DVD Videos

“Yet another classic opera video reappears refreshed. The DVD, though, metaphorically flicks a light-switch to reveal that the fresh, fluent conducting and singing are only elements in a splendidly lively, witty and thoroughly integrated production.
As the production's pace demands, the singers are mostly young, although old stagers Jules Bastin and Gabriel Bacquier provide resonant ballast. Jean-Luc Viala's chubby, light-toned Prince, Georges Gautier's amiable wide-boy Truffaldino, Vincent le Texier's reptilian Leandro, Michèle Lagrange's Wagnerian Fata Morgana, Catherine Dubosc's delicate Ninetta – they're all excellent, but the real star is the ensemble, with no weak links and the benefit of natural French. Whether or not this is the 'original' language, Prokofiev approved it; more viewers will understand it; and it fits the vocal line at least as well as the Russian. The DVD transfer refreshes the original recording but also reveals its limitations: slightly thin sound and some grain in the picture. But you'll enjoy yourself too much to care.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“This is an uncommonly interesting examination of how a great Handel opera may be performed without insisting that only Baroque specialists need apply. Some of the singers here aren't obvious Handelians: Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz has something of the attack and occasionally the cutting edge of a lyricdramatic soprano, while Thomas Randle quite often puts his voice under pressure in response to the extreme demands of Handel's first and most intensely dramatic major tenor role. And yet one hardly ever wishes for more 'authentic' voices. Both singers are very musical, well aware of the requirements of Handel's style; both, especially Randle, are highly accomplished actors – it's a minor but significant point that when either of them was on screen I neither watched nor needed the subtitles.
Both, not wholly irrelevantly, are strikingly handsome.
That they can be so effective is largely due to Jonathan Miller's very plain but highly intelligent production, to Trevor Pinnock's alert and sympathetic direction and to the wonderfully intimate theatre at Bad Lauchstadt where the opera was filmed as part of the 50th Halle Handel Festival in 2001. The set is basic – a few mottled gold panels – the costumes are sumptuous, but in a theatre this size everyone in the audience can see facial expressions and the slightest gestures, and Miller has concentrated his direction on this. The result, at such a moment as when Bajazet and his daughter Asteria resolve on suicide rather than further humiliation by Tamerlano is intensely moving, as is the exquisite duet in which Asteria and her lover Andronico vow that their love will even survive her death.
Handelian voices or no, it is in short an utterly Handelian performance. The orchestra is splendid and Pinnock's pacing of the drama ideal.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“This is an instance where the DVD...is greatly preferable to the CDs, with solo voices anturally caught and strongly projected against the beautifully recorded and balanced orchestra...It is a strong team of soloists...Thomas Randle gives a vigorously resonant account of the role of Bajazet...The DVD is strongly documented and includes a 'read the score' facility” Penguin Guide, 2010 ****

“The singing is glorious, and this is one of the DVDs that should be the cornerstone in any collection. A superb stage spectacle.” Penguin Guide

“The whole show takes its tone from Alagna's lovable Nemorino” BBC Music Magazine, January 2010

“Frank Dunlop's witty, unvarnished view of Donizetti's country comedy, updated to the 1930s, is delightful to see, wondrous to hear.
Gheorghiu and Alagna make an ideal partnership as capricious girl and shy bumpkin. They both act and sing their roles to near perfection in a staging that exposes the heart and heartlessness as much as the fun of this work.
Singing with every care for tone and nuance, Gheorghiu presents Adina as by turns, haughty, flighty, concerned, annoyed when the other girls paw him, and finally tender when love at last triumphs, and she finds the vocal equivalent for each mood. Not so versatile vocally, but always tidy and responsive to the text, Alagna makes an attractively naive, emotionally vulnerable Nemorino.
Scaltriti's Belcore is made deliberately unsympathetic by Dunlop and at times he seems to be overblowing his basically attractive voice. There need be no reservations about Alaimo's witty yet genial Dulcamara: all the buffo elements of the part are there but never exaggerated. Evelino Pidò conducts a trim account of the score, his often fast speeds justified by the way his singers enjoy them in terms of athletic delivery. Brian Large's video direction is predictably exemplary. The sound and widescreen picture make us feel present at an obviously enjoyable night at the opera.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“None of the four video-recorded versions can be called ideal; but this Met cycle has plenty of strong points. It's the only one Wagner would have recognised – no small consideration. It's frequently assumed these days that he chose myth primarily to convey political allegory, but this is misleading. Myth inspired Wagner as directly as it did, say, Sibelius; and producers who ignore or mock this, like Patrice Chéreau on Pierre Boulez's rival set, miss a vital dimension.
