~ Baroque Opera ~

Started by Harry, June 23, 2007, 08:46:08 AM

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Elgarian

#60
Quote from: DavidW on October 06, 2009, 09:16:47 AM
What do people think of Lully's Persee?  It's on my netflix queue, and I'm hoping that it will be good. :)

I only know it through this DVD:



which I found disappointing. I felt there was something wrong with the sound balance, and although there was some effective dancing, the acting was wooden, stagey and fake, and these things largely prevented me from enjoying the music. On the other hand, in fairness I should explain that I came to it fresh from this unbelievably fine Cadmus & Hermione:



which is still the finest opera DVD I've ever seen, or expect to see. So my expectations of Persee were enormous, and it may be that if I were to watch it again, I'd be less repelled by it. Even so, I'd suggest that if you're wanting to watch a Lully opera on DVD, then it really ought to be the Dumestre Cadmus & Hermione.

DavidW

Ah shucks that's the only Lully opera at netflix!  Guess I'm better off buying. :)

Elgarian

#62
Quote from: DavidW on October 07, 2009, 04:57:59 AM
Ah shucks that's the only Lully opera at netflix!  Guess I'm better off buying. :)

Fairness compels me to add that others don't share my disappointment. There's a discussion I recall having somewhere here on GMG (where? where?) which would give you a more balanced view than mine alone.

Alternatively, and more satisfactorily, judge for yourself by taking a look on you tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l91R_8ICWg

The chap who posted this first clip has posted heaps of others too. (Listening to this reminds me of another problem I have with this production - the curious emphasis on the rolling of 'R's, to an extent that I find very intrusive. It's altogether as if they're trying too hard.)


Later: The discussion of Persee I mentioned (in which T-C offers a different view) is in this thread:
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,12350.40.html

You might be interested in the discussion of the Christie DVD of Rameau's Les Indes Galantes in that thread, too.

DavidW

Thanks for the links, will check out the youtube later.

Christie has already proven himself to me with Orlando, so I added that Rameau you mentioned to my queue.  Netflix has quite a bit of Rameau. :)  They just don't like Lully. :'(

Elgarian

Quote from: DavidW on October 07, 2009, 07:29:18 AM
They just don't like Lully. :'(

Silly people! (If you don't love Les Indes Galantes, then I will stand on my head and declare myself to be a turnip.)

Que

#65
Bumping this thread, and currently constructing it as a seperate thread out of the general French Baroque Musique thread that has become quite long! :)

Q

Que

#66
Recently reissued! :) And according to a French internet source with full notes & texts. 4 operas on 10 discs. I would order at Amazon UK, which for some strange reason is way cheaper (£28) than its French and German counterparts (€89,50 & €77)! :o



Of course, I picked this valuable news up at the indispensible site for Baroque lovers: Newolde.com

Q

The new erato

Indispensable indeed, though I somehow managed to miss that reissue!

The new erato

Quote from: Que on March 20, 2010, 01:53:36 AM
Recently reissued! :) And according to a French internet source with full notes & texts. 4 operas on 10 discs. I would order at Amazon UK, which for some strange reason is way cheaper (£28) than its French and German counterparts (€89,50 & €77)! :o


Q
I ordered it, just in case amazon.co.uk did misprice it.

Que

Quote from: erato on March 20, 2010, 11:15:54 AM
I ordered it, just in case amazon.co.uk did misprice it.

That thought crossed my mind as well.... :)

Q

Elgarian

Quote from: Que on March 20, 2010, 01:53:36 AM
I would order at Amazon UK, which for some strange reason is way cheaper (£28) than its French and German counterparts (€89,50 & €77)!

Surely that must be a mistake! Like everyone else, I've placed my order - so we'll soon enough find out!

Drasko

If anyone is interested, here's HDTV broadcast recording from French France2 TV channel of Lully's Armide under William Christie from Theatre des Champs-Elysees, October 2008.

Very decent quality both audio and video.
720p HDTV | AVI | H264 1280 x 720 1700Kbps 25fps | MPEG 1 Layer 3 2CH 48KHz 224 kbps| 02:50:04 | 2.25GB | French subtitles

Full credits:
ARMIDE
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)
The last Lully's tragedy, created 1686

Theatre des Champs-Elysees Paris
October 2008
William Christie, musical conductor & harpsichord
Robert Carsen, stage director

Jean-Claude Gallotta, choreography
Gideon Davey, sets & costumes
Robert Carsen et Peter Van Praet, lights

