Romeo And Juliet - Charles Gounod Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

Romeo & Juliet

This is very faithful to Shakespeare but though there is some enjoyable music, especially the first solo by Juliet, somehow this opera doesn't really grab me and I am fairly easily grabbed by opera. One wonders why Verdi never had a go at Romeo and Juliet, I'd have thought it would have brought out his best, but maybe it's just too difficult a story for really moving music. This actual version is wonderful to look at, I tend to enjoy cinema versions of opera, and the two lead singers are terrific so it is a shame that the music doesn't manage to reach the peaks. But still worth watching.

Abysmal

What a shame? I know this opera so well, but this version is horrible. The cuts are swingeing - especially both weddings, the first of which is one of the most beautiful parts of the opera. The cutting of the section in which le Duc exiles Roméo not only makes the story incomprehensible, but cuts the second most beautiful part of the opera. I cannot believe this vandalism. Even if none of that applied, Gheorghiu is the wrong soprano, her voice is heavy and not suited to the piece. Neither Alagna or Gheorghiu looks the part they are both much too grown up to be Shakespeare‘s ingénues. Miserable stuff.