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Dec-2003 4 star BBC Music Mag. | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Marc Callahan (Bobinet), Jean-Sébastien Bou (Raoul de Gardefeu), Maria Riccarda Wesseling (Métella), Laurent Naouri (Le Baron de Gondremarck), Michelle Canniccioni (La Baronne de Gondremarck), Marie Devellereau (Gabrielle), Jean-Paul Fouchécourt (Frick), Jesus Garcia (Le Brésilien) Chœurs et Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon, Sébastien Rouland (conductor) & Laurent Pelly (stage director) Associate Director Agathe Mélinand Set designs Chantal Thomas Costume designs Laurent Pelly Choreography Laura Scozzi Lighting Joël Adam Dialogue adaptation Agathe Mélinand After La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein, and La Fille du régiment, Virgin Classics develops its DVD catalogue with yet a new stage production by renowned director Laurent Pelly (his 3rd for the label) accompanied by his assistant Agathe Mélinand who again adapted the dialogues as in the other productions. Filmed in Lyons during the performances (18th December – 1st January 2008) the production and the cast re-enacted in our moderns times the satirical portrayal of Parisian life in the Second Empire. The performances were a hit: Laurent Pelly brought to Offenbach’s operetta all the gusto and humour the subject calls for – his staging is wild and frenzied. La Vie parisienne was Offenbach's first full-length piece to portray contemporary Parisian life, unlike his earlier period pieces and mythological subjects. It became one of Offenbach's most popular operettas. The production brings together on stage a rich cast of singers - of which Laurent Naouri, Natalie Dessay’s husband - from the US, France, Italy and under Sébastien Rouland’s lively baton. “A popular hit …. Previously overexposed in France, Pelly’s successes abroad have given us a breathing space. It is good to see him back and on such sparkling form. Aided and abetted by his usual high-octane team, Agathe Mélinand for the adapted dialogue and Chantal Thomas for the wonderful sets, Pelly convincingly updates this satire on hedonistic Second Empire morals to the present day.” Financial Times “The curtain rises on a decidedly modern rebuild of the Gare St-Lazare - so is this Offenbach's operetta or Laurent Pelly's? Pelly, one of the most imaginative of a new generation of French stage directors, has dragged La vie parisienne into our own time. In this stylish production from Lyon Opera, the overture plays over an illuminated map of the Métro, the backdrop in Acts II and III is a Paris street map, and the Brazilian millionaire's bal masqué takes place in a brasserie chicly stuffed with street furniture and a bus. Yet, the music and the libretto are allowed to speak for themselves as loud and clear as they always have done. ...best of all are the servants who masquerade as aristocrats at the Act III dinner to fool Gondremark.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2009 ***** “Pelly and his designer Chantal Thomas update it to the present, so that instead of waiting for the train in Act 1, the two heroes, Bobinet and Raoul de Gardefeu, are in the arrivals section of an international airport. The finale, culminating in the ensemble "Tout tourne, tout danse" really won me over. The last act is in a somewhat sleazy disco, but again the sheer energy of the dancing and the whole spirit of irreverence is so well caught that one feels like joining in the applause. Sébastian Rouland leads the orchestra and chorus of the Lyon Opéra in a performance that is true to the spirit, if not the letter, of the work.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2009 “Both these productions by Laurent Pelly of classic Offenbach opéras-bouffes are somewhat radical in their staging. Neither of them presents the works in a way one would choose to see very often, but they are performed with such vigour and vaudevillian élan that it's hard to resist their appeal.
La vie parisienne was conceived by Offenbach's librettists, Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, as an entertainment for and about the hordes of tourists visiting Paris for the 1867 Exposition Universelle. Pelly and his designer Chantal Thomas update it to the present, so that instead of waiting for the train in Act 1, the two heroes, Bobinet and Raoul de Gardefeu, are in the arrivals section of an international airport. This scene is punctuated by many irritating announcements over the loudspeakers. To a large extent this spoils the scene, so it's a relief when it changes to Raoul's exquisitely minimalist apartment.
