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production on dvd truly departing from medieval nürnberg and trying to wrestle with this issues for this alone this is a must see trailer for the dvd the bottom line scale of 1 5 3 average franz hawlata 4 michaela kaune 3 4 klaus florian vogt 5 michael volle 5 norbert ernst 4 carola guber 4 katharina wagner s production 4 5 sebastian weigle 4 overall impression 5 posted by mostly opera at 20 27 no comments labels bayreuth festival dvd review franz hawlata katharina wagner klaus florian vogt meistersinger michael volle richard wagner tuesday 23 april 2013 disappointing meistersinger from zürich die meistersinger von nürnberg zurich opera 2003 production nikolaus lehnhoff conductor franz welser möst cast josé van dam sachs peter seiffer walther petra maria schnitzer eva matti salminen pogner michael volle beckmesser brigitte pinter magdalene christoph strehl david gunther groissböck nightwatchman it is not the first time that otherwise quite inventive stage directors seem to freeze and revert to previous times static theatre when faced with meistersinger while it is perhaps not surprising that no one seems to have truly decoded this piece why not at least give it a try katharina wagner did with mixed but nevertheless interesting results nikolaus lehnhoff as seen here well suffice to say we are light years from his production of tristan and isolde to be seen at glyndebourne around the same time nikolaus lehnhoff s style is easily recognizable though simplistic geometric sets in stylish colours and characters in period costumes just take a look at the abstract blue second act with a massive stair case which could easily have been re used for his lohengrin the best are the equally abstract 3rd act sets including and excellent amphitheatre excellent ballet however when the answer to the question what did you learn from this staging regarding the characters and their relationship is nothing then the raison d être for this dvd eludes me especially as none of the singers were stand outs either peter seiffert sings walther like tristan though not without strain his real life wife petra maria schnitzer is better vocally though not exactly youthful is it really that difficult to cast these two characters after all this is not tristan and isolde also as magdalene we see the rather mature brigitte pinter and while matti salminen brings his usual command to pogner he is not in optimal vocal shape age notwithstanding i have seen much better performances from him recently josé van dams strong point is his characterization of sachs the voice rather too dry however his strong stage presence and the experience he brings to the role makes up for a lot best of all however michael volle in a role he repeated in bayreuth a couple of years later vocally strong always interesting and never ridiculous a better beckmesser is not to be seen today finally franz welser möst presents a rather swift reading which is not bad at all especially as he keeps momentum throughout however the competition is stiff and he does not reach the level of neither barenboim thielemann nor levine on competing dvds final scene the bottom line scale of 1 5 3 average josé van dam 3 4 peter seiffert 2 petra maria schnitzer 3 michael volle 5 matti salminen 4 christoph strehl 4 lehnhoffs production 3 franz welser möst 3 overall impression 3 posted by mostly opera at 17 45 no comments labels dvd review franz welser möst meistersinger michael volle peter seiffert zurich opera sunday 21 april 2013 pique dame barcelona dvd pique dame dvd 2010 liceu barcelona production gilbert deflo conductor michael boder cast misha didyk hermann emily magee lisa lado ataneli tomsky ludovic tezier yeletski elena zaremba pauline ewa podles countess tchaikovsky s opera about the gambling addictive hermann who loves lisa but kills her grandmother the countess in order to gain three secret winning cards is not quite at the same level of his eugene onegin but nevertheless contains some beautiful music and 2 3 famous arias one by yeletsky lisa s rejected fiance 1 2 by lisa but above all it is the role of the countess which offers one of the few possibilities for great singer personalities and the role is often cast with singers far past the age of normal retirement presently both anja silja and agnes baltsa may be seen in the role the production by gilbert deflo is elegant and largely traditional period costumes a sparse background same recipe as he has previously used as in his paris versions of manon ballo in maschera and rigoletto zürich unfortunately it is not at the same levels as his best work such as an extraordinary version of prokofiev s oranges thus while the central confrontation between hermann and countess is quite thrilling other parts especially the first act seems a bit jaded hermann really is a quite unsympathetic character and misha didyk plays him well vocally however he is quite overchallenged sounding heavily strained in almost every forte passage emily