Staatskapelle Dresden

“This DVD version of Hänsel und Gretel starts well with the glorious horns of the Dresden Staatskapelle in the overture, and Michael Hofstetter draws warmly expressive playing in a work very much central to their repertory. The staging tells the story clearly and believably but the trendy ideas come too thick and fast for comfort; the delight of the children in the audience, shown in close-ups, adds to one's irritation.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2007

“This DVD version of Hänsel und Gretel starts well with the glorious horns of the Dresden Staatskapelle in the overture, and Michael Hofstetter draws warmly expressive playing in a work very much central to their repertory. The recording, live in the helpful acoustic of the Semperoper, adds to expectation, with eager children in the large audience.
That said, Katharina Thalbach's production will not please everyone. Grotesquerie rather than charm is the keynote. Hansel and Gretel are portrayed as dolls with crude make-up on spotty faces. Even their movements mimic those of puppets. Costumes are those of German peasants, with the drunken father still more of a caricature, both in costume and acting. The sets and designs by Ezio Toffolutti, minimal and stylised, are undistracting.
Other characters, too, match the grotesque illustrations in traditional German fairy-tale books, which seem strangely old-fashioned to us. The exception is the Witch, characterfully sung by Iris Vermillion, initially glamorous in a form-fitting scarlet gown with shiny high boots but transformed into an old crone when she takes off her wig, revealing a bald head, huge false ears and a hump on her back. Small wonder the children push her into the oven.
The cuckoo is another sort of doll, shooting out from the wings on a spring, with the gigantic sweets of the Witch's house let down from the flies, and with the little house itself made up of gigantic biscuits. The Sandman is another doll, and the Dew Fairy appears wearing ice skates around her neck. The captured children are revealed as sweets, until Hansel with a broom frees them all, and they form a long line to shake hands with Hansel and Gretel in a very Germanic way.
The staging tells the story clearly and believably but the trendy ideas come too thick and fast for comfort. Singing is generally good if not outstanding. Hansel (Antigone Papoulkas) and Gretel (Anna Gabler) are diminutive figures with clear, bright voices, and Hans-Joachim Ketelsen as the Father and Irmgard Vilsmaier as the Mother sing strongly; Lydia Teuscher is jewel-bright as the Sandman and the Dew Fairy.
Excellent singing, too, from the chorus of children and women.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“a wholly enchanting production of Humperdinck's wonderfully tuneful children's opera that cannot be recommended too highly...Iris Vermillon is a gloriously camp Witch...But it is Katharina Thalbach's production that makes this such an enchanting entertainment, full of imaginative detail” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition