Corelli in Scenes (LIVE)
From: $9.95
Corelli in Scenes from Don Carlo, Bohème and Aïda plus TV Interview and Songs, with Janowitz, Ligabue, Cossotto, Freni and Nilsson.
Live. 50m. Packaged in a black sleeve. Color.
NTSC VHS ONLY
Video quality of interview and songs is poor, but the rest is OK or better. The opening phrase of “Che gelida manina” is missing–but he holds the high B a very long time.
“Although not in pristine condition, this remains one of the most important tapes in my collection. Corelli is emotive and impassioned in operatic love scenes from my favorite operas, and he is gorgeous and winsome in an interview with Nilsson.
“The Act I scene from La bohème with Freni is thrilling, for Corelli’s superb acting skills and masculine beauty are shown to best advantage. Musically, he is in excellent voice and wonderfully expressive. In the final act of Don Carlo he takes Elisabetta’s hand, his voice bursting with passion as he looks into her eyes. That’s what women swooned over in the old days–and still do. And Aïda. Imagine dying with Franco Corelli!
“Perhaps someday there will be another tenor who will tear out my emotional insides while giving me a complete catharsis and then magically put me back together again. I pray this will happen. I doubt it will. There is just one Corelli.”–Corelli fanatic Diana Browne, New York, NY
“I find the video quality of the ‘Corelli in Scenes from Don Carlo . . .‘ (#087) anything but OK throughout, and Ms. Diana Browne’s description of the tape as being not in pristine condition seems like a model of understatement. And yet, I am grateful for not having been forewarned out of acquiring the priceless gem which the video nevertheless is.”–Yoshio Nakanishi, Tokyo, Japan