Opera on DVD

[Guido]

Hi guys - found a tool called ANY DVD which seems to work - though I have to pay in 21 days time. I think my DVD player at home is any region though so it should be fine.

[yashin]

Bought the new Mehta Ring on Blue-ray.  I only have the Gotterdammerung so far.  Visually it looks great but so far it has left me a little cold.  Maybe i need to watch it a little more.

I did not grip me like the Copenhagen ring which i thought was very clever and very well sung.  However, i still compare them to the Amsterdam Audi Ring which is most beautifully played and staged.

I am looking forward to seeing the other parts of the Mehta Fura Del Baus Ring...but not sure if it is worth the cost.

[Scarpia]

Bought the new Mehta Ring on Blue-ray.  I only have the Gotterdammerung so far.  Visually it looks great but so far it has left me a little cold.  Maybe i need to watch it a little more.

I did not grip me like the Copenhagen ring which i thought was very clever and very well sung.  However, i still compare them to the Amsterdam Audi Ring which is most beautifully played and staged.

I am looking forward to seeing the other parts of the Mehta Fura Del Baus Ring...but not sure if it is worth the cost.

I had Rheingold, watched about 30 seconds before listing it for sale on Amazon Marketplace. 

[knight66]

Scarpia! Not stepping into the shoes of Paulb with his sampling expertise I hope. The photos look exciting, but I would not be likelly to go for Mehta for anything lasting 15 hours, or even three.

I agree with yashin, that Copenhagen Ring is fascinating and compelling.

Mike

[yashin]

The photos from Valencia look really good as did the clips advert clips on youtube. Maybe it is just Gotterdammerung. Its not my favourite part of the ring cycle anyhow.
Listen to the norns in the first act of the copenhagen ring and compare to the norns in the fura del Baus ring and you will see what i mean.
Innovative and modern does not have to be cold and unmoving.  I was unmoved at the end of the Fura del Baus ring....Brunhilde might as well have been walking off to the shops not into throwing herself into the burning Valhalle. Mehta of course, the overbloated conductor is not a favourite anyhow.

[Scarpia]

Scarpia! Not stepping into the shoes of Paulb with his sampling expertise I hope. The photos look exciting, but I would not be likelly to go for Mehta for anything lasting 15 hours, or even three.

I agree with yashin, that Copenhagen Ring is fascinating and compelling.

Mike

In this case, a short sample was enough.  Mehta, I didn't mind, and the Blu Ray was wonderful from a technical perspective.  But the singers must be able to act, and in this production they were either dwarfed by absurd computer generated graphics that dominated the stage, or captive in ridiculous stage props that prevented them from displaying any human characteristics.   For much of the opera you are watching the actors ride around in decorated construction equipment.   And what is so sensuous about three rheinmaidens sloshing around in three fish tanks on a grate metal floor.  Just stupid. 

[yashin]

Yes, reminded me of the Wozzeck from Covent garden with Goerne-but that was stunning - him in the water drowning.  I thought the young guy swimming in the Copenhagen ring was much more effective-especially when his heart was ripped out.

What about the other ring cycle that recently came out-anyone seen that? From St Clair

[knight66]

Yes the symbolism of the gold as a youth in the Copenhagen Ring worked well...as did showing the Rheinmaidens growing old throughout he cycle...so many wonderful ideas.

Sorry, I don't know of the St Clair version.

Scarpia, That opening scene of The Ring is very difficult to stage. There was a production in Bayreuth with Peter Hall as director and Solti conducting, it was savaged, but that opening scene sounded interesting.

A shallow pool on the stage was reflected in an enormous mirror at about 70 degrees to it. The audience watched the mirror and as the singers swam from back to front of the stage, it looked as though they were swimming up to the surface of the river or down to the bed of it. It read as though it would be very effective, but I have not seen it.

