As one of Verdi’s early works, (it was staged in 1846 just prior to Macbeth) Attila has not always been received particularly well. However, what we see in this DVD is a full blooded Italian opera with some thrilling music and effective dramatic highlights. If some of the music is familiar it may be that it has come to you through Charles Mackerras’ resourceful ballet score for The Lady and the Fool, where he drafted music from Verdi’s lesser known operas to great effect.

There are some seven versions on CD, four on DVD; the one to beat appears to be from La Scala under Riccardo Muti, with Cheryl Studer and Samuel Ramey. Even though this production from the Mariinsky is excellent, La Scala’s production and soloists are superior. Abdrazakov’s Attila is very good, until compared to Ramey’s splendid savage. Markarova fields a fiery Odabella, the woman who (in this opera) kills Attila in the final scene, but Studer simply wipes the floor with her at La Scala. In the part of the knight, Foretso, both Skorokhodov in this performance and Kaludi Kaludov at La Scala acquit themselves well. Mariinsky’s Pope Leo (Addikeyev) is piously wet.

The character of Attila has been muddied by time; most accounts are from the Romans, who could hardly be relied upon to give a fair account. Curiously, Verdi choses to treat the man surprisingly sympathetically. Both conductors turn in compelling interpretations but the La Scala orchestra is superior, and the chorus is certainly more impressive. The Russian production comes over as cheap by comparison.

Although the Russians manage it better than most, I’m inclined to call for a moratorium on taping close ups of opera choruses in stage performances. Most of them are simple actors at best and once the camera gets too close they can look like stunned mullets. Both performances, however, reveal a splendid and unjustly neglected opera.