OPERA 'Don Carlo' competes on DVD with La Scala, Met productions

One performer hits a bad high note on the Met version.
By JOSEPH McLELLAN
SPECIAL TO WASHINGTON POST
Luciano Pavarotti first sang the title role of Verdi's "Don Carlo" fairly late in his career, in 1992 at La Scala. This production has a special place in operatic folklore because one evening the tenor hit a bad note and the La Scala audience booed him off the stage. Naturally, microphones were present, and bootleg tapes of this moment were soon circulating briskly wherever opera is cherished.
That production has now made its way to DVD (EMI, two discs), but don't look for that legendary moment in this edition; live performances can be edited as easily as studio work. In fact, Pavarotti is a standout vocally, although -- as happened so often in his career -- he is not quite visually appropriate.
No matter; the lavish staging by Franco Zeffirelli provides all the visual stimulation one could ask, particularly in the slightly sadomasochistic auto-da-fe scene. The other vocal standout is Samuel Ramey, singing the role of King Philip. His stage presence is a bit stiff, but that works well in this role. The rest of the cast is expert if not particularly distinguished, and the La Scala chorus and orchestra, under Riccardo Muti, are brilliant as usual.
Other edition
The major competing edition on DVD is from the Metropolitan Opera, with James Levine conducting and Placido Domingo in the title role leading an all-star cast on the Pioneer label. The most important difference is that the Met production opens with Verdi's original Act 1, beautifully staged. This is the thematically potent if not quite essential Fontainebleau scene, in which Carlo meets and falls in love with the woman who will become his stepmother. Domingo hits a bad high note, but the Met audience is more polite than La Scala's, and the small lapse is preserved for posterity.
With the Fontainebleau scene, the opera is very long (and expensive to produce). Verdi left it out of a revised edition used by most conductors, including Muti. But it is exquisite, and on a recording it can be skipped by people in a hurry.