Choeur et Orchestre Les Arts Florissants
with :
Claire Debono, La Gloire, Phenice, Lucinde
Isabelle Druet, La Sagesse, Sidonie, Melisse
Stephanie d'Oustrac, Armide
Nathan Berg, Hidraot
Paul Agnew, Renaud
Marc Mauillon, Ubalde, Aronte
Marc Callahan, Artemidore
Andrew Tortise, Le Chevalier Danois
Laurent Naouri, La Haine
Anders J. Dahlin, Un amant fortune

http://rapidshare.com/files/332401990/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte0_1_2.avi.001.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332403488/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte0_1_2.avi.002.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332619908/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte0_1_2.avi.003.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332422826/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte0_1_2.avi.004.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332619048/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte0_1_2.avi.005.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332652696/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte0_1_2.avi.006.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332441627/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte0_1_2.avi.007.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332444405/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte0_1_2.avi.008.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332459622/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte0_1_2.avi.009.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332468274/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte0_1_2.avi.010.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332474960/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte0_1_2.avi.011.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332379130/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte0_1_2.avi.012.html

http://rapidshare.com/files/332683545/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte3_4_5.avi.001.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332690965/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte3_4_5.avi.002.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332713581/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte3_4_5.avi.003.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332722559/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte3_4_5.avi.004.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332743564/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte3_4_5.avi.005.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332752907/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte3_4_5.avi.006.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332774244/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte3_4_5.avi.007.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332780473/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte3_4_5.avi.008.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332803796/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte3_4_5.avi.009.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332806714/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte3_4_5.avi.010.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332835469/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte3_4_5.avi.011.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332836376/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte3_4_5.avi.012.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/332659096/Lully-Armide-Christie-Paris-081014-acte3_4_5.avi.013.html


use hjsplit to join files 

mamascarlatti

#72
Hello everyone, my first post on this opera forum which I've been following with pleasure,

Here are two more Rameau operas on DVD. (I mainly watch opera on DVD as I like the whole package). Quite a contrast.

My favourite of the two is "Les Boréades" conducted by William Christie:



The music is wonderful, choruses, dances and (i don't really know if this is the word" – programmatic music – related for example to the weather, as in sweeping winds, or when the god Borée is impotently storming about it the last act, lots of little unfinished phrases. Also I personally love the colour given to the orchestration by the frequent domination of wind instruments.

The production highlights two main themes: la Liberté versus buttoned-up (literally) conformity, and the passage of the seasons.  The seasons are particularly beautifully incarnated, fields of spring flowers, twirling autumn leaves flung from whirling umbrellas, twinkling winter starts followed by flurries of snow, and back to spring again. The followers of liberty wear flowing white tunics, as opposed to the brutalist grey greatcoats and long leather gloves of the followers of the north wind. Liberty and love triumph in the end (the themes of the forthcoming revolution are already well represented in this opera, no wonder it was never shown at the time).

The main part is sung by Barbara Bonney, not an obvious choice for this genre, but she acquits herself well without necessarily producing what I can only call the "French sound" that you hear from Sandrine Piau, Véronique Gens, Patricia Petitbon. Other parts are sung by such veteran Rameau experts as Paul Agnew  and Nicolas RIvenq who will be familiar to fans of les Indes Galantes.

My only caveat is the dancing. It's technically extremely accomplished, but the choreography is ultra-modern and consistently employs extremely fast, angular, exaggerated and robotic arm movements. It grew on me, but was rather exhausting. The explanation offered in the hour-long documentary (good old Opus Arte) is that the director wanted a modern counterpart to the high stylised and conventionalised movements of baroque dance.

Platée (cond Marc Minkowski) is the second opera, quite a different kettle of fish, or should I say frogs:



The story is much slighter, and is really an excuse for lots of "divertissements" particularly on the part of Folly (clad à la Marie-Antoinette in sheet music) and her dancers. Paul Agnew hangs up his hero's arrow to play the titular ugly marsh nymph, whom (in a twist of particularly gallic logic) Jupiter pretends to marry in order to prove to Juno that he is not actually unfaithful to her (huh???) The production by Laurent Pelly is modern, Comédie Française meets Beatrix Potter with a bit of commedia dell'arte thrown in, and a rollicking time is had by all.

I'm now contemplating my next DVD purchases.

Pretty much decided on Les Paladins:



But not sure about Castor et Pollux:



Or Zoroastre:



Any advice gratefully received. I don't mind modern productions, or even Regie, as long as it makes sense. (possibly the latter is an oxymoron... )

Elgarian

Quote from: mamascarlatti on April 01, 2010, 01:18:14 PM
Hello everyone, my first post on this opera forum which I've been following with pleasure,

Hello Natalie, nice to see you here. Welcome, and thanks for the tips.
                               *****

Has anyone yet received any info about their order of that Lully box set from Amazon that we talked about a few posts above? It's been only silence, so far, for me.

The new erato

Quote from: Elgarian on April 01, 2010, 01:25:29 PM
Hello Natalie, nice to see you here. Welcome, and thanks for the tips.
                               *****

Has anyone yet received any info about their order of that Lully box set from Amazon that we talked about a few posts above? It's been only silence, so far, for me.
I got mine at the beginning of the week. Ordered from amazon.co.uk, but shipped from Germany even though it wasn't from a reseller.

Elgarian

Quote from: erato on April 01, 2010, 01:31:57 PM
I got mine at the beginning of the week. Ordered from amazon.co.uk, but shipped from Germany even though it wasn't from a reseller.
Ah, well that's encouraging. Thanks Erato. I'm past their original estimated dispatch date, but I notice that they're now giving an estimated  2 to 4 weeks for delivery, so it sounds as if things will happen if I just sit tight.

