Marilyn Horne: A Portrait DVD

As one of America's most treasured and delightful opera singers, mezzo soprano Marilyn Horne was justly lauded in this 1994 profile, originally made for the South Bank Show arts programme. At work as one of the finest bel canto singers of the 20th century or at rest looking poignantly back at her career--the making of the film coincided with her 60th birthday--Horne is splendid company. She was born with singing in her blood, trying her hand at everything from the church choir to jingles, pirate pop singles--she did a mean Kay Starr impersonation--and supplying a singing... voice for Dorothy Dandridge in the 1954 film of Carmen Jones before embarking on a career as a classical artist. Horne effectively learned her trade during four years at Gelsenkirchen, going on to form a legendary singing partnership with Joan Sutherland and blazing a trail for the mezzo soprano roles--Arsace in Semiramide has been her signature--through the world's greatest opera houses. But for all her success, Horne has retained a down-to-earth openness which permeates this documentary and has rendered her equally at home on the recital stage or in grand opera costume. She speaks with simple brilliance about the singer's technique and about her desire to broaden the appeal of opera. A fascinating portrait of one hell of a dame. On the DVD: At just 52 minutes, the original programme is too short to do Horne full justice. Even so, the film is packed with enough archive footage to whet the appetite of the novice fan. The sound format is Dolby Digital 2.0--adequate enough to do justice to Horne's extraordinary range and genius for ornamentation, and the picture format can be adjusted from the standard 4:3 to 1.78:1 although both do little more than replicate the look and feel of the original television transmission. Detailed booklet notes compensate for the lack of extras on the DVD itself--a biography or career chronology would have been more than handy. --Piers Ford [show more]

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