Germania

[uffeviking]

Germania is an opera by Alberto Franchetti 1860-1942 and the Capriccio DVD is the World Premiere recording from the 2006 Deutsche Oper Berlin performance conducted by Renato Palumbo, it's Generalmusikdirektor.

Germania takes place in Germany - where else? - during the Napoleonic regime and begins in 1806 with the arrest by French and German police of the German publisher Johann Philipp Palm. Various German poets and patriots are assembled in Palm's house, writing, editing and printing pamphlets calling for resistance. One has to be familiar with German history and literature to follow the plot. I thought I was familiar, but it's about such an obscure incident, I was at a loss, so I listened to the music and enjoyed the singers.

The music reaching my ears was Tosca typically Puccini from beginning to end, with the exception that Puccini managed tender and romantic sections in his compositions. Franchetti went full force from beginning to end, most of the time anyhow; which was good for the singers, because artists as Carlo Ventre and Bruno Caproni could display their talent gloriously; as could the soprano Lise Lindstrom.

The above are the good news about this production, all of them! Kirsten Harms directs it and she is also the Intendant - General Director - of the Deutsche Oper. I would call it a complete flop! The stage itself has been narrowed on both sides and on the top and bottom, at times barely showing the publisher's desk with all the actors on plain wooden chairs. I actually checked my monitor screen setting wondering if something went wrong with the size. An even bigger flop is the lighting! From beginning to end the only lighting comes from blue lights, not even variations of blue, just simple ordinary blue blue. The only relief comes from the seconds when Palumbo walks through his musicians to his podium and gives a few bows to the audience. Even during the curtain calls, the blue light stays on.

T.C., if you had contemplated buying this DVD, may I warn you: Save your money and spend it on genuine Puccini operas! - Unless you want to hear excellent singers at top volume! - 

[T-C]

Too late. I have already ordered Germania... 

The last opera DVD that I watched is a Bel Air Classiques DVD of Hindemith's Cardillac. This is a stunning 2005 production from the Paris opera, which is conducted by Kent Nagano. The French director Andre Engel places the opera in a hotel at around 1930. Settings and costumes are lavish and colorful. This is a beautiful production to look at and the performance is impressive musically too. Recommended.

[uffeviking]

Too late. I have already ordered Germania... 

I tried to warn you, T.C., but MDT is sometimes very slow in delivering. Now I want to hear your review of it, please! And in detail, if possible. Thank you! 

This Cardillac looks very tempting and I since I have your review and from past experience have learned to trust your judgement, I might get this one. I also trust Kent Nagano! I do have a Cardillac a TV PAL download from a 1985 Munich performance but I don't have the cast list and other details - and no time to play it right now. -
Cheers!
Lis

[Wendell_E]

I do have a Cardillac a TV PAL download from a 1985 Munich performance but I don't have the cast list and other details - and no time to play it right now. -

I just bought the recent DG release of that.  Sawallisch conducts the Munich performance, with Donald McIntyre, Maria de Francesca-Cavazza, and Robert Schunk.  Normally, the stores around hear carry nothing in the way opera DVDs, so I was surprised to find it, and a few other recent releases, this morning at f.y.e.

[uffeviking]

Ah! Thank  you, Wendell! McIntyre, of course, no wonder I was so impressed by the title hero. Hero? might be questionable, but it sure is a great performance of Hindemith's music. Let us know what you think of it! 

[bhodges]

Wow, that Cardillac set is one of the most impressive I've seen in a long time.  I don't really know the opera, but I'd probably buy the DVD based on that single still photo alone!  (And thanks for "taste-testing" the other opera, Lis.  That relentless blue lighting sounds positively weird.)

--Bruce