Verdi Macbeth Chailly

Claude DAnnas film of Verdis Macbeth is a gloomy affair stressing the descent into madness of the principal villains Its acted by the singers of the Decca recording of the opera with two substitutions of actors standing in for singers and the lipsynching is generally unobtrusive The musical performance is superb conducted by Riccardo Chailly with admirable fire and sung by some of the leading lights of the opera stages of the 1980s Shirley Verrett virtually owned the role of Lady Macbeth at the time and she delivers a terrific performance the voice equal to the roles wide register leaps and its suffused with emotion whether urging her husband on to murder or maddened by guilt in the Sleepwalking Scene Leo Nuccis resonant Macbeth may lack the ultimate in vocal color and steadiness his last notes of the great aria Pietà rispetto amore are wobbly but he compensates with intensity in both singing and acting