Opera on DVD

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

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offbeat

At my local music club which i attended the other week they played excerpts from
Debussy's opera Pelleas and Melisande on DVD
Never heard before but thought was wonderfully atmospheric
Unfortunately the version i saw was from MET with James Levine and appears not listed on Amazon.
Wonder if anyone can recommend a good version of this opera- i know the productions can vary on the whim of the director
In the MET version the setting took place in a gloomy castle type room instead of the forest the act was supossed to reflect nevertheless thought it was great- Any input would be greatfully received  :)

Wendell_E

Quote from: offbeat on October 30, 2009, 01:53:09 PM
At my local music club which i attended the other week they played excerpts from
Debussy's opera Pelleas and Melisande on DVD
Never heard before but thought was wonderfully atmospheric
Unfortunately the version i saw was from MET with James Levine and appears not listed on Amazon.
Wonder if anyone can recommend a good version of this opera- i know the productions can vary on the whim of the director
In the MET version the setting took place in a gloomy castle type room instead of the forest the act was supossed to reflect nevertheless thought it was great- Any input would be greatfully received  :)

I've got two versions on DVD:  Peter Stein's Welsh National Opera production, conducted by Boulez, and Graham Vick's Glyndebourne production, conducted by Andrew Davis.  I prefer the former, which has fewer of those directorial whims you mention, and actually has the different settings the drama asks for, rather than Glyndebourne's "one-set-fits-all-none" approach. 

I saw a third version (back in May 2005 according to Netflix) from Opéra de Lyon, directed by Jean-François Jung and conducted by John Eliot Gardiner.  I dimly recall being really irritated by the production, and it also had sound that seemed to get worse with each act. Others have commented on that sound problem, so it wasn't just a bad copy.  I gave it a one-star rating. 
"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." ― Mark Twain

stridonolassu

As far as I know there has never been a telecast of Pelléas from the Met.  Radio broadcasts with Levine, yes, but no video with anyone.  If it was from the Met it could only have been an amateur pirate tape or a hard-to-come-by single-camera theater archive tape.

There have been four commercial DVD releases of the opera.  Wendell_E mentions three of them, and I strongly agree with his recommendation of the 1992 WNO Stein production conducted by Boulez (on Deutsche Grammophon).  A fifth performance is about to join the catalog in the coming weeks as Virgin is about to release the Laurent Pelly production recorded in Vienna (2009), featuring Natalie Dessay and Stéphane Degout, conducted by Bertrand de Billy.

offbeat

Tks Wendell/Stridonolassu

Its strange i felt sure the version i saw was from the MET but maybe im mistaken - i thought the idea of the action taking place in a castle instead of a forest strange but for me it worked

Looks like i'll go for the Boulez
cheers  :)

Brünnhilde ewig

#504
Messiaen at De Nederlandse Opera.

Not being a fan of Messiaen, I ignored the premier of his opera Saint François d'Assise but when one of my favourite directors Pierre Audi did his version in Amsterdam, I bought the 3 disc DVD. The other attraction was the special talented conductor Ingo Metzmacher. Also my curiosity wanted to see and hear the singer of the title role Ron Gilfry, who I have seen last as Graf Danilo in Lehar's Die Lustige Witwe. Quite a difference in character is Tom Randle, the Franciscan Frère Massée, who I know from John Adams's Klinghofer opera as the patriotic Palestinian Mahmoud.

This is a very impressive production, a friend who has seen both, prefers Pierre Audi's inspirational  format; the center stage area cluttered with massed, simple natural wood crosses, a bare smaller platform in front where most of the action occurs. The outstanding chorus most of the time gathering around the crosses. Audi likes to move the orchestra and he did a superb job this time by placing the musicians in the back of the action, occasionally giving a glimpse of Metzmacher conducting.

The singing, acting, music, production, everything combined, does make me look for more of Messiaen's Catholicism inspired works. It won't make me an ardent Catholic, but will make me listen to my beloved wild bird back yard popuation with different ears.

http://www.hbdirect.com/album_detail.php?pid=3003458

Mandryka

#505
I saw Rheingold from The Copenhagen Ring recently -- this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0019LZ19O/ref=s9_sima_gw_s0_p74_t1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=1NWDZB8QWQWXSH8F7K3Q&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467198433&pf_rd_i=468294

I just wanted an excuse to jot down my reactions -- hence this post. Anyway here goes:

This was the most entertaining Rheingold I have seen -- even more entertaining than Kupfer's Beyreuth DVD, and that's saying something.

