How
was the last production you saw of Rimsky Korsakov's Tsar
Sultan? When's Wagners Ring next
playing at your neighbourhood opera house?
If you're like most of us, you know these and dozens of other
operas through recordings, if at all. Even the standard operas,
Carmen, Aida, Figaro and so on come
to a place like Ottawa every few years at best. But since the
advent of home video, opera lovers have had the chance not only
to hear but to see the standard repertoire along with quite a
few out-of-the-way but rewarding works.
Opera isn't the only kind of classical music that's benefitted
from the video revolution. Ballet lends itself well to the television
screen, and some producers have even brought the eye of the camera
to concert performances, though with decidedly mixed results.
On the one hand, no one needs to see a close-up of each cymbal
crash but, on the other, watching over the shoulder of a violinist
like Anne-Sophie Mutter can be a moving experience, particularly
if you've ever played a string instrument.
Yet there's no doubt that opera lovers are the most likely to
benefit. During the VHS era, there were hundreds of titles, some
of them still available. Some have also been upgraded in one way
or another and transferred to DVD, a process that's likely to
continue for some years, along with the release of new material.
Retailers report that the now-affordable DVD player made something
of a breakthrough during the 2001 holiday season.
Video opera most often originates in the opera house in connection
with live productions, but there have been some notable exceptions.
Ingmar Bergman's revisionist Magic Flute, originally
filmed for and released in theatres, is still a joy to behold
despite its clunky mono mix and its mixed bag of voices. Francesco
Rosi's Carmen, shot on location, is an unqualified pleasure.
At the other end of the scale we have the hatchet jobs Franco
Zeferelli did on Otello and other standards.
The potential advantage of made-for-the-screen opera, aside from
not being stage bound, is that the singers can act more realistically,
not having to exaggerate their gestures and expressions for the
benefit of people in the third balcony. Yet more and more they
are finding ways to make their portrayals work equally for the
live audience and the video viewer. And given the supple camera
work on most of the DVDs listed below, it can be easy to forget
that you're watching a stage production.
If opera on videocassette was less of a hit with the public than
originally imagined, record companies are likely to find a bigger
market with DVD. Retailers report that 30 or so titles readily
available to them move briskly. (There are about 100 of them in
the catalogue, but not all have good Canadian distribution.)
Aside from the relative compactness, higher audio and video quality
and the presumed durability of DVDs, they offer the opera-watcher
specific advantages over video cassettes. One can go instantly
to any scene, aria or chorus, and you can select the language
of your subtitles, or opt for no subtitles at all.
Some DVDs have enhanced multi-channel sound for those with home
theatre systems, though its advantages seem questionable
in most operas. On the other hand, music lovers who
have small televisions with built-in speakers will probably
not find the sound quality adequate for seriously getting
into an opera. But more and more people are integrating
their televisions with their stereo systems, and that
should enable them to enjoy countless evenings of opera
in the home.
What about audio DVD?
Surely the classical music lover might hope for great things in
that area.
Well, maybe. There are three potential but mutually exclusive
advantages to applying DVD technology, with its vast storage capacity,
to music recording. Using the same quality that is standard in
the best CDs, you could put all of Beethoven's symphonies, for
example, onto one DVD. The question is, does anyone want them
that way? Of course Operas would fit on single DVDs as well, and
even Wagner's Ring would fit on two, instead of 14 CDs.
You could also increase the sampling rate from that of the CD
to produce a smoother audio wave form. At least in theory, that
should provide a more natural sound, but manufacturers seem to
be concentrating on five-channel surround sound for their marketing
thrust. That technique might allow for a better "concert hall"
ambience, but whether it can be sold on that basis remains to
be seen. It is presently marketed as a "home theatre" feature.
Sony and Philips have taken a basically different approach
with their SACD. It involves not only high sampling
rates, but also a streaming technique said to take every
vestige of the jaggies out of the audio signal. It does
provide an audible, if subtle, improvement over the
already excellent sound of a CD, but mainly on high-end
systems. Though both systems have been available for
about three years now, neither has made much of a splash
in the world of retailing.
Players are in the works that should be able to handle
CD, DVD Audio, SACD and DVD video. Expensive at first,
they will probably be available in all price-quality
ranges before long and become the standard disc-playing
apparatus.
Here is a sampling of availible DVDs,
mainly of opera but also of ballet and concert performances.
They are representative of what's out there now and
are outstanding renditions of standard works in most
cases. In others the emphasis is on repertoire that
would be hard to find in live performance. Only two
Metropolitan Opera productions are included here, but
other Met offerings are about as good.
Berlioz: The Damnation
of Faust
Salzburg Festival - Arthaus
One of the oddest operas of the 19th century, Berlioz's
take on Go(umlaut)the's Faust has had a number of sound
recordings, but it's seldom performed live. This DVD makes it
come alive and viewers who normally don't like experimental staging
(like me) should give this one a chance. Somehow the weird metaphors
of Allex Olle and Carlos Padrissa's stage direction make a lot
of sense in this context. Paul Groves and Willard White are superb
as Faust and Mephistopholes.
Bizet: Carmen
Metropolitan Opera - Deutsche Grammophon
Joseé Carreras is a fine Don José, manly
enough, but overserious and vulnerable as well. Samuel
Ramey makes a dashing, virile Escamillio too. But it's
Leona Mitchell's Carmen that sets this production apart
from others. She comes across with an intensity of sexuality
that, though she presents herself as neither young nor
pretty, makes her irresistibly dangerous. High musical
values all around and production values typical of the
Met make this Carmen
a winner.
Debussy: Pelléas
et Mélisande
Welsh National Opera, Pierre Boulez - Deutsche
Grammophon
One of the most perfect of operas here receives a spare and beautiful
production under the direction of Peter Stein. The sets and effects
are not literal, but neither do they distract from the subtle
thrust of Debussy's exquisite music drama. Stein does not attempt
to lay an additional layer of post-modern meaning on the work.
