Metropolitan Opera, The: The Ernani (1983) Rating: Starring: Charles Anthony, Jean Kraft, Sherill Milnes, Leona Mitchell, Luciano Pavarotti, Ruggero Raimondi, Richard Vernon Director: Kirk Browning Category: Music, Special Interest Studio: Pioneer Studios Subtitles: English Length: 142 mins Want to buy?           "The stellar cast…responds magnificently.The Met has rarely sounded better."-John J. O'Connor, The New York Times No opera is more romantic than Giuseppe Verdi's Ernani. Three rivals risk everything for a hot-blooded woman, plotting abductions, hatching conspiracies, swearing fatal oaths. This 1983 Metropolitan Opera production brought together a superb cast of singers, well able to take on the challenge of Verdi's searing music. In the title role Luciano Pavarotti's voice "rang like the clarion trumpet…its familiar brightness and silvery texture flowing effortlessly through the house."As Elvira, Leona Mitchell's singing "filled the house gloriously," while Sherill Milnes spun out "Don Carlo's music with tonal beauty and suave refinement," and Ruggero Raimondi gave a "solid performance musically and dramatically." "Conductor James Levine dictated an aboundingly vital energy that kept the orchestra's rhythm prancing." This presentation was made on December 12 and 17, 1983.