Verdi

High quality biography! A fantastic, historical, well researched super production. Castellani did a very good job on biography and cinematographic art. The casting is excellent and Ronald Pickup is perfect as Verdi. The musical selection is also superior, and the performance of the interpreters are first class. Very good and famous voices are singing its preferred parts. The operatic performances are well cut. A rich scenario and also a nice review of the theatrical background technology at Verdi's time could be seen on the sunrise in "I Lombardi", the waves and the storms in "Otello", and in waterfalls. They are superb. For Verdi lovers it's a must, but also for non initiates it will be delightful. May be Giuseppina is a little to subservient and a bit away from a real woman. Also the final scenes are a little to long. By the way, the name of the opera is Rigoletto and not Rigaletto.

At this point I have watched only two of the seven episodes but I am questioning my decision to buy this series. Even allowing for the fact it was done in 1982, the production values are mediocre. Both the audio and video quality on the 4 DVD set are poor.They appear to be dubs from the original VHS. The performances become incidental rather than the highlights they should be. Worst of all is the dubbed in English sound track which gives the whole thing an artificial quality. It is like watching a radio program. I'll slog through the rest of it and may amend this review if it improves. But I am not optimistic. One positive is that the series is historically accurate both in the story line and the occasionally inserted voice over narration. But if that's all I had wanted, I would have bought a book.

Ronald Pickup brings opera composer Verdi to life.

It's only fitting that the two greatest (arguably) opera composers of the nineteenth century have duelling, operatic biopics.

Okay, age-ists, crawl out if your caves and surrender! In "Wagner" Richard Burton gives the performance of his life. He was born to play Wagner and he's supported by some great English actors who were marquee names of stage and screen. "Wagner" also has a fantasy feel, as if Wagner were one of his own heroes. Perhaps, in his mind, he was.

While Ronald Pickup is equally well-chosen to play Verdi, his name lacks Burton's across-the-pond resonance. I'd seen lots of movies with the guy and never noticed him until this miniseries highlighted him for me.

"Verdi" is more down to Earth than "Wagner." It doesn't have that ethereal feel the other biopic gives the German. And since Verdi is an Italian hero the series is filled with Italian actors who are dubbed for us Englush speakers, which makes their lips look a bit rubbery and unnatural.

Both "Wagner" and "Verdi" have narration to help the novice understand what's going on. Most of us aren't Verdi experts, after all. Even the shorter, story-driven "Amadeus" had narration. While narration in "Wagner" is subtly done by a minor character who may not be altogether trustworthy, "Verdi" in its English incarnation has no-bones-about-it narration by American actor Burt Lancaster, and he's just fine.

'Verdi" isn't an Oscar-worthy flick; nor is it an operatic fantasy. It's a straightforward retelling of the life of Verdi (so far as I know) for those of us who appreciate the background material.

But whether "Wagner" or "Verdi" what's most important is the music.

The life of someone who created visuals, drama, sounds, cannot be conveyed in a book. Picked this up second hand, and glad I did. This is a remarkable telling of the story of Verdi, his music, his place in history. It has no dragons, and shows well what passed for special effects in the 19th century. (Millennials beware, you have to think) It is intelligent, and contains both much information but also conveys a very different time, and does require an attention span. The audio and video quality is pure 1982, but thankfully, this wonderful series has been preserved and is available. A creative genius whose work resonates today.

An absolute treasure for opera enthusiasts and fans of Verdi(the Sutherland, Bergonzi and Merrill recording of La Traviata was my first complete Verdi listen 10 years ago and I've been a fan since). Not quite as grand as the series on Wagner from the same time-frame, plus Richard Burton gives a performance of a life-time, but Verdi's style, his life and him as a person may be much more accessible. Am a fan of Wagner's music, but he was known as a terrible man(Youtube users never let people forget how he was an Anti-Semetic bigot) and Parsifal especially is exhausting for a first time viewer. Personally first exposure was through the 1983 film of the opera which was admittedly rather too heavy on the symbolism so that could have something to do with it.

Getting onto the point, there is very little wrong with this series. There is however some sloppy dubbing and Burt Lancaster's narration can overbear things(some of his mispronunciations are annoying too). The rest however is fabulous. It is very sumptuously mounted and the photography matches that quality. Nobody really needs to say how good Verdi's music is, fans will argue that his music is some of the best of the entire opera medium, I for one share that opinion. It's even greater when the singing is so good, from some of the best singers ever to sing his music, Pavarotti, Tebaldi, Callas and Nilsson are immediately recognisable and sound incredible.

Verdi is intelligently written, sensitively staged with no over-doing. The composer's story is fascinating and is told in an absorbing way, a way that also shows great enthusiasm for the subject. Any important parts are not skimmed over and have their impact. Ronald Pickup's Verdi is note-perfect and Carla Fracci matches him in a nuanced performance. All the roles are well-done and don't fall into caricature- and it is easy to do that- too much. Overall, an outstanding series that is deserving of a much better DVD release, the Kultur version doesn't really do it justice. 9/10 Bethany Cox