Verdi:Aida [Kristin Lewis; Marco Berti; Anita Rachvelishvili; Mark S. Doss; Orchestra Teatro Regio Torino, Gianandrea Noseda] [C Major Entertainment: 736908] [DVD] [2016] [NTSC]

Aida sums up all that Verdi had achieved, combining the strengths of Italian opera with that of French Grand opera, basically near the end of his second period. The Scenery by Stage director Luca Ronconi is super traditional, which makes those new to this opera understand why it is so well regarded. This production has Desert Scenes, faces of Pharaohs, Slaves pulling blocks of stone, being whipped, the Grand march with all that goes with it and the costumes are of the Egyptian period.I owned this once on Video, so I know this production very well. Aida has a great cast with Maria Chiara as Aida, with her luscious soprano. Radames is Luciano Pavarotti, with his beautiful voice and at his peak in 1985. Amneris Ghena Dimitrova mezzo makes a lot of her part, backed by the strong voices of Juan Pons and Nicolai Ghiaurov. The orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Alla Scala is conducted by Lorin Maazel, who brings this opera to life with his swift tempi and deep insight into Verdi. This is possibly one of the finest Aida's recorded live for TV, with these great singers at the peak of the form and Maazel on fire.However, I must point out the following, this is 4.3 picture format and has a black space each side of the picture. Usually on DVD I can make the picture fill my 42 inch wide screen, but this does not happen with this 4.3 bluray. Possibly if you have this years version of a bluray machine it might do the trick. The sound and colour is certainly better then the video I owned. This time it has English subtitles.When the Bluray is played after a few shorts of opera available on Bluray, a picture appears with the languages available. If it is English you want, pull the box from the picture with your remote and a line will appear beneath. Pull the line up to the box and press enter, Aida will now begin.Aida comes in a cardboard folder with details about the history of Aida and this production.PCM STEREO. SUBTITLES: English, German, French, Spanish, Netherlands. Region: Worldwide. 1080i High Definition.

Have just received this disc. As other reviews pointed out the screen format is 4:3 which means there are two large black strips on either side.I have quite a few versions of Aida in DVD, Blu Ray and CD's.To my taste the best production is Levine's starring Placido Domingo as Radames and Aprile Millo as Aida. Unfortunately I cannot find this disc in improved Blu Ray format. The sheer number of people in this production is staggering. I thoroughly recommend this even if it not in Blu Ray.How I wish the Met would try to reissue it in the newer format as Arthus have done with this 1966 production.Pavarotti's voice was at its peak and La Scala's audience reaction to his Celeste Aida aria at the beginning of Act 1 is wonderful to hear. The stereo PCM sound sounds much improved through my Yamaha sound bar.

The copy says 4.3 format which I understand to be the square format for TV then. But I played the disc in the 16.9 format on my set it came out larger, atlhough with the black bars still appeared on the sides. And the proportions stayed in the same. Nobody came out wider as is usually the case when a format in 4.3 is played in a 16.9 The caveat is to play with the formats and you might be in for a surprise. I wonder what would happen if I played it in a format to fill my entire screen? But of course, the performances were superb! First time I saw nudity in Aida though.

Really good lead singers and great to hear Pavarotti when in full flight

Very poor visual quality (despite claiming to be a blu-ray). Also, you have to sit through a trailer, no set-up directions, wooden production, and after the arias interminable applause from the famously self-important Scala audience. Singing is good, otherwise terrible.

GREAT JOB!!!

Pavarotti ist grandios