In terms of singing and acting, Loge steals the show (as usual.) He's played camp, archly knowing, a functionary. He reminded me of that gay character in Bergman's "From The Life of Marionettes" Alberich was also outstanding - handsome and suave and intelligent. So was Erda (an aging peroxide, rather like a madame in a brothel), but I am a sucker for Erda myself: I think her music is beautiful.

The rest of the cast sang very well - if they sang like this at Covent Garden they wouldn't be letting The House down. Only Wotan was a bit ordinary - mellifluous but uncharismatic. I believe they use someone else (hopefully better) in the subsequent operas.

The production is interesting. The whole thing is set as a recollection of Bruenhilde's after Wotan's death That means that we are seeing things from her point of view - and from that perspective Wotan is pretty bad - a feeble, self interested sadist in fact.

I have some sympathy for that interpretation, but I can imagine some of the old timers from the Wagner Society in London will be outraged.

The magical gold is personified - it is a beautiful naked swimming kouros whom the maidens are, longingly, trying to fondle. A sexy merboy -- I am sure there wasn't a dry seat in the house. When Alberich steals the gold he rips this Adonis's heart out. Boo.

This type of grotesquery pervades the production. For example, Alberich's place - a factory in which children do the hard work - contains a cadaver which has been sliced in two . Alberich's hand is cut off at the arm by Wotan, who seems to relish the experience. Gratuitous? We shall see. An armless Alberich may generate sympathy, like Hans Biberkopf in Berlin Alexanderplatz.

There's a lot of comedy in the opera - Fasholt is an obese geriatric in a wheel chair - he gets out to kill his brother with a walk which reminded me of Max Wall. And Loge's disturbingly unpredictable, over emotional, queenliness at times called to mind Adrian Edmondson in Bottom (that's probably wasted on the Americans reading this - Do you get Bottom on TV? Do you say that a camp gay is a queen?)

Orchestra was just fine - some haunting moments in fact (like when Loge and Wotan are persuading Alberich to show off the Tarnhelm.) But really, you don't get this DVD for the orchestra.

I liked it a lot - I think it is as interesting and well done a Rheingold as I have seen. In fact. I am looking forward to Walkuere (It will arrive soon - I am renting the DVDs but feel a bit tempted to buy them.)
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

knight66

I found this Ring the most engrossing and intelligent I have seen. The orchestra are excellent and for the most part acting and singing is very good. As you go through the journey, it will draw you in still further. I think Walkure is the highlight. The psychological insights fall thick and fast and watch for the scene steeling Hunding.

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

Mandryka

Quote from: knight on December 12, 2009, 01:00:30 PM
I found this Ring the most engrossing and intelligent I have seen. The orchestra are excellent and for the most part acting and singing is very good. As you go through the journey, it will draw you in still further. I think Walkure is the highlight. The psychological insights fall thick and fast and watch for the scene steeling Hunding.

Mike

Can't wait to get it.  Sounds like you prefer it to my two other Rings on DVD --  Kupfer/Barenboim and Chereau/Boulez.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

knight66

I know both of those Rings and I would place it above in terms of the gripping concept. As the works progress, Brunhilde's investigations become more compelling. The Wotan is a bit underpowered, but he engages you with his characterisation.

I don't know of another Ring where you can see how you move forward in time as the generations grow through the cycle. Usually you remain in a mythic remote past, or in the Boulez, a twisted 19th Cent industrial revolution. Because the settings are so specific, you see even the Rheinmaidens grow old, the world is moving on.
Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Brünnhilde ewig

Hans Biberkopf and Wotan? It never occurred to me, but Mandryka, now that you made me think of it, it's a an ingenious comparison. This Ring has to be seen repeatedly to catch all the fast hints and innovations no other director has ever thought of. The Waldvogel as pet bird in Brünnhildes and Siegfried's home, part of it a cozy potting shed? It works!

And all this brilliant insight from the young, almost unknown, director Kasper Bech Holten! Europeans probably know him better than we do here in the US, but I am sure looking foreward to more of his work.

Mandryka

#510
The Copenhagen Walkuere is the most scary Walkuere I have seen, mainly because of Hunding. Chereau made Hunding's return to his hut frightening by having him return with his crew. In the Copenhagen Ring he comes home alone, but his demeanour, his manner, his appearance, his voice are so threatening and evil that the impact is extremely unsettling.

