdemona and the ravishing duet with Villazon from Bizet's The Pearlfishers, in which he takes on the baritone role. Netrebko seems slightly stiff at first but loosens up as the evening progresses, but she's in excellent voice, with luminous pianissimos most sopranos wish they could emulate. Her Puccini arias are beautifully sung, and she even offers a Franz Lehar aria and a charmingly accented duet, "Tonight," from West Side Story with Villazon. But if anyone can be said to steal the show it's Villazon, a singer in perpetual motion, who brings the house down with a version of Rossini's La Danza full of dash and brio. There's a lot more, from Spanish songs to arrangements of the Brindisi from La traviata and Lehar's featuring all three singers, with the tenors dividing their lines between to woo the soprano. These are part of the scintillating encore set--good fun that has the audience panting for more.

Expert accompaniments are by the Orchestra of the Deutschen Opera of Berlin under the baton of conductor Marco Armiliato, who also offers several well-shaped operatic overtures and intermezzos and joins in the fun during the unbuttoned encores. Too bad the video direction doesn't match the on-stage proceedings. The production team apparently suffers from camera nervosa, the cameras swooping above the scene, then to floor level, now up, now down, now in close-up, now in long shot, searching for novelty while distracting from the music. There are also misjudged cuts, jumps, and angles. This hyperactivity doesn't seriously mar enjoyment but it is a blemish on a terrific concert. --Dan Davis

Verdi - Aida / Levine, Domingo, Millo, Metropolitan Opera

Puccini - Tosca / Kabaivanska, Domingo, Milnes, Luccardi, Mariotti, Bartoletti

Opera is an inherently theatrical medium that does not lend itself readily to the realism of film treatment. The shining exception is Puccini's Tosca, an action-packed melodrama that unfolds in three taut and gripping acts like the meatiest of Hollywood films noir. And unlike most operas, these three acts are set in three very specific Roman locales. Thus this 1976 film takes place in the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle (Act 1), the Palazzo Farnese (Act 2), and the Castel Sant'Angelo (Act 3). The evocative settings, however, would be mere window-dressing if the cast wasn't just right. Fortunately Plácido Domingo is at his virile peak in the heroic tenor role of Cavaradossi; Raina Kabaivanska is a sultry, vocally beautiful Tosca; and a more infamous and domineering Scarpia than that of Sherrill Milnes can hardly be imagined. Bruno Bartoletti and the New Philharmonia Orchestra give lustily dramatic support. Here the music and vocals are prerecorded and the singers mime to the playback. Occasionally the result is a little unnatural, but overall the cast members are good enough actors to bring off the conceit even in the close-ups. It all pays off triumphantly with the gripping realism of the rooftop finale, the one place where film can improve on stage. With the authenticity of the settings assured and such distinguished leads singing so well, this is an almost ideal filmed Tosca. --Mark Walker

Leoncavallo - I Pagliacci / Mascagni - Cavalleria Rusticana / Domingo, Stratas, Pons, Bruson, Obraztsova, Pretre

The La Scala Opera Collection / Adriana Lecouvreur, Lucia di Lammermoor, Cosi fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, Lo Frate 'Nnamorato, La Fanciulla del West, La Donna del Lago, William Tell, Attila, I Due Foscari, I Vespri Siciliani

Verdi - Otello / Domingo, Fleming, Morris, Croft, Levine, Moshinsky, Metropolitan Opera

The 3 Tenors in Concert 1994 / William Cosel

The three greatest operatic tenors of the day - Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti - reunite for this 1994 concert commemorating soccer's World Cup Championships. Features the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orche stra, directed by Zubin Mehta. Certified over 5 million units by the RIAA.

Puccini - Madama Butterfly

Of all Puccini's major operas, the intimate tragedy of Madama Butterfly is least in need of elaborate staging and might therefore benefit most from the close scrutiny of film. The story is domestic, the setting Spartan, the incidental characters kept to a minimum. This 1974 version, however, demonstrates that Butterfly still needs a healthy injection of proscenium arch melodrama. Director Jean-Pierre Ponelle's production strives for realism but remains unfortunately studio-bound, having neither the benefit of location filming nor the heightened reality of an opera stage. The exterior is a perpetually fog-shrouded heath of indeterminate locale; the interior is cramped and unadorned. The setting is just too prosaic to contain the epic emotions of grand opera.

Thankfully, the cast is a superb one, headed by Plácido Domingo's rakish Pinkerton and Mirella Freni's rubicund Butterfly. Their singing is incomparable, as is Herbert von Karajan's musical direction of the Vienna Philharmonic. The singers mime to prerecorded music, which is occasionally disconcerting since when film demands close-ups, opera provides broad gestures. Musically, this Butterfly is impeccable. Visually it adds nothing that could not be seen to better effect in a stage version. --Mark Walker