DVD Videos

“[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 ****

“…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

“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

“…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 ****

“It is nothing short of staggering to see how Carsen, using only light and shade, manages to create new spaces again and again within this dreadful labyrinth of steel. Fabio Luisi conducts the Vienna Symphony Orchestra as though in a beguiling dream. Every single instrumental ornament, no matter how small, is clearly audible on the evening air. The ensemble, freed from the obligation to produce great volume in sound, can now concentrate entirely on beauty of tone and expression.” Stuttgarter Zeitung

“Sutherland’s voice retains the sheen of old gold, and can still get up to its agile, vertiginous tricks” The Observer