Here the action perks up with the arrival of Marie Devellereau as the glove-seller, Gabrielle, and Jean-Paul Fouchécourt as Frick, the bootmaker. The riotous finale, as the tabled'hôte guests are summoned to dinner, really goes with a swing. Best of all is Act 3, when all the girls, impersonating aristocrats, arrive in haute-couture black gowns and march around like catwalk mannequins. In particular, Brigitte Hool as Pauline joins Laurent Naouri as the duped Swedish baron in a splendid account of 'O, beau nuage'. The finale, culminating in the ensemble 'Tout tourne, tout danse' really won me over. The last act is in a somewhat sleazy disco, but again the sheer energy of the dancing and the whole spirit of irreverence is so well caught that one feels like joining in the applause.
Sébastien Rouland leads the orchestra and chorus of the Lyon Opéra in a performance that is true to the spirit, if not the letter, of the work.
Jean-Sébastien Bou and Marc Callahan as Raoul and Bobinet make a terrific pair of womanising socialites, Jesus Garcia a vigorous Brésilien, and in her few moments Michelle Canniccioni is suitably eager as the Baroness out to savour the delights of Paris.
Musically, La Belle Hélène from the Châtelet is a stronger proposition. The production is even more extreme, everything happening as if in the dream of a suburban housewife, played by Dame Felicity Lott with her usual mixture of restraint and comic irony. Everyone is consequently in pyjamas and night attire a lot of the time. (The same recording has been issued on CD from Virgin). Yann Beuron is a salty Paris, and the presence of Michel Sénéchal, François Le Roux and again Laurent Naouri ensures that vocal values triumph over some of the excesses of the production.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Live Recording from The Opéra National de Lyon, 1997
Set Design by Chantal Thomas & Costume Design by Michel Dussarat & Laurent Pelly In the role of Eurydice, Natalie Dessay begins at once with a display of vocal and verbal pyrotechnics, which are then taken up by Yann Beuron as Orpheus. Together they give us an idea of the developments to follow. Dancers and singers melt into a unit. The stage setting and an unconventional choreography sparkle with inventiveness. When Pluto, for example, arrives on skis from the underworld onto Mt. Olympus and Offenbach quotes the famous can-can right in the middle of Pluto’s aria, it seems to be a parody of his own work. The production offers a wealth of material for modern interpretations of this operetta full to the brim with ironic sideswipes at morality and immorality. Thus we see a bored Eurydice lying on the sofa in her apartment as she zaps her way through the TV channels, constantly looking for diversion, showing us how timeless an opera buffa can really be. Sometimes she sings upside down, sometimes hopping around – a vocal masterpiece. Laurent Naouri also captivates in the role of Jupiter and, costumed as a fly, demonstrates his vocal and acting talent with Jacques Offenbach’s “Buzz” aria. Sound Format: PCM STEREO, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1 DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC Picture Format: 16:9 Running Time: 123 mins FSK: 0 Subtitle Languages: GB, DE, FR, ES, IT | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Marc Minkowski conducts OffenbachLive Recordings from The Opéra National de Lyon & Théâtre Musical de Paris - Châtelet
Offenbach: | Orphée aux Enfers Recorded live at the Opéra National de Lyon, 1997 Natalie Dessay (Euridice), Yann Beuron (Orphée), Jean-Paul Fouchecourt (Pluton-Aristée), Laurent Naouri (Jupiter), Martine Olmeda (L'Opinion Publique), Virginie Pochon (Diane), Cassandre Berthon (Cupidon), Lydie Pruvot (Junon), Marylyne Fallot (Vénus), Aketa Cela (Minerve), Steven Cole (John Styx), Etienne Lescroart (Mercure) Opéra National de Lyon La Belle Helène Recorded live at the Théâtre Musical de Paris – Châtelet, 2000 Felicity Lott (Hélène), Michel Sénéchal (Ménélas), Yann Beuron (Pâris), Laurent Naouri (Agamemnon), François Le Roux (Calchas), Eric Huchet (Achille), Marie-Ange Todorovitch (Oreste) Les Musiciens du Louvre |