Looking at the illustrations of this scene from the first production, they attempted to harness to the top of small cranes rather well nourished singers who were, if anything, overdressed. Stagehands pushed them round the stage. I imagine it must have been innovative then, but would have made them look like puppets.

I have never once seen this scene enacted in a way I thought caught the fantasy of it.

Mike

[Scarpia]

Yes the symbolism of the gold as a youth in the Copenhagen Ring worked well...as did showing the Rheinmaidens growing old throughout he cycle...so many wonderful ideas.

Sorry, I don't know of the St Clair version.

Scarpia, That opening scene of The Ring is very difficult to stage. There was a production in Bayreuth with Peter Hall as director and Solti conducting, it was savaged, but that opening scene sounded interesting.

A shallow pool on the stage was reflected in an enormous mirror at about 70 degrees to it. The audience watched the mirror and as the singers swam from back to front of the stage, it looked as though they were swimming up to the surface of the river or down to the bed of it. It read as though it would be very effective, but I have not seen it.

Looking at the illustrations of this scene from the first production, they attempted to harness to the top of small cranes rather well nourished singers who were, if anything, overdressed. Stagehands pushed them round the stage. I imagine it must have been innovative then, but would have made them look like puppets.

I have never once seen this scene enacted in a way I thought caught the fantasy of it.

Mike

I've also read about the Bayreuth production you describe.  Sounds interesting in theory.  With typical singers I fear it would turn into a scene from Sea World whale exhibit.  The production in the Levine DVD makes the most sense to me, a set that depicts an underwater scene and use of lighting to give some impression of being under water.  It works to some extent, it would probably work better with singers that are more lithe.  Karajan's film actually uses models on wires, which looks a bit silly, I must admit.   But having them in tubs of water goes completely against Wagner's intention, which is to depict them as very lively and carefree until their gold is stolen.

[duncan]

What about the other ring cycle that recently came out-anyone seen that? From St Clair

I've not seen the DVD but I did see the production in Weimar.  Overall, it was the most enjoyable of the four Rings I've seen in the theatre (the others were the Pappano/Warner/Royal Opera, the Gergiev/Mariinsky debacle at Covent Garden, and the Welser-Most/Vienna Staatsoper).  Some of the enjoyment was down to low expectations (if that is possible of a Ring cycle), being able to afford very good stalls seats for a change, and seeing the work in an 800 seat theatre so the non-starry cast could sing rather than strain to make themselves heard. 

It's a modern anti-heroic production which distressed some of the audience who seemed to be upset we were not at Bayreuth in the 1930s (English, accent you could engrave steel-plate with: "But Siegfried is supposed to be tall...and blonde").  British readers may recognise Benny from Crossroads:


The story was clearly told, and the director and ensemble took great care to match the action with the music. They looked like a very well-rehearsed ensemble. There was occasionally a little too much heavy-handed and gratuitous symbolism bolted-on for my taste but I thought many of the touches – Valkyries in a school dorm.– were witty and effective. The only real clunker was the first act of Siegfried, which suffered from an off-form (I hope) title tenor and a messy, confused staging. 

Vocal highlights were Hidekazu Tsumaya (Fafner, and a thoroughly evil Hunding), Christian Elsner (a magnificent Sigmund) and Catherine Foster (Brunhilde) who was secure, tireless and gave a thrilling performance. It's probably unfair to compare someone singing in a small theatre with people trying to fill Covent Garden or the Albert Hall, but I preferred her to Christine Brewer or Lisa Gasteen.  I'm sure some larger houses have her in their sights.

It sometimes looked like an economy production and I don't think it will look great on DVD.  I'm not sure if the factors that made it work in the theatre will apply on screen and I wont be rushing to buy despite my enthusiasm above.

Short video clip.

[yashin]

Oh that could be a good one to watch then!

I actually really enjoyed the Stuttgart Ring cycle on DVD especially Das Rheingold which i thought was well set in a spa!!  The Siegfried with Jon Frederik West is also very good i think.

