Opera (dramma lirico) in 4 acts
Libretto: Arrigo Boito [Based:William Shakespeare: Othello]
First performance: February 5, 1887, Teatro alla Scala, Milan
Recorded: 1973, Berlin
This film, directed by Herbert von Karajan himself and taped at a studio in Berlin in 1973, is based on a Salzburg Festival production
Jon Vickers was hailed by the press for his Otello, arguably his greatest role - as critic David Cairns puts it: "Vickers commands both the notes and the moral grandeur of the part . . . And he has the aura of greatness- greatness of heart, of bearing, of musical and dramatic conception"
Mirella Freni is a heartbreakingly lovely and fragile Desdemona, while English baritone Peter Glossop is an "unusually powerful" Iago, The Times said Under the strong musical and theatrical direction of Karajan, this Otello is an ultimate approach to one of Verdi's most thrilling operas |
[ NTSC ]