Women cowering in front of menacing men is a bit of a leitmotif. Sieglinde cowers in front of her husband. Bruenhilde cowers when Wotan becomes angry in Act 2 . But by the end of the opera you get the feeling that the daughter is stronger than her father. She positively supports him when he is pronouncing her punishment in Act 3. She laughs with glee at the prospect of being encircled by Magic fire - you can tell she is looking forward to the experience.

Unexpected manifestations of strength by women is another leitmotif of the production, in fact. It's Sieglinde who retrieves Notung - and she keeps it.

The only good man is Siegmund . That may be right though - maybe he really is the only hero in the opera.

Siegmund is played very well indeed. Take the scene in Act 2 where Bruenhilde tries to persuade Siegmund to abandon Sieglinde and accompany her to Valhalla. I have never seen or heard a more intense performance: the closest I have experienced to this degree of intensity is a live recording, with Karajan and Vickers and Nilsson, from La Scala in 1958. This scene in the DVD is beautifully set and produced. Bruenhilde wears wings, and as she stands in front of Siegmund in the dimming light, she reminded me of an illustration of Abu Ben Adam which I had when I was a child (you know, the angel who awoke him from his deep from of peace.)

This wings, by the way, are a metaphor of her divinity. Wotan rips them of when he humanises her. I like all of that - I had never thought of her as an angel before - but that's exactly right.

I should say that the whole thing from Act 2 to the end of the opera is absolutely top drawer, in terms of drama. Maybe the best I have seen. Of course, there are better singers. But in terms of total dramatic intelligence and impact this is outstanding.

There are some loose ends - why does Bruenhilde release a dove before the magic fire is lit? There are obvious possibilities, but we will have to see what will be made of it in Siegfried. Why does she and not her brother remove the sword? There are lots of questions like this - but no matter.

A particularly nice improvement on Wagner, I thought, was the fact that Wotan leaves Hunding alive. Why should he have him killed? After all, Hunding has done Wotan a service killing Siegmund.

Wotan is a different singer than in Rheingold - better. Not a great Wotan though, but not so bad as to spoil things. I am sure he will be just fine as The Wanderer.

Bruenhilde's impressiveness increased as the opera progressed. Powerful. I can just imagine how well she will declaim "Heil dir, Sonne!"

Abou Ben Adhem

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold:-
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said
"What writest thou?"-The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still, and said "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow men."

The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

Quote from: Brünnhilde ewig on December 14, 2009, 11:00:42 AM
Hans Biberkopf and Wotan?

I meant Alberich = Biberkopf. If we're going to extend it to Wotan then he's got to be Reinhard.

Actually that could make the basis of a good production. Over to you.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Brünnhilde ewig

#512
We watched it together, Mandryka? Where were you sitting?

To refresh my memory I spent the past three afternoons with this superlative DVD, and I am still recovering tiny moments inserted by the very talented director Kasper Bech Holten. "Rüst uns Männern das Mahl" commands Hunding and Sieglinde brings in a steaming terrine; Hunding serves himself, terrine remains on the table, still steaming. Hunding and Sieglinde gone to their bedroom, Siegmund helps himself to the still slightly steaming food. Of course he is hungry, he hasn't had anything to eat all the time!

A pointer about the terrific acting by everybody throughout the production: The very same adoring and gentle lover of Freia, - remember the tiny bouquet of flowers he brings her? - Stephen Milling as Fasolt in Das Rheingold, is the very same loathsome Hunding!

Hunding - in my opinion the most evil Hunding ever! - walks off stage after spitting on the dead body of Siegmund.  Wotan told him to "Geh!". I don't recall Wagner having written in the stage directions for Hunding to die; so Hunding 'ging'.

Mandryka, did Brünnhilde release the Waldvogel, sending it to Siegfried to guide it to her confinement?

I have read again and again that the Copenhagen Ring is a feminist Ring and - not being a feminist myself! - I tend to agree with the view. You point out all the directions to those thoughts, it's Sieglinde's sword - didn't do any good for Siegmund, Wotan smashed it - and Brünnhilde's punishment by her father turns into a temporary happy marriage. I am not giving away the ending though, we'll hopefully talk about that later!

