DESCRIPTION:
Edita Gruberova, Pavol Breslik, Franco Vassallo, Alice Coote, Steven Humes, Chor der Bayerischen Staatsoper, Andrés Máspero (chorus master)
Bayerisches Staatsorchester Gregor Raquet, Stage Music Director
Bertrand de Billy

Once again Loy has created the happiest of marriages between a role and it's interpreter, and Edita Gruberova faces up to the manifold demands of this difficult part with uncompromising assurance, relying on her phenomenal technique, her radiant top notes, the fullness of her middle register, her exceptional breath control, her subtle coloratura and her incomparable crescendos starting out from the softest of pianissimos. Even harsher, whiter sounds are used for expressive ends and are fully integrated into her multilayered portrait of the role (Neue Zürcher Zeitung). This acclaimed new production of Lucrezia Borgia from the Bavarian State Opera is supplemented by a fascinating portrait of the soprano Edita Gruberova, the prima donna assoluta of bel canto. In addition to rehearsal footage from Lucrezia Borgia, the film shows Gruberova in the title role of Norma and as Elisabetta in Roberto Devereux as well as in other archival recordings of great historical interest.

http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=2072458