Opera on DVD

Started by uffeviking, April 08, 2007, 12:54:48 AM

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Haffner

Quote from: Brünnhilde forever on January 06, 2009, 06:48:47 AM
Somehow Claudio Abbado turned those Wagner overtures into a rousing New Year's celebration! Andy, have you ever heard the Ride of the Walküres performed like that? Perfect way to send audience, listeners and watchers off into a New Year.   :D


I was mightily rocked by both the Ride... and the Tannhauser Ouverture. Abbado was completely devastating throughout. When this is released on 5.1 sound dvd, we will both be tearing our roofs off.

Wanderer

I've sampled sections of Rautavaara's Rasputin yesterday and will probably listen to/watch the whole opera later today or tomorrow (or during the weekend:-). One word of caution, though, regarding the Ondine DVD: whereas it is claimed that there is a PCM stereo track, that is not the case. Except for the Dolby Digital 5.1 track, there's a 2-channel track which is also encoded in Dolby Digital (i.e. compressed) and both have a bitrate of 448 kbps. I'm surprised that no review (to my knowledge) has identified this. Of course, there's no perceivable defect in the audio tracks (they do sound gorgeous) but this is still below standard CD quality, not to mention a rather annoying case of (unintended?) misinformation on the part of Ondine. Anyway, just wanted to let people know about this. The work itself has received for the most part very positive reviews and even from my limited exposure to certain parts of it I can see why.  :)

DavidRoss

Wagner, Ring, Levine/Met DVD

Suffering through 15 hours of this over the past several days proved more challenging than I expected.  Except for the first two acts of Siegfried, which move slowly but hurtle along in comparison to the rest of this sprawling, shamelessly self-indulgent monument to vanity, all of the drama inherent in the story is dissipated by the ponderous lethargy of Wagner's text, staging, and music. 

Now I understand why Wotan torches Valhalla:  he can't stand another minute of this tedious claptrap and just wants the damned thing to be over!
"Maybe the problem most of you have ... is that you're not listening to Barbirolli." ~Sarge

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." ~Margaret Thatcher

Guido

Quote from: DavidRoss on April 20, 2009, 06:34:15 AM
Wagner, Ring, Levine/Met DVD

Suffering through 15 hours of this over the past several days proved more challenging than I expected.  Except for the first two acts of Siegfried, which move slowly but hurtle along in comparison to the rest of this sprawling, shamelessly self-indulgent monument to vanity, all of the drama inherent in the story is dissipated by the ponderous lethargy of Wagner's text, staging, and music. 

Now I understand why Wotan torches Valhalla:  he can't stand another minute of this tedious claptrap and just wants the damned thing to be over!

Are you criticising the piece or the performance?
Geologist.

The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away

DavidRoss

Quote from: Guido on April 20, 2009, 06:39:13 AM
Are you criticising the piece or the performance?
Isn't it obvious? 

Re. the performance:  Morris as Wotan and Zednik as Mime were excellent, I thought, both vocally and as actors, and Jerusalem performed reasonably well as Siegfried though to me he seemed miscast in a part calling for a headstrong young hero.  Levine & the orchestra seemed fine--as Randy Jackson might say, "It was just aw-right for me, dawg."

For me the problem is how to critique performances in roles so inherently turgid and dull.  How can a performer be expected to breathe life into a role when the writer/composer's incompetence cripples the effort from the outset by creating characters so stillborn that calling them "cardboard" would be flattery?  ...and when most situations with the potential for drama are undercut by vapid, repetitive text interrupted by pointless musical interludes that bring what little action there is to a standstill?

Wagner's Ring, like everything else by him that I know, is like Gertrude Stein's Oakland:  there is no there there.  Grand ideas do not of themselves make great art; they must be competently realized...and in this Wagner fails spectacularly.

"Maybe the problem most of you have ... is that you're not listening to Barbirolli." ~Sarge

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." ~Margaret Thatcher

nut-job

Quote from: DavidRoss on April 20, 2009, 07:40:17 AM
Isn't it obvious? 

Re. the performance:  Morris as Wotan and Zednik as Mime were excellent, I thought, both vocally and as actors, and Jerusalem performed reasonably well as Siegfried though to me he seemed miscast in a part calling for a headstrong young hero.  Levine & the orchestra seemed fine--as Randy Jackson might say, "It was just aw-right for me, dawg."

For me the problem is how to critique performances in roles so inherently turgid and dull.  How can a performer be expected to breathe life into a role when the writer/composer's incompetence cripples the effort from the outset by creating characters so stillborn that calling them "cardboard" would be flattery?  ...and when most situations with the potential for drama are undercut by vapid, repetitive text interrupted by pointless musical interludes that bring what little action there is to a standstill?

Wagner's Ring, like everything else by him that I know, is like Gertrude Stein's Oakland:  there is no there there.  Grand ideas do not of themselves make great art; they must be competently realized...and in this Wagner fails spectacularly.



I agree to a point, particularly about the lack of dramatic force in the text.  I am constantly mystified that Wagner nuts will rail on and on about how profound the story of the Ring is, and how it is dramatically necessary for Wotan to stop and retell the entire story every three hours or so.  (We need to know it from his perspective, they'll explain)  To me it seems like a garbled fairy tale that doesn't make any sense.   But it is worth it to me for the music.  Rheingold is the best of it.  It is a mistake, I'd say, to try to listen to the entire thing at once. 

