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pera in hd posted by mostly opera at 16 13 1 comment sunday 24 february 2013 natalie dessay and laurent pelly disappoint in giulio cesare giulio cesare opera garnier paris 2011 dvd production laurent pelly conductor emmanuelle haïm with le concert d astrée cast natalie dessay cleopatra lawrence zazzo cesare varduhi abrahamya cornelia isabel leonard sesto christophe dumaux tolomeo nathan berg achille laurent pelly is the director of this giulio cesare from the paris opera and from him one would expect a fast paced staging with l ots of action and entertainment not so difficult with giulio cesare you would think just pick any period of war plot cesar and the egyptians as the adversaries et voila so perhaps someone may care to explain why laurent pelly think it is a good idea to stage giulio cesare in the reserves of an egyptian museum where the statues gradually comes to life and museum workers enter and exit the premises all the time pusing ancient statues around and by the end of the day opera leave with their girlfriends though stylish the personal relations between statues equals zero which admittedly takes away a lot of otherwise inherent drama in what i find to be händel s best opera and where is the personenregie that laurent pelly is well capable of and that we have seen in several of his other productions additionally for inexplicable reasons the museum reserves fills up with renaissance paintings in act 2 and is conversed into some sort of carpet shop for act 3 this was natalie dessay s debut as cleopatra natalie dessay as especially the french will know is a very charming and honest woman and i would love to be able to write that she triumphed as cleopatra i suspect much of the french audience at the opera garnier felt the same way however you will have to be a fanatic fan and or close friend family member to think that she is a fine cleopatra yes she has a few beautiful notes in her middle register but essentially it is impossible to hide that the rest of her voice is in ruins and cannot sustain even the slightest pressure on top her overacting seems hysterical she is scheduled to sing this at the metropolitan opera in david mcvicars production late this spring to pull this off in the huge met auditorium she will need more than good luck frankly speaking if i were natalie dessay i would consider pursuing the spoken theater career she has previously spoken about now seems to be a good time as she is still loved by the public and she will be remembered for the wonderful voice she had 10 years ago and not for the ruin it has become best of all was probably isabel leonard who really has a wonderfully fluid voice reminding me of frederica vonstade for some strange reason there were a lot of stage activity workers tumbling with statues etc during virtually all of her arias lawrence zazzo has sung and is still singing giulio cesare everywhere he clearly knows the part and acts well but he is a small step below some of his contestants in terms of both beauty of tone and characterization most notably andreas scholl and david daniels varduhi abrahamya has a beautiful voice as cornelia but fails to convey the strength of character this could well come however as she seems very young nathan berg though in fine voice scores about 1 on a sexual menace scale from 1 10 tolomeo must be something of a signature role christophe dumaux and as on previous occasions he sings it well but i lack some power and strenght of characterization him being small very slim man probably does not help either finally emmanuelle haïm is a real winner her style may seem a bit controversial but it works and there is an excellent drive in her performance apparently she is responsible for many of the ornamentations heard which work well as well natalie dessay se pietá the bottom line scale of 1 5 3 average natalie dessay 2 lawrence zazzo 3 varduhi abrahamya 3 4 isabel leonard 5 christophe dumaux 4 laurent pelly s staging 3 emmanuelle haïm 5 overall impression 3 posted by mostly opera at 11 44 1 comment labels dvd review emmanuelle haïm isabel leonard laurent pelly natalie dessay paris opera garnier thursday 21 february 2013 le grand macabre in bench mark production by fura dels baus le grand macabre gran teatre de liceu barcelona 2011 production fura del baus alex ollé valentina carrasco conductor michael boder cast chris merrit pier the pot inés moraleda amando ana puche amanda werner van mechelen nekrotzar frode olsen astradamors barbara hannigan venus gepopo written between 1974 77 ligeti wanted to create a so called anti anti opera as a reaction to the anti operatic movement represented by mauricio kagel s anti opera staatstheater loosely based on michel de ghelderode s 1934 play the libretto was written in collaboration with michael meschke director of the stockholm puppet theatre as ligeti found the anti opera genre was exhausted with kagel s work he conceived his so called anti anti opera to be