Does it have the necessary texts and so on, as we hoped? Or is it just a box of discs?

Drasko

Quote from: Elgarian on April 01, 2010, 01:25:29 PM
Has anyone yet received any info about their order of that Lully box set from Amazon that we talked about a few posts above? It's been only silence, so far, for me.

Silence for me as well, should have been shipped yesterday, but my credit card hasn't been charged yet and no emails explaining the delay. On product page they changed availability from 4-6 days (when I placed the order 10 days ago) to 2-4 weeks and now back to 5-10 days. I'm guessing their initial stock was very small.

Quote from: mamascarlatti on April 01, 2010, 01:18:14 PM
Or Zoroastre.


Any advice gratefully received. I don't mind modern productions, or even Regie, as long as it makes sense. (possibly the latter is an oxymoron... )

I have that Zoroastre but short on time right now. Will try to post on it tomorrow.

Elgarian

Quote from: Drasko on April 01, 2010, 01:45:41 PM
On product page they changed availability from 4-6 days (when I placed the order 10 days ago) to 2-4 weeks and now back to 5-10 days.
That switch, from 2-4weeks to 5-10 days, only occurred today (this morning it was still 2-4 weeks). I guess that's a promising sign.

DarkAngel

#78
Quote from: mamascarlatti on April 01, 2010, 01:18:14 PM
Hello everyone, my first post on this opera forum which I've been following with pleasure,

Here are two more Rameau operas on DVD. (I mainly watch opera on DVD as I like the whole package). Quite a contrast.

My favourite of the two is "Les Boréades" conducted by William Christie


The music is wonderful, choruses, dances and (i don't really know if this is the word" – programmatic music – related for example to the weather, as in sweeping winds, or when the god Borée is impotently storming about it the last act, lots of little unfinished phrases. Also I personally love the colour given to the orchestration by the frequent domination of wind instruments.

The production highlights two main themes: la Liberté versus buttoned-up (literally) conformity, and the passage of the seasons.  The seasons are particularly beautifully incarnated, fields of spring flowers, twirling autumn leaves flung from whirling umbrellas, twinkling winter starts followed by flurries of snow, and back to spring again. The followers of liberty wear flowing white tunics, as opposed to the brutalist grey greatcoats and long leather gloves of the followers of the north wind. Liberty and love triumph in the end (the themes of the forthcoming revolution are already well represented in this opera, no wonder it was never shown at the time).

The main part is sung by Barbara Bonney, not an obvious choice for this genre, but she acquits herself well without necessarily producing what I can only call the "French sound" that you hear from Sandrine Piau, Véronique Gens, Patricia Petitbon. Other parts are sung by such veteran Rameau experts as Paul Agnew  and Nicolas RIvenq who will be familiar to fans of les Indes Galantes.

My only caveat is the dancing. It's technically extremely accomplished, but the choreography is ultra-modern and consistently employs extremely fast, angular, exaggerated and robotic arm movements. It grew on me, but was rather exhausting. The explanation offered in the hour-long documentary (good old Opus Arte) is that the director wanted a modern counterpart to the high stylised and conventionalised movements of baroque dance.

Platée (cond Marc Minkowski) is the second opera, quite a different kettle of fish, or should I say frogs.


The story is much slighter, and is really an excuse for lots of "divertissements" particularly on the part of Folly (clad à la Marie-Antoinette in sheet music) and her dancers. Paul Agnew hangs up his hero's arrow to play the titular ugly marsh nymph, whom (in a twist of particularly gallic logic) Jupiter pretends to marry in order to prove to Juno that he is not actually unfaithful to her (huh???) The production by Laurent Pelly is modern, Comédie Française meets Beatrix Potter with a bit of commedia dell'arte thrown in, and a rollicking time is had by all.

I'm now contemplating my next DVD purchases.

Pretty much decided on Les Paladins


But not sure about Castor et Pollux


Or Zoroastre.


Any advice gratefully received. I don't mind modern productions, or even Regie, as long as it makes sense. (possibly the latter is an oxymoron... )

There are two essential Rameau DVDs for me, the performances are a breath of fresh air with creative modern staging's, both under the most able guidance of William Christie........

 

Always worth a trip to youtube to preview/explore any DVD you are looking to buy, excellent modern production video and sound:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVs5FxXAHD0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp66Vh1E-UE&feature=related

The Les Indes Gallant is the best baroque staging DVD of any opera/ballet I have ever seen, truely essential for the baroque fan.......if you have this already you know what I mean 





mamascarlatti

Quote from: DarkAngel on April 01, 2010, 01:54:51 PM

There are two essential Rameau DVDs for me, the performances are a breath of fresh air with creative modern staging's, both under the most able guidance of William Christie........

 

The Les Indes Gallant is the best baroque staging DVD of any opera/ballet I have ever seen, truely essential for the baroque fan.......if you have this already you know what I mean

Yes thank you, I have Les Indes Galantes and love it to bits. I've lent it out to a ballet enthusiast friend and am looking forward to its return so I can watch it again.

I see you recommend Les Paladins. I'd love to know what you like about it.