I mean you want good playing, good singing and a setting you can relate too. I don't mind eurotrash and i don't mind visual gimmicks but you need to be gripped.

Might look into this Weimar Ring-have been looking at clips on youtube and it seems ok. One thing that put me off the new Fura del Baus Ring is the cost-about 30 UK sterling each! 

[Guido]

Does anyone know if the recent Met Rosenkavalier broadcast is making it to DVD?

[knight66]

There are roughly 60 hits within our search engine for 'Eugene Onegin'; and yet none of them devote more than a line or so to what is one of the masterpieces of Russian opera, of all opera.

I have been watching the 2007 Robert Carsen MET production on DVD. Not often can the cameras catch a night where everything goes this well. Bruce Hodges saw four of this run of performances, including the one that was filmed. On each of the other three occasions there was a problem with one of the cast, or Gergiev was substituted by a less able conductor. But here we have it, captured on the best possible night and anyone interested in great opera performances should secure it.

Tchaikovsky wrote Onegin at a pivotal point in his life. During the conception of it, he contemplated marriage, disastrously embarked upon it and worked on the piece through the fallout of the failure. There is always suggestion that Tchaikovsky was investing himself in his work and exposing his psyche, especially in his later symphonies. But in this piece the claim seems to hold water. Not in the specifics of the story, rather in the direct way he communicates passion and loss and disappointment. Onegin as outsider, observer...ultimately as a failure in his emotional life.

Pushkin made Onegin more arrogant than he appears in the opera, where he is disdainful and spoilt, rather than cruel and cold. Tchaikovsky does not give him a great deal of music. I suspect his singing time in Act 3 exceeds his music in Acts 1 and 2 combined. He gets an arioso, but not, as do Tatiana, Lenski and Gremin, a full blown formal aria. In that respect it is a little how Mozart treats Don Giovanni. As there, everyone else revolves around the main character and we learn as much about him from the way they react to him, as we do from his own words and actions.

The music is glorious, not padded out but economical. At the very end, Onegin is rejected, Tatiana walks away and he is left devastated. He utters a very few words and the curtain falls, no extended aria of feeling or of farewell. The end comes like a guillotine and is all the more brutal for it. Verdi pulls the same masterstroke at the very end of Rigoletto where Guilda's body is discovered....grief, emotional collapse; what more is there to convey? The end.

The production is minimalist in its look. A few chairs, a couple of slim tall treetrunks in scene 1. The duel scene takes place on an entirely empty stage, the rim of the sun comes up silhouetting the duellists, then Lenski's dead body. There is nothing to distract from the crucible of the drama.

It takes talented singing actors to hold the attention on such a bare stage, no opportunity for stage business, the singers stand exposed to the drama and their ability to communicate it. Hvorostrovsky, Fleming and Vargas all riveted and inspired the audience, who roared their appreciation at the end.

This may be Hvorostrovsky's best role. It suits his slightly disengaged stage persona and he has the magnetism to pull your attention to him even when he is doing almost nothing. In this production, he shoots his friend dead. At once the polonaise starting Act 3 begins and Hvorostrovsky, numb, impassive allows himself to be undressed and dressed by servants in preparation for the ball. The body of Lensky is carried past him, the set itself is also dressed around him with a square of chairs and the mood of grief and loss is brought forward those three years into the new Act in a seamless and legitimate way.

Instead of watching dancers try to cope en-messe with that fast polonaise, its exuberance acts as a counterpoint to the self destructive emptiness evident within Onegin. This is such intelligent direction and it stokes up the emotions of the audience, rather than gives them the chance to dissipate and be distracted by what is usually second rate dancing.