well within the traditions of the operatic genre but encompassing the criticism rooted in anti opera the world premiere took place in stockholm in 1978 and the action goes more or less like this nekrotzar death arrives in a world threatened by immediate extinction meets op with 1 a drunkard and 2 an astrologer bullied by his wife as well as some freaky politicians the weird prince go go the secret police gepopo and finally tries to induce the end of the world by a comet in the aftermath he discovers that most people have in fact survived and the final message of the opera is optimistic as we are told not to fear death as no one knows when it will happen to us this ambiguity comedy vs tragedy was important to ligeti who disapproved of peter stein s dark post tchernobyl staging of the revised version of the work seen in salzburg in 1997 the present staging previously seen in bruxelles rome and london before being filmed in barcelona may well prove to be a bench mark for this opera as well as being a world premiere dvd recording alex ollé and valentina carrasco from fura dels baus has created an unbelievably inventive staging quite unlike anything ever seen before in fact it is probably the most imaginative staging to be seen of anything anywhere anytime the inspiration for the staging is claudia schneider an opera singer songwriter a huge replica of her body fills up the stage and the singers move on the surface as well as inside her body where various cross sections are made to expose intestines and inner organs exit and entrance via various orifices eyes vagina nipples etc in fact we follow two parallel courses of action starting with a video of the real life claudia schneider eating a hamburger choking and believing she is going to die finally we see that she is indeed not and the entire opera takes place in those few seconds where she thinks she is going to die the costumes were designed to each represent a body part though not always clear such as pier the pot designed to represent fatty tissue venus representing hair was more easy to get all singers were excellent in this ensemble opera if i were to mention only one it would be barbara hannigan whose stratospheric high notes as venus gepopo still ring in my head michael boder seemed sufficiently in command of a score containing car horns door bells and alarm clocks this dvd is a must for all those interested in modern late 20 th century opera the bottom line scale of 1 5 3 average the entire cast 4 5 fura del baus staging 5 michael boder 4 overall impression 5 posted by mostly opera at 20 04 no comments labels dvd review michael boder friday 15 february 2013 elektra on dvd thielemann watson uhl elektra dvd baden baden 2010 production herbert wernike conductor christian thielemann cast linda watson elekta manuela uhl chrysothemis jane henschel klytemnestra albert döhmen orest rené kollo aegisth a setting seemingly fit for a greek tragedy the singers are under constant spotlights on an otherwise practically empty stage continuously addressing themselves to the audience and never to each other stage design red vs black geometric shapes not at all an ineffective concept but one that requires great stage presence of the singers to fill out these spotlights which two of the four protagonist do well obviously interpersonnel relations are not a focus in a production in which the singers deliver monologues to the audience on the other hand it does render a certain perceived authenticity fake or not to the production deceased in 2002 herbert wernicke obviously is not associated with revival bettina göschl is of a production originally seen at the bavarian state opera this production represented linda watson s debut as elektra as she filled in at the last minute for katarina dalayman good choice katarina you are still in your prime and it will ruin your voice i know you have sung it later in stockholm though linda watson is not bad at all as elektra but she suffers the same problems as most of her predecessors contemporaries in this role by taking it on very late in her career and well after her prime she has difficulty meeting the vocal challenges as well as the bloom in her voice has diminished vastly in addition she is a rather large woman and neither young nor youthful nor gifted with a very compelling stage presence albert döhmen is neither particularly good nor particularly bad him also past his prime and the two singers who fill out their role in the spotlights well manuela uhl a touching and radiantly looking though vocally less radiant chrysothemis and jane henschel with demonic klytemnestra in the tradition of astrid varnay also a good performance from rené kollo in the small role of aegisth christianthielemann is wonderfully broad and expansive with more rosenkavalier and frau ohne schatten in elektra than i have ever heard before though not a bad dvd as such in recent years we have seen the release of several performances of elektra superior to this one such as from the