Similarly, conductor Boulez cuts straight to the heart of the
music, neither grandstanding with startling insights nor indulging
in romantic clichés. The cast, made up of relative unknowns,
is uniformly strong.
Gershwin: Porgy and Bess
Based upon the Glyndebourne Festival Opera production
- EMI
If Porgy and Bess has usually been dismissed as a halfway
opera, it's because it has seldom been produced this well. The
characters here are no cardboard cut-outs. Willard White brings
great strength of character to his Porgy while Cynthia Hamon is
a good woman who cannot resist every temptation, a kind of reverse
Traviata. No vaudeville Darkies, the inhabitants of Catfish Row
are three dimensional people we care about. Conductor Simon Rattle
keeps the musical drama going most effectively, even in those
stretches where Gershwin is inclined to go on a bit.
Mozart: Don Giovanni
Karajan, Vienna State Opera production - Sony
Sandwiched between Samuel Ramey's commanding Don Giovanni and
Kathleen Battle's precious Zerlina, the solid cast includes Anna
Tomowa-Sintow, Julia Varady and, as Leperello, the wonderful Ferruccio
Furlanetto. Although the filming never tries to shed its stagey
origins, it is effective without being intrusive. Herbert von
Karajan leads the singers and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
in a mainstream interpretation that generally satisfies.
Mozart: The Marriage of
Figaro
Gardiner, English Baroque Soloists et al - Archiv
I wish I could recommend this fine DVD unconditionally.
Musically it is the best performance I've heard, partly
due to the extraordinary expressiveness of the period-instrument
orchestra and partly on account of a cast more committed
to the music and the drama than to its individual egos.
Alas, this very human comedy is brought down by a certain
earnestness that diminishes the sparkle and gives the
serious moments a degree of melodrama they would do
better without. Other versions will be out shortly and
you may prefer the presentation in one of them. But
musically, you'll find none to surpass this one.
Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov
Kirov Opera at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg
- Philips
Mussorgsky's masterpiece receives as grand and authentic
a production as you can imagine. It uses Mussorgsky's
original version rather than the Rimsky-Korsakov revision
with which most of us became familiar with the opera.
In general, that's a good thing, but it also shows that
in one or two instances Rimsky's second thoughts had
considerable merit. He chose to end the prologue with
the arrival of the pilgrims, for example, rather than
keeping the redundant seven or eight minutes that follow.
The staging is eye-popping and even if one or two elements,
like the appearance of the ghost of the child Dimitri,
may seem a little odd initially, they are effective.
Robert Lloyd is a most imposing Boris, vocally and in
appearance. Yevgeny is a particularly hateful Shuisky.
(For a more extensive article on this opera and this
recording click here.)
Salieri: Falstaff
Schwetzinger Festspiele production - Arthaus
You probably know that Verdi wrote and opera called Falstaff
and may know of Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor
and Vaughan Williams's Sir John in Love, which tell much
the same story. But Antonio Salieri, Mozart's evil genius as the
movies would have it, beat them all to it with this mildly interesting
take on Shakespeare's prose comedy. This DVD gives us a credible
provincial production of an historically interesting opera by
a composer popular in his day, but whose work was being overtaken
even in his own lifetime.
Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier
Lott, von Otter, Bonney, Kleiber - Deutsche Grammophon
Together with Mozart's Figaro and Verdi's Falstaff,
Der Rosenkavalier is considered one of the three great,
humanistic comedies in opera. Caros Kleiber leads a musical rendition
with sublime singing and scarcely a false touch anywhere. The
staging and acting are superb. Yes von Otter is too feminine to
look entirely like an adolescent boy, while some nascent wrinkles
in Bonney's face keep her from looking quite as young as she should
when the camera is close, but both move and act their scripted
ages, and all is well. Felicity Lott's Feldmarschalin is loving,
wise and noble without being haughty. Don't miss this one.
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker
Kirov Ballet - Philips
There are relatively few commercial video recordings of ballet,
possibly because the major classical ballets are fewer in number
than major operas. This is one of the best I've seen. A warm,
big-hearted realization of this most popular of ballets, it is
splendidly staged, choreographed and danced, and Viktor Fedotov
leads one of the most engaging accounts of the music that you'll
hear in this or any medium.
Verdi: La Traviata
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden production - Decca
They say that Angela Ghoerghiu is the great Violetta of our time,
and this DVD does little to contradict that opinion. Her singing
and acting are profoundly convincing. The rest of the cast is
good too, even if no one else is entirely at her level. The late
Georg Solti leads a beautiful realization of the score, though
the camera following his craggy face throughout the two preludes
doesn't enhance the mood that Verdi probably wanted us to experience.
Viva Vivaldi
Bartoli, Il Giardino armonico - Arthaus
If concert videos and the music of Vivaldi are your things, you
won't want to pass this one by. Cecilia Bartoli, the world's reigning
mezzo, and Il Giardino armonico, one of the most radical authentic-performance
ensembles anywhere, team up here in 93 minutes of the most beautiful
Vivaldi performances you'll ever hear. As a bonus, certain pieces
are accompanied by their scores, which can be displayed as subtitles.
And here are a few to keep your eye out for, just a handful excellent
VHS titles that deserve to and probably will be rereleased on
DVD in the months and years to come:
Peter Langridge's Peter Grimes (Britten)
The Kirov Opera's Fiery Angel (Prokofiev) - in fact
any Kirov Opera production.
Catherine Malfitano or Maria Ewing in Salome (Strauss)
Domingo, Beherns and Milne in Tosca (Puccini)
Sutherland-Bonynge's Lakmé Délibes
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