DVD Videos

“Though all of the performances are delivered with some intelligence Negine fails to draw much in the way of intensity from any of his singers, either individually or in confrontation. …any DVD Caesar has to measure itself against Glyndebourne's (on Opus Arte), which is going to take some beating.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2007 ***

“This is certainly the most insightful and intelligent for drama, and probably also the best for all-round musical consistency” Gramophone Magazine

“Francisco Negrin's production, though not without judiciously applied humour in a few places, is essentially of a serious nature (and more so than his lighter and brighter Sydney production, reviewed above). Unsurprisingly, this sympathetic approach suits Handel's operaseria to a tee. There are neither damaging large cuts nor ill-advised reordering of movements, and Negrin's ideas fully support the musico-dramatic nature of the characters as presented in the libretto and score. The modernistic setting laced with elements of ancient Egypt provides the platform for a dark and brooding drama.
Where some directors use tricks to amuse the audience, Negrin uses visual playfulness to illustrate a serious point about the characters (such as the contest between elevating thrones in 'Va tacito'). It is refreshing that at the end there is little doubt that the good guys have triumphed: Sesto is caked in Tolomeo's blood, which seems to mark his coming of age in a brutal world, but there is no attempt made to ridicule the victorious leading characters, who fully deserve their happy ending.
Andreas Scholl's singing is consistently astute, and his acting has advanced considerably in subtlety since his operatic debut in Glyndebourne's Rodelinda nearly a decade ago. However, this is an excellent team performance.
Inger Dam-Jensen performs with the ideal sincerity and emotiveness that Cleopatra's character too often lacks in superficial productions.
Tuva Semmingsen's Sesto sings with crystalclear phrasing ('Cara speme' is heart-stopping).
Christopher Robson's singing is weak but his acting as the nasty Tolomeo is superb in its timing of gestures (there is plenty of comedy in his scenes, but he is brutal and menacing rather than the simply camp idiot too often portrayed onstage). Lars Ulrik Mortensen's direction of the music from his harpsichord is well nigh perfect.
This is not the most flamboyant or fancy Giulio Cesare on DVD, but it is certainly the most insightful and intelligent for drama, and probably also the best for all-round musical consistency.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“But the most remarkable performance comes from the Iranian actor/dancer Shahrokh Moshkin-Ghalam dances in an extraordinary fashion that is riveting on screen and must have been electrifying in the theatre. …this is more than a star turn; it's part and parcel of a vividly theatrical conception.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2007 ****

“This lively production originated at Baden Baden in 2003 and moved to the Aix-en-Provence Festival the following year where it was filmed. Marc Minkowski is the moving spirit of the performance and 'moving' is the right epithet, as most of his speeds are on the fast side. No harm in that when the work is so lengthy. He assembled a fine young cast, all of whom are up to their taxing parts, headed by Malin Hartelius as Konstanze, who is at once a visually attractive performer, absolutely tireless in her three arias, and at the same time projects a very moving portrayal. She is partnered by a promising young tenor in Matthias Klink as Belmonte. He is deprived of one of his arias but sings the rest with fluency and makes an eager young lover. Magali Léger is a brightbuttoned Blonde with voice to match, and her Pedrillo, Loïc Felix, is a suitable partner.
Wojtek Smilek is, unusual for the part, more friendly than awesome as Osmin. But in a way the star of the cast is Shahrokh Moshkin- Ghalam, who makes the Pasha Selim both sympathetic and believable. The stage direction and sets are simple and quite effective, but in no way match those on the recently reissued Covent Garden production under Solti, which is also admirably cast. Take your pick.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Boesmans's score, elegant, economical and well-written for the voices, ratchets up the tension unerringly. …the alluring, statuesque Malena Ernman is an irresistible Julie, while Gary Magee wonderfully suggests Jean's unprincipled weakness, and Kerstin Avemo makes much of the mouse-like Kristin... Bondy's purely naturalistic production is beautifully filmed with telling use of close-ups...” BBC Music Magazine, October 2007 *****

“The economy of the opera - lasting just 70 minutes and using only three singers - belies the richness of its allusions and its intensity of emotional insight. Boesman’s musical language is contemporary yet it draws on a lyrical tradition of the past: his setting of Luc Bondy’s and Marie- Louise Bischofberger’s libretto is highly effective…This staging of Philippe Boesman’s chamber opera, first seen in Brussels in 2005, was the British debut of not only Julie, but of any Boesman’s opera. For that alone Music Theatre Wales should take huge credit. It seems extraordinary that a composer of such accomplishment has not been heard here, but that’s the lazy, safe game that companies play.” Opera, August 2007

