Puro Gayardo - DVD

Judy Garland and Robert Goulet lend their voices to a pair of star-crossed cats in this delightful, musical, romantic adventure. It's 1890 in France. Young feline Mewsette (Garland) announces to Jaune Tom (Goulet), the cat who truly loves her, the she is leaving the farm and boarding the next train to Paris. But once in the City of Lights, the naive Mewsette is easy prey for the devious Meowrice (Paul Frees) and his nefarious plan to ma

A jewel of bel canto, and Bellini's last masterpice, I Puritani encapsulates every major theme held dear by the Italian romantic generation a love triangle, quid pro quos, a shattered love affair leading to madness, set in Cromwell's England with it's lot of political rivalries. It is also an ode to resistance and to freedom, echoing the political struggles that the Italian peninsula was facing in the 1830's. But it is mainly a testament to Bellini's unique musical brand, a genius combination of melodic brightness, post-rossinian ornaments, and a profound and melancolic lamento that owes much to traditional Neapolitan songs. It is therefore one of the most vocally demanding opera of the repertoire, and to face this challenge, the Teatro Real of Madrid called on four exceptional singers the great diva Diana Damrau is Elvira, Javier Camarena is Arturo (both triumphed at the Metropolitan Opera of New York in the same opera in early 2017), as well as baritone Ludovic Tezier and bass-baritone Nicolas Teste. Catalan director Emilio Sagi offers a staging both elegant and simple, and bel canto expert Evelinò Pido, along with the Teatro Real Orchestra and Chorus, brings forth every nuance of this immense and unforgettable score.

I puritani is one of Bellini's most creative and influential masterpieces, a bel canto opera stamped with vocal and orchestral writing of intoxicating beauty and dramatic intensity. Set in England in the Civil War shortly before Oliver Cromwell's triumph, it involves romantic and political intrigues that drew from Bellini music of melodic raptness and melancholic depth. It also inspired him to compose some of his most breathtakingly virtuosic passages, notably Elvira's Mad Scene, that call for the utmost in theatrical power. This production includes all the music performed at the work's Paris premiere.