magee is an at times wonderful and very touching lisa though she seems to mature for the role which doesn t seem to lie well for her and is not among her best ludovic tezier in what is basically a one aria a bit more role sings his one famous aria well and looks sufficiently disappointed by lisa s rejection of him however by far the strongest performance is ewa podles grandiose countess a true primordial force and an entirely sufficient reason to watch this dvd or at least the 2 nd act unfortunately the orchestra is somewhat disappointing as well lacking both punch and density under michael boder pique dame is not well represented on recent dvds but however i doubt that this will end up as a first choice in five years time ewa podles and misha didyk in act 2 the bottom line scale of 1 5 3 average misha didyk 3 emily magee 4 ewa podles 5 ludovic tezier 4 gilbert deflo s production 3 4 michael boder 3 overall impression 3 posted by mostly opera at 14 34 no comments labels barcelona opera liceu dvd review emily magee michaelboder friday 19 april 2013 singers disappoint in smashing carsen tannhäuser staging tannhäuser dvd liceu barcelona 2008 production robert carsen conductor sebastian weigle cast peter seiffert tannhäuser petra maria schnitzer elisabeth beatrice uria monzon venus günther groissböck hermann markus eiche wolfram with this production of tannhäuser robert carsen has created one of his best stagings elegant well thought out as well as thought provoking there is only one problem this was a co production between the opera houses of paris and barcelona in paris the cast including nina stemme and sophie koch was superb in barcelona less so and however illogical and unfortunate the dvd was filmed in barcelona to robert carsen ths opera evolves around an artists struggle with the creative process tannhäuser is a painter we begin in his studio where he is painting the naked venus multiple copies of tannhäuser try and paint venus as well but all ends in an orgy of nakedness and is this not the problem perhaps that nakedness itself is not enough to be exciting let alone artistic inspiration in any case tannhäuser completes his painting and in act 2 finds himself in a modern art gallery hermann is the owner a reception is about to begin unsurprisingly what we see next is a successive revelation of paintings note that we the audience only see the reverse side never what is actually on the painting during the traditional sängerfest shocked by tannhäusers painting of the naked venus presumably as we never get to see it he is expelled from the gallery during all this carsen makes extensive use of the auditorium as both gallery guests as elisabeth and tannhäuser enter and exit from between the rows of spectators so far no real interpretative controversy however this is to come in the third act which opens with elisabeth dreaming about tannhäuser whilst performing some act of autoeroticism when the painters pilgrims return from rome their scaffolds are empty stripped of their paintings with the antecedents in mind it really is not that surprising that when tannhäuser finally calls out for venus she arrives together with elisabeth the two women have merged into one so to say representing two different but equally essential aspects of womanhood thus when tannhäuser now reveals his painting after elisabeth has touched it a high class audience it is recognized as a masterpiece and is assigned a place on the wall in a gallery full of masterpieces its final place being on the wall just beneath botticelli s venus from milo as the painting is turned around just before it is revealed the curtain drops the weakness however are the singers in paris they had nina stemme sophie koch and eva maria westbroek in a previous run here beatrice uria monzon looks stunning just as fine as her act 1 body double but vocally she is shaky and her vibrato is unpleasant as for peter seiffert his acting is not too bad but vocally he is just not very pleasant to listen too his real life wife petra maria schnitzer does better but there is no bloom in her voice and she is no match for the paris ladies best are markus eiche a substitute for bo skovhus as wolfram and günter groissböck as hermann weigle is doing fine without being extraordinary however a tannhäuser without a real tannhäuser is a hard sell as for alternative versions the idea of tannhäuser centered around creative struggles is also explored in kasper holtens staging from copenhagen now available on dvd but otherwise my recommendation would probably either alden s production frommunich or lehnhoff s from baden baden arrival of the guests act 2 the bottom line scale of 1 5 3 average peter seiffert 2 3 beatrice uria monzon 3 petra maria schnitzer 3 4 günter groissböck 4 markus eiche 4 sebastian weigle 4 robert carsens production 5 posted by mostly opera at 15 37 2 comments labels barcelona opera liceu beatrice uria monzon dvd review peter seiffert richard wagner tannhäuser wednesday 17 april 2013 giulio cesare by david