This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players. Also available on standard DVD “Everything in this world is a joke,” says Falstaff, and these words are truly given weight by Ambrogio Maestri, one of the finest Falstaffs of our time. The Italian baritone brings a powerful, versatile voice to his role, but also brings to his character a hilarious buffo quality. Daniele Gatti, one of the most acclaimed opera conductors working today, leads a stunning cast of singers, including Barbara Frittoli as Alice Ford. Genuinely warm italianità in all of the music-making, combined with a boisterous production by stage director Sven-Eric Bechtolf, turns Verdi’s commedia lirica into a fireworks display of high spirits as well as what the Neue Zürcher Zeitung called “musically and dramaturgically a feast of life and of love of life”.
Giuseppe Verdi FALSTAFF
Sir John Falstaff – Ambrogio Maestri
Mrs Alice Ford – Barbara Frittoli
Ford – Massimo Cavalletti
Nannetta – Eva Liebau
Fenton – Javier Camarena
Mrs Quickly – Yvonne Naef
Dr Cajus – Patrizio Saudelli
Mrs Meg Page – Judith Schmid
Bardolfo – Martin Zysset
Robin – Domenic Gloor
Pistola – Davide Fersini
Zurich Opera House Chorus and Orchestra
(chorus master: Ernst Raffelsberger)
Daniele Gatti, conductor
Sven-Eric Bechtolf, stage director
Rolf Glittenberg, set designer
Marianne Glittenberg, costume designer
Jürgen Hoffmann, lighting designer
Recorded live from the Zurich Opera House, 2011
Picture format: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean
Booklet notes: English, German, French
Running time: 127 mins
No. of Discs: 1