Sylvain Cambreling - DVD & Blu-ray videos

“Everybody was taken by the warmth and the emotion in Susan Graham’s voice as well as her breathtaking acting” Le Figaro

“Update is the imperfect noun we use. Christoph Marthaler's production has transposed 18th-century upstairs-downstairs to bridal retail in 2001. We get Mozart's music and Da Ponte's words, subject to Mr. Marthaler's cheerful interventions and interpolations, but everyone onstage dresses like you and me. Christine Schäfer's Cherubino is the most successful transplant. With her T-shirt, hip-hop jeans, mop wig and chewing gum, Ms. Schäfer sings sweetly and argues well for the lovesick page as ghastly 21st-century teenager... Lorenzo Regazzo is a natural born Figaro” New York Times

“Peter Mussbach provides a minimalist set, dominated by simple geometrical shapes, comic-book colours, grotesque costumes, and, occasionally, abstractions of the action: instead of a parade, for instance, we get musical instruments hanging from wires bouncing through the air.” Fanfare

“Everybody was taken by the warmth and the emotion in Susan Graham’s voice as well as her breathtaking acting” Le Figaro

“the finest recording of Il barbiere since the famous Callas/Gobbi set on CD...Maria Ewing is an absolutely delightful Rosina, her prettiness matching her coquettish charm and superb vocal bravura...All told, a marvellous cast, superb singing, and sparklingly stylish orchestra playing...make this 1981 Glyndebourne recording a set to treasure.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“This production was the sensation of the 1999 Salzburg Festival, and this riveting DVD captures most of the excitement that must have been felt at the time in the evocative Felsenreitschule. The staging is a joint venture. The spectacular scenic realisation of Berlioz's 'Légende dramatique' originated with the Spanish theatre troupe La Fura dels Baus; the staging itself is the work of Olle and Pedrissa. The sets and costumes were conceived by the Spanish sculptor Jaume Piensa.
The results were described in the press as 'extreme theatre' – and one can see why when viewing the virtuoso treatment of the vast stage area. It's dominated by a transparent cylinder which serves all sorts of purposes, depicting in particular the soul-searching struggles of Faust and Méphistophélès; while the complex choral movements and an elaborate lighting plot are all carried out without a hint of a hitch.
The producer certainly managed to inspire all the participants to heights of interpretative skill.
Cambreling and the Berlin Staatskapelle perform with discipline and fire, wanting only that extra dedicated vision evinced by Colin Davis and the LSO on CD. Kasarova and Willard White, stage beings to their fingertips, sing and act with total conviction. Kasarova is the vulnerable, insecure, beautiful Marguerite to the life, every gesture and facial expression supporting her intense reading of the glorious music Berlioz wrote for her. Her vision of the great Romance is idiosyncratic to say the least, but a triumph of erotic communication on its own account, a cross between Callas and Ewing at their most individual. White is commanding throughout – at once demonic, cynical, relaxed and satirical, his huge voice absolutely in command of the role. Groves isn't quite on his colleagues' level of accomplishment, but acts and sings with the awe and sense of identity-seeking which this production requires of its Faust. The sound, as on most DVDs, is exemplary. Highly recommended.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010