vienna stateopera 1989 kupfer abbado zurich opera 2006 kusej dohnanyi and salzburg 2010 lehnhoff gatti elektra trailer the bottom line scale of 1 5 3 average linda watson 3 4 manuela uhl 3 4 jane henschel 4 albert döhmen 3 rené kollo 4 wernicke s production 4 christian thielemann 5 overall impression 4 posted by mostly opera at 20 47 no comments labels christian thielemann dvd review linda watson thursday 14 february 2013 lulu finest dvd version on the market lulu dvd royal opera house covent garden london 2009 production christof loy conductor antonio pappano cast agneta eichenholz lulu michael volle dr schön jack the ripper klaus florian vogt alwa jennifer larmore countess geschwitz will hartmann painter etc are you familiar with christof loy and his work such as l ucio silla in copenhagen theodora or die frau ohne schatten in salzburg you will have an idea of what to expect from this royal opera covent garden production of alban berg s lulu a minimalist black stage modern dress protagonists and what you don t always get with christof loy but have here exciting personenregie furthermore the minimalistic approach places huge demands on the singers who have to be as excellent actors as singers which they all somewhat unusually are here first and foremost swedish soprano a gneta eichenholz who substituted for the originally scheduled aleksandra kurzak and used a year to learn the part she is simply outstanding not only does she have a beautiful full voice and throws off the coloratura with seemingly ease but she has this mysterious disturbing allure that makes one understand why everything evolves around lulu the way it does this lulu is a seemingly passive creature but with a mysterious disturbing allure victim or femme fatale none or perhaps both with empty gazes there is an indifference to her characterization which rings very true i cannot help wondering why this woman does not have a bigger career i don t think there are that many if any singers around able to deliver an equally intriguing portrait of lulu and then there is michael volle when was he not superb in what he did here as well in the combination dr schön jack the ripper he presents with excellent characterization and deliver klaus florian vogt who normally has an eerie ring to his appearances utilizes this fully as alwa equally superb performances from will hartmann painter and an elegant jennifer larmore as geschwitz but ir does not stop here what really sets this dvd apart from the rest what makes it in my opinion the best on the market today is antonio pappano a dense almost romantic reading of the score in the tradition of andrew davis makes berg s melodies stand out more clearly than ever before there are of course alternatives patricia petibon shines in a lively 2010 production from barcelona the 2002 production from zürich with laura aikin is also fine but for the finest musical reading apart from the present you ll have to go with andrew davis superbly conducted 1 996 production from glyndebourne with christine schäfer trailer the bottom line scale of 1 5 3 average agneta eichenholz 5 michael volle 5 klaus florian vogt 5 jennifer larmore 5 joseph kaiser 5 christof loy s production 5 antonio pappano 5 overall impression 5 posted by mostly opera at 19 33 no comments labels antonio pappano dvd review klaus florian vogt michael volle monday 11 february 2013 la scala lohengrin 2012 season opening lohengrin teatro alla scala december 2012 opening night streamed production claus guth conductor daniel barenboim cast jonas kaufmann lohengrin annette dasch elsa rené pape heinrich evelyn herlitzius ortrud tomas tomasson telramund zeljko lucic heerrufer at 7 pm german soprano annette dasch received a phone call in her berlin home if she could possibly come to milano and sing elsa in the new claus guth production of lohengrin the next evening for the season opening of la scala in milano as anja harteros was ill to be televised directly obviously 3 hours later she was on the plane the next day she had a 2 hour session with claus guth and 10 minutes with daniel barenboim she had worked with barenboim before but not in wagner operas as well as with claus guth and she had sung elsa to jonas kaufmann s lohengrin in 2009 in bayreuth in a production where elsa is a disturbed character not entirely unlike her characterization in this production claus guth is particularly known for emphasising the darker sides of standard repertoire work just take a look at his nozze di figaro or cosí fan tutte both available on dvd his favourite century is the 19 th century source himself and setting his lohengrin in a repressive biedermeier society seems just like the thing he would do we are in an open space surrounded by balconies and doors a piano and some stretches of grass represent the past with frequent flashbacks of elsa playing the piano under ortrud s rough guidance elsa and her brother were repressed if not physically abused as children it is this repressive society that elsa ...