Here, Otto Schenk and designer Gunther Schneider-Siemssen preserve the Romantic imagery, often beautifully, as Brian Large's cameras reveal; but also unimaginatively, with too many tired compromises. Some, such as the Rhinemaidens' non-swimming contortions and the feeble dragon, are embarrassing, and the costumes often look poor on screen. Individual performances, too, sometimes don't fit into a satisfactory ensemble.
This set can also claim musical superiority; but again, not conclusively. Boulez mistakes speed for energy, drying out the richness of the score; Levine, with the magnificent Met orchestra, tends to wallow in it, especially in a disappointing Rheingold. Matters improve from Walküre onward, but he's prone to sudden wheelspinning accelerations, sometimes wrongfooting his singers.
Boulez remains invisible at Bayreuth; Levine is too much with us, to the detriment of atmosphere.
Nevertheless, his monumental approach does bring out The Ring's sheer beauty and grandeur, where Boulez simply seems glib.
Levine's cast is superior, too, although the pivotal roles are the closest. Both Brünnhildes are splendid, spirited and deeply moving, but Boulez's Gwyneth Jones has the fuller voice; Hildegard Behrens, lithe and nervy, must force an essentially lyric instrument – quite successfully, but the effort shows. James Morris, aspiring to be a bel canto Wotan, has a richer voice Wagner Opera 1279 than Boulez's Donald MacIntyre, but his diction and his acting are less incisive – partly the producer's fault in Rheingold; he improves thereafter.
Siegfried Jerusalem, though, eclipses Boulez's inadequate Manfred Jung. More lyrical and vocally more heroic, he's a finer musician, less liable to strain and distort the line, and an impressive stage figure.
Jerusalem's surprisingly characterful Loge, despite his galia melon headgear, is probably the best thing in Rheingold. It's rewarding to hear the 'Narration' in this kind of voice. Otherwise this is lacklustre. A superb Rhinemaiden trio is left earthbound, writhing unconvincingly round Ekkehard Wlaschiha's buffoonish Alberich, short on menace until the final curse. Christa Ludwig's once definitive Fricka looks and sounds tired.
Levine's tempi in Rheingold rival those of Reginald Goodall, but without his structure and pacing; the Giants' entrance is marked molto pesante, not funereal. They, the Rhinemaidens and the lesser gods – especially Birgitta Svendén's keenvoiced Erda – outclass their betters.
Levine handles Walküre more successfully. Act 1, though, isn't a success. Gary Lakes' massive but rather lean-toned Siegmund is ill-matched with Jessye Norman, whose vocally searing Sieglinde is subverted by her grande dame manner, robbing the love scenes of any real involvement.
Behrens, however, injects Act 2 with life, and though Ludwig's Fricka still sounds tired, Morris begins to make an impact, singing rather than declaiming the Narration. With a ringingly athletic Valkyrie band, Levine rushes the Ride, but brings the act to a moving Farewell.
Siegfried is visually and musically the best, with Levine at his liveliest, and a Romantic forest out of Altdorfer or von Schwind. Jerusalem's ardent hero may lack Heldentenor heft, and suffer some constraint at the top, but he carries off the forging and lyrical scenes with credit. The Wanderer often suits basses' range and personae, and Morris's commanding, world-weary god dominates Zednik's veteran Mime (mercifully not Chéreau's cute victim), Wlaschiha's now mordant Alberich; and Svendén's eerie Erda. Levine's protracted 'Awakening' stretches Behrens, but she and Jerusalem infuse the love duet with appealing life.
Levine's expansiveness suits Götterdämmerung, which opens with a powerful trio of Norns and a radiant Dawn duet. Chez Gibichung, though, the temperature drops, with Anthony Raffell (a fine Wotan) a miscast, bumbling Gunther, and Gutrune sadly unseductive. Matti Salminen's brutish Hagen, though richly sung, lacks the essential supernatural undertones. Ludwig is much better as Waltraute, but Jerusalem and especially Behrens carry the performance with involving intensity. The Immolation strains her voice, but remains satisfyingly cathartic, aided by appropriate stage spectacle, though Valhalla's downfall is disappointing.
All told, while this set may be less stimulating than the Boulez, it's also less distracting – without, as an eminent colleague once remarked, someone forever shouting in your ear. As well as the original digital stereo, remixed surroundsound tracks convincingly evoke extra ambiance and detail. The image also remasters well, although you may want to turn up the colour.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“None of the four video-recorded versions can be called ideal; but this Met cycle has plenty of strong points. It's the only one Wagner would have recognised – no small consideration. It's frequently assumed these days that he chose myth primarily to convey political allegory, but this is misleading. Myth inspired Wagner as directly as it did, say, Sibelius; and producers who ignore or mock this, like Patrice Chéreau on Pierre Boulez's rival set, miss a vital dimension.