“Quite mistakenly… Lev Dodin, the director of this version from Paris, has pulled the action as far back to the original story as he can manage. The price is the loss of most of the suspense, a lack of interesting characterisation, and boringly unchanging sets - it all takes place in a madhouse. Hermann relives the past... while gibbering around the stage throughout. Fortunately Vladimir Galouzine is a superb singer and actor, and makes everything he can of the role... His adversary, the Countess, is portrayed as a robust, not a crumbling figure, and Lisa becomes a cipher with some wonderful music to sing. Listen and you'll be impressed, watch and you'll be confused and irritated.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2007 ***

“[Morosow] is persuasive in his emotional transformations from cruel tyrant to confused madman to supplicant...Bruno Ribeiro, is a dashing and sturdy-voiced Ismaele...But it is Gabriella Morigi who steals the limelight as Abigaille...Her acting is riveting; she not so much chews the scenery as devours it. Her singing is equally melodramatic.” MusicWeb International

“The emphasis of the EuroArts version is the sheer spectacle of this 2007 production from the St Margareten Opera Festival. It really goes over the top, with Nabucco making his entry on a huge siege machine...Morigi is a properly histrionic Abigaille...it is the superb singing of the chorus which is the most thrilling part of the opera” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition ***

“Henze's first opera, premiered in 1952, already has the wide-ranging melodic lines and rich harmonies, the rhythmic drive and jazz inflexions of his mature style. Laura Aikin and Pär Lindskog play the ill-fated principals with complete confidence and accuracy: The camera-work sensitively mirrors Lehnhoff's direction.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2008 ****

“The sceptical voices were disappointingly persistent when the Royal Opera's reopening season in 2000 staged the UK premiere of Henze's first opera. Could a 90-minute one-acter by a 26-year-old hold attention, and fill seats? That it did so, and eventually did so triumphantly, was a measure not only of the composer's precocious theatrical gifts but of Nikolaus Lehnhoff's production, which held faith with the decision of Henze and his librettist Grete Weil to update Prévost's story to the period of its premiere in 1952. The action centres around a grand central railway station, full of the impersonal grandeur and busy movement of human flotsam and jetsam that are the natural property of such places.
Billy Wilder and Henri-Georges Clouzot make their mark on the continual cutting between scenes; Xavi Bové's direction for video is unusually subtle, taking full advantage of Henze's extended intermezzi to watch clocks and art-deco pillars.
Bernhard Kontarsky's pacing was tighter in London, catching more of the clickety-clack of Henze's percussion writing but Peskó and the Liceu band are up to the mark, letting the sly allusions to jazz and Weill in the intermezzi live on borrowed time. Henze's Manon is knowingly self-condemned from the outset, one feels, with greater self-possession than her literary and operatic ancestors from Prévost to Puccini. Not that that makes for static loss of drama or fulfilment, when her story gradually cedes to the hopeless infatuation of des Grieux. Laura Aikin is a strong, sluttish Manon, fuller of voice and more voluptuous of figure than the devastating femme fatale of Alexandra von der Weth at Covent Garden. Both steal the show in their own way, as Lulus deserve to.
Pär Lindskog reprises his central role, at least as much Rodolfo as Alwa. Tom Fox as Lescaut could afford to bluster and shout a little less, but the smaller roles always bear the composer's legato lines in mind. Henze takes a bow at the end, and it must have been moving for him to see how his forgotten child has grown up and stood on his own feet.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“…Nikolaus Lehnhoff's production… held faith with the decision of Henze and his librettist Grete Weil to update Prévost's story to the period of its premiere in 1952. The action centre around a grand central railway stations, full of the impersonal grandeur and busy movement of human flotsam and jetsam that are the natural property of such places. ...Peskó and the Lieceu band are up to the mark, letting the sly allusions to jazz and Weill in the intermezzi live on borrowed time. Laura Aikin is a strong sluttish Manon, fuller of voice and more voluptuous of figure than the devastating femme fatale of Alexandra van der Weth at Covent Garden. Both steal the show in their own way, as Lulus deserve to.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2007

“…they have hit the operatic jackpot: an intelligent production that should appeal to anyone with a broad interest in 20th-century music, cinema, theatre, art or design.” The Independent

“…a lively and picturesque production of a romantic comedy.” Sydney Morning Herald

“…Yves Abel's propulsive conducting in this Bilbao performance makes a positive case for the score. The dramatic weaknesses… are much less well disguised in Ignacio García's static production and Domenico Franchi's heavy designs. Ildar Abrazakov brings gravitas and warmth to the title role... and the soprano Evelyn Herlitzius is compelling as Oberto's daughter, Leonora.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2008 ***

“‘…shot through with genius and is recognizably Verdi's from the first slashing phrase…” New York Times

“Zarewitsch rhymes with 'Slavic kitsch'. Lehár's inconsequential piece of fluff about the romance between the heir to the throne and a Circassian dancer enjoys classy casting.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2007 ****