As I have indicated, despite such bare sets, this was not at all a non-production. The prelude to act one finds Onegin sitting in a chair at the centre of a darkened stage. He is reading the letter Tatiana will send to him. He leafs through it in a perfunctory way, distracted, irritated. As he turns the pages, pressed autumn leaves fall out onto the ground. Then more leaves start to fall from the sky and he looks up as thousands and thousands descend around him. A potent and disturbing symbol, his future foretold. He looks perturbed.

There are many such touches and the counterpart in the final act is to see Tatiana's contrasting and grief-stricken reception to Onegin's belated letter with his own declaration of love. As in his scene, she sits on a chair in the centre of an otherwise bare stage.

When, earlier, love does finally hit Onegin, the staging and lighting conspire to provide it with the quality of a bolt of lightening.

The production is so strong because the relationships and the motivations are so well worked out and are displayed without at all being semaphored. The jealously of Lenski is set up masterfully. Olga is so flighty she cannot concentrate on his loving gift of the poems he has written for her. It is plain she wants a more tangible present. She is all too open to the flirting that Onegin indulges in, so as to torture Lenski. We see a classic relationship between the plain poet and the magnetically glamorous friend, the one who can attract women by merely being, whereas his own grip on the woman he loves is palpably tentative. Lensky's unease and slide into pathological jealousy is all too understandable.

They all sing up a storm. The big moments are a total success. Everyone's acting superb, as much in repose as in action. One instance, the song written for Tatiana's name day by Triquet is provided with genuine beauty and yearning by Gergiev and his singer, far from the comic ditty it is so often presented as. During it, Tatiana sits, and you can watch her restraining the conflicting emotions that pass through her. I do like to see an actor think, hardly moving a muscle yet so much is conveyed.

For a lot of this pinpointing we have Brian Large to thank, his TV direction is exemplary. He allows many full stage shots and homes in on the telling detail without being right down the throats of the singers.

Gergiev fires up the orchestra, it has sweep, but great tenderness is not left out. The playing is wonderful and Tchaikovsky's thumbprint woodwind lines come out clearly.

We had that debate recently about whether DVDs might be better than being there....I don't think so. This set provides a different experience of the production, legitimate and powerful in its own right. But I would so like to have been with Bruce at the House and seen it and sensed the audience around me. But what we have is treasure. It will become a classic, well, it already is one.

Mike

[bhodges]

As I have indicated, despite such bare sets, this was not at all a non-production. The prelude to act one finds Onegin sitting in a chair at the centre of a darkened stage. He is reading the letter Tatiana will send to him. He leafs through it in a perfunctory way, distracted, irritated. As he turns the pages, pressed autumn leaves fall out onto the ground. Then more leaves start to fall from the sky and he looks up as thousands and thousands descend around him. A potent and disturbing symbol, his future foretold. He looks perturbed.

Wow, such a write-up, Mike!  (My favorite part above, and yes, that scene is incredibly effective.)  I'm glad you were so struck by it.  Too many beautiful moments to count (e.g., love the sustained applause for Ramón Vargas after Lenski's famous aria).  Everything seems close to ideal, and the final scene is shattering, as it should be.

Thanks for putting it all in place so clearly.  This DVD really is something special.

--Bruce

[knight66]

Bruce, We should go on commission if we can off-load some copies. I did not go into the singing in detail, the review is really overlong anyway. But as we have each indicated, it is excellent.

Mike

[Drasko]

Mike, thanks for the detailed review! Onegin is one of my favorite operas but somehow haven't seen this DVD yet. Will be getting it as soon as possible.

[knight66]

Let me know what you think, I hope you enjoy it.

Mike

[Scarpia]

Let me know what you think, I hope you enjoy it.

Mike

I have it on order as well.

[Wendell_E]

Bruce, We should go on commission if we can off-load some copies. I did not go into the singing in detail, the review is really overlong anyway. But as we have each indicated, it is excellent.

Mike

I'll happily third that indication!  It's really wonderful.

[knight66]

Excellent news. I hope the buyers get as much pleasure from it as those of us who already have the discs.

Mike