Here, Otto Schenk and designer Gunther Schneider-Siemssen preserve the Romantic imagery, often beautifully, as Brian Large's cameras reveal; but also unimaginatively, with too many tired compromises. Some, such as the Rhinemaidens' non-swimming contortions and the feeble dragon, are embarrassing, and the costumes often look poor on screen. Individual performances, too, sometimes don't fit into a satisfactory ensemble.
This set can also claim musical superiority; but again, not conclusively. Boulez mistakes speed for energy, drying out the richness of the score; Levine, with the magnificent Met orchestra, tends to wallow in it, especially in a disappointing Rheingold. Matters improve from Walküre onward, but he's prone to sudden wheelspinning accelerations, sometimes wrongfooting his singers.
Boulez remains invisible at Bayreuth; Levine is too much with us, to the detriment of atmosphere.
Nevertheless, his monumental approach does bring out The Ring's sheer beauty and grandeur, where Boulez simply seems glib.
Levine's cast is superior, too, although the pivotal roles are the closest. Both Brünnhildes are splendid, spirited and deeply moving, but Boulez's Gwyneth Jones has the fuller voice; Hildegard Behrens, lithe and nervy, must force an essentially lyric instrument – quite successfully, but the effort shows. James Morris, aspiring to be a bel canto Wotan, has a richer voice than Boulez's Donald MacIntyre, but his diction and his acting are less incisive – partly the producer's fault in Rheingold; he improves thereafter.
Siegfried Jerusalem, though, eclipses Boulez's inadequate Manfred Jung. More lyrical and vocally more heroic, he's a finer musician, less liable to strain and distort the line, and an impressive stage figure.
Jerusalem's surprisingly characterful Loge, despite his galia melon headgear, is probably the best thing in Rheingold. It's rewarding to hear the 'Narration' in this kind of voice. Otherwise this is lacklustre. A superb Rhinemaiden trio is left earthbound, writhing unconvincingly round Ekkehard Wlaschiha's buffoonish Alberich, short on menace until the final curse. Christa Ludwig's once definitive Fricka looks and sounds tired.
Levine's tempi in Rheingold rival those of Reginald Goodall, but without his structure and pacing; the Giants' entrance is marked molto pesante, not funereal. They, the Rhinemaidens and the lesser gods – especially Birgitta Svendén's keenvoiced Erda – outclass their betters.
Levine handles Walküre more successfully. Act 1, though, isn't a success. Gary Lakes' massive but rather lean-toned Siegmund is ill-matched with Jessye Norman, whose vocally searing Sieglinde is subverted by her grande dame manner, robbing the love scenes of any real involvement.
Behrens, however, injects Act 2 with life, and though Ludwig's Fricka still sounds tired, Morris begins to make an impact, singing rather than declaiming the Narration. With a ringingly athletic Valkyrie band, Levine rushes the Ride, but brings the act to a moving Farewell.
Siegfried is visually and musically the best, with Levine at his liveliest, and a Romantic forest out of Altdorfer or von Schwind. Jerusalem's ardent hero may lack Heldentenor heft, and suffer some constraint at the top, but he carries off the forging and lyrical scenes with credit. The Wanderer often suits basses' range and personae, and Morris's commanding, world-weary god dominates Zednik's veteran Mime (mercifully not Chéreau's cute victim), Wlaschiha's now mordant Alberich; and Svendén's eerie Erda. Levine's protracted 'Awakening' stretches Behrens, but she and Jerusalem infuse the love duet with appealing life.
Levine's expansiveness suits Götterdämmerung, which opens with a powerful trio of Norns and a radiant Dawn duet. Chez Gibichung, though, the temperature drops, with Anthony Raffell (a fine Wotan) a miscast, bumbling Gunther, and Gutrune sadly unseductive. Matti Salminen's brutish Hagen, though richly sung, lacks the essential supernatural undertones. Ludwig is much better as Waltraute, but Jerusalem and especially Behrens carry the performance with involving intensity. The Immolation strains her voice, but remains satisfyingly cathartic, aided by appropriate stage spectacle, though Valhalla's downfall is disappointing.
All told, while this set may be less stimulating than the Boulez, it's also less distracting – without, as an eminent colleague once remarked, someone forever shouting in your ear. As well as the original digital stereo, remixed surroundsound tracks convincingly evoke extra ambiance and detail. The image also remasters well, although you may want to turn up the colour.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010