I have never heard of Abu Ben Adhem but certainly think it's a very lovely poem. Thank you for sharing. - The first thought coming to my mind seeing Brünnhilde with her wings appearing to Siegmund in very imaginative lighting , were the paintings of William Blake. -

Will you join me in a cup of espresso in the lobby before Siegfried starts?

bhodges

All these comments are only making me eager to see the entire cycle.  (I've only seen a few scenes from all four operas, but they were very impressive.)

PS, slightly off-topic, as not on DVD, but here is a preview (alas, no photos!) of Kasper Bech Holten's new Tannhäuser, premiering at the Royal Danish Opera on Sunday.   

--Bruce

Wendell_E

Quote from: Brünnhilde ewig on December 18, 2009, 10:18:56 AM
Hunding - in my opinion the most evil Hunding ever! - walks off stage after spitting on the dead body of Siegmund.  Wotan told him to "Geh!". I don't recall Wagner having written in the stage directions for Hunding to die; so Hunding 'ging'.


"Vor seinem verächtlichen Handwink sinkt Hunding tot zum Boden"  seems pretty unambiguous to me.
"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." ― Mark Twain

Brünnhilde ewig

I always appreciate having a thoroughly knowledgeable Wagnerian watch over my posts. Thank you Wendell!  :-*

Would I be committing a deadly sin, appreciating Kasper Bech Holten's direction in this production? It simply feels more fitting.  :)

Wendell_E

Quote from: Brünnhilde ewig on December 19, 2009, 07:12:46 AM
I always appreciate having a thoroughly knowledgeable Wagnerian watch over my posts. Thank you Wendell!  :-*

Would I be committing a deadly sin, appreciating Kasper Bech Holten's direction in this production? It simply feels more fitting.  :)

No sin at all in my opinion.  In the great sceme of Ring things, I don't think Hunding's (or Alberich's) fate rates very high.  Brünnhilde's on the other hand...  In any case, I really want to see this production some day.
"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." ― Mark Twain

Mandryka

#517
Quote from: Wendell_E on December 19, 2009, 02:13:48 PM
I don't think Hunding's (or Alberich's) fate rates very high. 

The interesting thing for me is what it says about Wotan -- his decision to leave him alive rather than to kill him.

In this production, letting him go just seems to create a tie between Wotan and Hunding which wouldn't  have been there if Wagner's stage direction had been followed.

And given that Hunding is particularly nasty, that's not exactly to Wotan's credit.

I'm going to have to check but I don't think we got a verächtlichen handwink either.

It's just more grist to the mill  for Wotan's vilification.

Siegfried tonight!
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Brünnhilde ewig

Right! No Handwink verächtlich or otherwise because Wotan is going down in his knees to bend over his son's body, in deep sorrow, completely ignoring Hunding.

One question has been bugging me for a long time and maybe we get an answer here. At the end of Das Rheingold Wotan jams his spear into Loge's tape recorder, playing the Rheinmaiden's song, but then also runs the spear into Loge's chest. The first time I saw this, I couldn't stop myself from calling out to Wotan: "But you need him later to set the fire around Brünnhilde!"

Any suggestions?  ???

Franco

Presto Classical is pushing the new Ring "from the Spanish city of Valencia and its spectacular new opera house, the Palau de les Arts "Reina Sofía", staged by Carlus Padrissa and his theatre group La Fura dels Baus."

Here's a quote from the Presto blurb:

QuoteUp until the mid 1800s the musical aspects of operas always took precedence over the theatrical aspects. Wagner tried to change all that and transformed musical thought through his idea of Gesamtkunstwerk (total artwork). His idea was simple in that he felt that the poetic, visual and dramatic aspects were just as important as the musical ones. His monumental four-opera Ring cycle (which he completed in 1876) epitomized this thought process and he even built his own opera house (the Bayreuth Festspielhaus) in order to try and stage his works more as he had imagined them.

Now in the 21st Century, the imagination of Carlus Padrissa and La Fura combined with the awesome potential of modern technology means that we're perhaps closer to realising Wagner's visionary world than ever before. Finally now the Rhinemaidens can emerge from the Rhine (tanks of water), the gods can swoop around the stage (on personal cranes) and Wotan can ride over the mountaintops for his encounter with Erda (accompanied by huge video projections). The whole production is breathtaking, with the magical use of human beings to create organic structures such as Valhalla (here in the picture) producing several jaw-dropping moments.

Link to the Presto Ring page with the trailer.

I have not, in the past, enjoyed Richard Wagner's music, but I may try again with this production.