Anne

Dave, have you been able to discern any motifs in the music?  Some are identified with a person, for example, the giants' stomping motif.  When they talk or someone mentions one, the motif will appear in the music.  There are 20+ in Das Rheingold alone.  Motifs can also be associated with an idea.  Recognizing the motifs enriches the listening experience.  It took me one whole summer to locate those in Das Rheingold.  Maybe this coming summer I'll try to find them in Die Walkure.

I just had a thought!  Maybe we could identify the motifs as a group project.  Once I locate one, I like to note it in the libretto right next to the words spoken as the motif is played and/or sung.

DavidRoss

Yes, Anne, I'm familiar with Wagner's use of musical themes others have called "leitmotivs."  To me his use of them is often heavy-handed, rather like Brian De Palma's warm light and soft focus in The Untouchables whenever Costner's Elliot Ness is with his family.  If you'd like to learn more about them, there are several websites with samples and detailed information, such as this one.
"Maybe the problem most of you have ... is that you're not listening to Barbirolli." ~Sarge

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." ~Margaret Thatcher

Anne

Thanks, Dave.  I try to help you and you end up helping me.   :D

Cato

In one of Alma Mahler's books, she recounts a tale about Bruckner watching either Tristan or Götterdämmerung at the Vienna Opera.

Toward the end he leans over and asks the next person exactly why the heroine is committing suicide!   :o

Listening purely to the music as music is apparently what interested him, assuming that the story is not apocryphal.
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

jhar26

#490


I was just playing this DVD. Great performance by Scotto, Domingo and Milnes, but I was quite disappointed with the sound quality. It's a 1979 recording, but I have DVD's of opera performances older than this that sound far better. I'm almost wondering whether there's something wrong with my copy, especially since all those rave reviews on Amazon make no mention of poor sound quality. Has anyone else have this DVD - and if so, how is the sound quality on yours?
Martha doesn't signal when the orchestra comes in, she's just pursing her lips.

Haffner

Quote from: Cato on April 23, 2009, 11:38:52 AM
In one of Alma Mahler's books, she recounts a tale about Bruckner watching either Tristan or Götterdämmerung at the Vienna Opera.

Toward the end he leans over and asks the next person exactly why the heroine is committing suicide!   :o

Listening purely to the music as music is apparently what interested him, assuming that the story is not apocryphal.


It's not. It was actually Die Walkure, and Bruckner asked why at the end Brunnhilde was set on fire (he had been completely closed-eyed with rapture during the performance).

Siedler

So I got this DVD a week ago or so from amazon.co.uk, haven't had time to watch it yet. Finally it's avalaibe on DVD, the last time I saw this production was more than 10 years ago on VHS borrowed from the local library.  :)

At the same time I bought this set of Ravel's operas, I haven't heard either of them so I'm looking forward to watching them.

DarkAngel

These two items in my buy basket, now will Elgarian beat me to the purchase first   >:D
I must support my darling Danielle.....


knight66

DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Elgarian

#495
Quote from: DarkAngel on September 12, 2009, 02:16:30 PM
now will Elgarian beat me to the purchase first   >:D
I must support my darling Danielle.....

I think you have a clear run to the tape, DA - I'm spent up for this month, and Danielle will have to wait till November.

However, last week I was utterly swept overboard by this:



Gwyneth Jones is now my ultimate Marschallin.

Brünnhilde ewig

And Brigitte Fassbaender the ultimate Octavian!

Of course there is also Carlos Kleiber making it all possible!

knight66

Lis, Lovely to see you. Yes, I agree. I almost did not buy that set because Gwyneth Jones was in it and I have junked a good few otherwise good performances that she has ruined for me. Our old friend Nigel talked me into nevertheless buying it and he was right to press me. It is an all round wonderful set, especially Fassbaender, but Jones is womanly, her acting excellent and the only wobbles she displays are for once non-vocal.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Elgarian

#498
Quote from: knight on October 18, 2009, 10:23:40 PM
It is an all round wonderful set, especially Fassbaender, but Jones is womanly, her acting excellent and the only wobbles she displays are for once non-vocal.

There's a moment at the end of the final trio, Mike, when a shadow passes over her face, just as she turns to leave. During that moment, and the two or three seconds following as she walks away, are laden with meaning in a way that makes me shake my head in awe. Something to do with the way she 'holds' herself, carrying the whole weight of all these complex intertwined events, emotional shifts, and experiences.

It's that quality of acting, which surfaces again and again through her performance, that transforms this DVD into something quite extraordinary, for me.

I agree that Fassbaender is magnificent, but her acting strikes me as a little mannered - her 'masculine' expressions and movements, convincing though they are initially, become repetitive and convince me less as time goes on. But let me be absolutely clear that I'm nitpicking here, OK? - I'm talking about the variations in minutely differing degrees of excellence.

knight66

The whole performance is terrific. Jones does indeed manage that delicate issue of release beautifully, self sacrifice and generosity tinged with regret. I am a complete sucker for Fassbaender's voice in its prime. There is a live recording on CD, Bohm, Fassbaender & Janowitz, Cosi fan Tutti...rather heavily cut, but well worth adopting into anyone's library.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.