Andrea Chénier
01/05/1985
Live from ROH 1985. Giordano's Andrea Chenier is one of the greatest of verismo operas, full of heart-stopping big tunes and powerful emotional situations. If it is not as well-known as it should be, it is because in summary it sounds a little too like Puccini's Tosca: there is a tussle between political opponents over a woman, an attempt to save a condemned man, a tenor aria about writing poetry on the eve of execution. The difference is that Gerard (Giorgio Zancanaro) is not a villain like Scarpia, he is an idealist whom the French Revolution has betrayed as much as it has his rival the poet Chenier (Placido Domingo). His temptation to abuse his power to seduce the virtuous Maddalena (Anna Tomowa-Sintow) is a momentary one, though its consequences are terrible. There is a streak of post-Wagnerian decadence in much of this--Maddalena is at least as much in love with death as she is with Chenier, and the final love duet has a deeply sinister aspect. -- From Amazon.co.uk
Movie Information
Plácido Domingo
as Andrea Chénier
Anna Tomowa-Sintow
as Maddalena di Coigny
Giorgio Zancanaro
as Carlo Gérard
Jonathan Summers
as Roucher
Cynthia Buchan
as Bersi
John Dobson
as Incredible
Roderick Earle
as Dumas
Eric Garrett
as Gaoler
John Gibbs
as Major Domo
Patricia Johnson
as Contessa di Coigny
Rodney Macann
as Mathieu
Alexander Oliver
as Abbé
Gordon Sandison
as Fléville
Anny Schlemm
as Madelon
Julius Rudel
as Conductor
