I thought the production itself was stunning, the update to the Victorian era worked perfectly, as indeed it was a time when inheritance was still a major social concern for the aristocratic classes. I think it made it more interesting in terms of being staged as a ‘ghost story’, given Victorian ideas about fallen women, insanity, mental health and the world of spirits.

As for the oft-savaged photographer in the sextet – pure genius. Absolute genius. Having seen it staged that way, I cannot possibly begin to imagine it being done any other way. Everything being sung in that sextet is the internal thought of the character (eg Enrico asking himself why he is so restrained from vengeance) and it makes PERFECT sense that whilst thinking these thoughts, they would be going through the motions of the wedding ceremony. How else do you stage that scene? I have seen it performed with characters just standing and singing to themselves – are we to believe that the action of the wedding just stopped while people became introspective for several minutes? Who cares if it raised laughter from the audience. I wasn’t laughing because it was necessarily funny, I laughed because I thought it was witty, clever and inspired.

Now, how DARE you criticise Mary Zimmerman for that and allow yourselves to praise Netrebko for what was, in reality, a very poor first act. Her singing in the first act was nearly as sharp as the knife she yielded in the third. SNAP!! Give me Natalie Dessay ANYTIME.

Lastly, how about we all get some perspective and stop criticising the way the HD broadcasts are filmed. If you want to see it the way you would see it as an audience member, why not get a god-damned ticket and sit in the audience. I personally LOVE the artistry of the filming, the different angles and perspectives, and the cinematic feeling. I am grateful for the opportunity to see them, I won’t criticise the cinema before I criticise the singers.

Rant completed.

Piotr Beczala’s singing was solid and fine. Overall, I would give him a B+ for too much sliding up to the high notes, and artificially dramatizing passages in his last aria. Not bad, but not perfect. I was really surprised that audience gave a louder ovation to Beczala than to Netrebko who was beyond excellence! Thanks for the lovely review!

The camera work for most of these HD operas has been awkward at best. Too often, we are slammed with close-ups (which you aptly describe above) and have no opportunity to see the interesting staging as it is meant to be seen, as a whole. La Damnation de Faust and Orfeo ed Euridice were both botched.

I enjoyed the vigor of the performances in Lucia, especially the scene in which Edgardo and Enrico are singing full force at each other expressing their intent to kill each other. These singers gave their all.

The last two songs of the opera are my favorites. Beczala did them justice. He may not have the ability to be tender while strong that Pavarotti did, but he was secure with all the notes, and sang his heart out.

The ghosts were silly, and I didn’t even recognize Netrebko as a ghost. Her character is dead then; that scene is supposed to be all about Edgardo, and the ghost was trying to usurp it, so I tried not to look at her.

Maybe syringes were in use in the late 19th century, but dosing Lucia with laudanum would have been more correct for the times.

Even so, the beauty and force of the singing in this HD opera performance made it a winner despite all the interference from the production.