Arthaus presents an Offenbach Box Set (Orphée aux Enfers & La belle Hélène) featuring Marc Minkowski – the preeminent Offenbach conductor of our day but also a team of wonderful singer-actors (Natalie Dessay & Felicity Lott). Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1 Picture Format: 16:9 DVD Format: 2 x DVD 9 / NTSC Subtitle Languages: GB, DE, FR, ES, IT Running Time: 250 mins + 26 mins (bonus) FSK: 0 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Best of Operetta
Lehár: | Die Lustige Witwe Zurich Opera House Dagmar Schellenberger (Hanna Glawari), Rodney Gilfry (Danilo), Ute Gfrerer (Valencienne), Piotr Beczala (Camille de Rosillon) Zurich Opera House, Franz Welser-Möst (conductor) & Helmuth Lohner (stage director) | Offenbach: | La Belle Helène Théâtre Musical de Paris – Châtelet Felicity Lott (Hélène), Yann Beuron (Pâris), Michel Sénéchal (Ménélas), Laurent Naouri (Agamemnon), François Le Roux (Calchas), Eric Huchet (Achille), Marie-Ange Todorovitch (Oreste) Les Musiciens Du Louvre – Grenoble, Marc Minkowski (conductor) & Laurent Pelly (stage director) | Strauss, J, II: | Die Fledermaus Wiener Staatsoper Lucia Popp (Rosalinde), Edita Gruberova (Adele), Brigitte Fassbaender (Orlofsky), Bernd Weikl (Eisenstein), Walter Berry (Falke), Anton Wendler (Blind) Wiener Staatsoper, Theodor Guschlbauer (conductor) & Otto Schenk (stage director) |
Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1 // PCM Stereo (Die Fledermaus) Picture Format: 16:9 // 4:3 (Die Fledermaus) DVD Format: 3 x DVD 9, NTSC Subtitle Languages: GB, DE, FR, ES, IT // + CN (Die Fledermaus) Running Time: 421 mins + 26 mins (Bonus “La belle Hélène”) FSK: 0 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Offenbach's SecretA film by István Szabó (1995)
In the feature film Offenbachs's Secret, Academy Award winning director István Szabó throws new light on the timeless interplay between power, helplessness, courage and conformity in his character studies of two of the most scintillating personalities of France's Deuxième Empire: the affable composer-entrepreneur Jacques Offenbach, and his aristocratic patron Charles de Morny. István Szabó recreates a memorable night at the theatre in turbulent 1860`s Paris. Showcasing eccentrically staged performances of two Offenbach short operas, István Szabó brings to the life the composer Offenbach and his contemporaries in a delightful political satire. Bonus: The missing manuscript of "The Tales of Hoffmann" by Gérald Caillat: This documentary recounts the history of the missing manuscript showing the roles of all involved in this "musical detective story": score owners, music publishers, musicologists, opera directors, conductors, stage directors, etc, from Paris to New York via Hamburg and Burgundy. Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9 Sound format DVD: STEREO, DD 2.0 Region code: 0 Booklet notes: English, German, French Original Language: English, Hungarian Subtitles: English, German, French Running time: 139 mins (87 mins + 52 mins Bonus) | 
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Daniel Galvez-Vallejo, José van Dam Chorus & Orchestra of the Lyon Opera, Kent Nagano, stage direction by Louis Erlo, set design by Philippe Starck Recording Date: 1993
Place of recording: From the Opera National de Lyon
Running Time: 120 min
Picture Format: 4:3
Sound Format: PCM Stereo
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Helene Delavault, Claire Wauthion, Isabelle Mazin, Jean-Yves Chatelais, Jacques Verzier Chorus & Orchestra of the Lyon National Opera, Jean-Yves Ossonce, stage direction by Alain Francon Recording Date: 1991
Place of recording: Opera National de Lyon
Running Time: 159 min
Picture Format: 4:3
Sound Format: PCM Stereo
Menu Languages PAL: D, F, GB, SP
Subtitle Languages PAL: D, F, GB, SP
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Alexandru Badea, Elizabeth Vidal, Dale Duesing, Reinaldo Macias, André Jung, Désirée Meiser Chorus and Symphony Orchestra of the Théatre de la Monnaie, Patrick Davin, stage direction by Herbert Wernicke Recording Date: 1997
Place of recording: Théatre de la Monnaie Brussels
Running Time: 143 min
Picture Format: 16:9
Sound Format: PCM Stereo
Menu Languages PAL: D, GB, F, SP
Subtitle Languages PAL: D, GB, F, SP
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Recorded 1947/1950. Includes two bonus CDs with the soundtrack to the German version of the movie, starring Rudolf Schock, Josef Metternich, Rita Streich, Anny Schlemm. | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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