mcvicar giulio cesare in egitto dvd glyndebourne 2005 production david mcvicar conductor william christie with orchestra of the age of enlightment cast sarah connolly giulio cesare angelika kirchschlager sesto danielle de niese cleopatra patricia bardon cornelia christopher maltman achilla christophe dumaux tolomeo we are in the 19 th century at the time of the british colonisation of egypt and the opera evolves around the clashes between the british giulio cesare and the egyptians cleopatra and her brother tolomeo david mcvicar has created a fast paced exciting production that really has to be considered a must for those interested in baroque opera even those not normally inclined towards baroque such as myself may find this production highly entertaining which i certainly did first of all w hat really sets this production apart are the many rhythmic dances and movements accompanying the music secondly there really are some quite funny moments as well to just mention one take a look at cleopatra when she dumps her cigarette into the urn of one of cesar s rival cornelia s late husband pompeo danielle de niese gives us an entirely unsophisticated almost vulgar version of cleopatra her voice rings clear she has a very direct manner of delivery and she is a fabulous dancer she definitely has the x factor she seems completely involved in the portrait of this scheming character no doubt helped by david mcvicar s entertaining personenregie no wonder she had her international breakthrough with this role later however it became clear that she applies this particular stage manner to all of her roles at which point her career seemed to stagnate a bit however as cleopatra and as poppea as well she is fabulous while i personally prefer a countertenor in the part of giulio cesare i must admit that i have never seen a female singer as convincing as sarah connelly in a pants role her masculine bearing as well as forceful masculine straight toned singing is simply extraordinary futhermore her presence comes with a hint of an underlying menace very appropriate for a roman emperor british general patricia bardon sings cornlia with beauty but the erda like power the part demands she does not have and yes she sings erda too with the exact same problems as here angelika kirchschlager in her first baroque production is a youthful sesto looking at least 20 years younger than kirchschlager s age christophe dumaux seems to be the tolemeo of choice today appearing in almost every production of importance while he sings beautifully he somehow fails to leave a lasting impact on stage after all he is giulio cesar s main adversary but up against sarah connelly he seems bleak to complete the cast there is an extraordinary rhythmic drive and vivacity in the orchestra of the age of enlightenment conducted by william christie this production will be seen later this spring at the metropolitan opera where patricia bardon will repeat her cornelia with david daniels as giulio cesare and natalie dessay as cleopatra a role she also performed in the pelly production from paris and christoph dumaux of course as tolomeo this could well be the production of choice for many and in any case it is certainly worth a view personally i still prefer negrin s production from copenhagen due to the even greater vivacity and andreas scholl s giulio cesare danielle de niese da tempeste the bottom line scale of 1 5 3 average sarah connelly 5 danielle de niese 5 angelika kirschschager 5 patricia bardon 3 4 christoph dumaux 4 david mcvicar s production 5 william christie 5 overall impression 5 posted by mostly opera at 14 58 no comments labels angelika kirchschlager danielle de niese david mcvicar dvd review sarah connelly sunday 14 april 2013 bieito and don giovanni which scandal don giovanni gran teatre del liceu barcelona 2002 dvd production calixto bieito conductor bertrand de billy cast wojtek drabowicz don giovanni kwanchul youn leporello regina schörg donna anna véronique gens donna elvira anatoly kocherga commendatore marcel reijans don ottavio marisa martins zerlina felipe bou masetto this is the production which created massive scandal when seen at the english national opera london in 2001 however despite the presence of both urine and oral sex on stage i was far from shocked and those frequenting contemporary theater productions which i rarely do by the way will probably feel the same on the other hand it will not be to the taste of those preferring a traditional traditional production so take a look at it before buying this for your new mother in law though i d recommend everyone to at least take a look as i find this one of the freshest stagings of don giovanni that i have seen calixto bi eito has created a production which succeed in creating a real contemporary ambiance a quite rare achievement in opera this don giovanni is all about a group of young people living on the edge of society and constantly seeking boundaries don giov...
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