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Article Excerpt
This semiannual column presents reviews of significant video releases of interest to the field of music and to music libraries, as well as occasionally briefly noting other interesting titles. All genres of music in all video formats will be covered, with a preference given to those in DVD. All Web sites accessed 19 November 2008.
The Full Monteverdi. DVD. Directed by John La Bouchardiere. Featuring I Fagiolini. [UK]: Polyphonic Films Limited, 2007. 2110224. $19.99.
In this film, noted opera director John La Bouchardiere, visually captures his interactive experiment in musical theater from 2004 in which the viewer witnesses the dramatic emotional experience of six couples simultaneously dealing with various issues of infidelity while communicating not in dialog, but in sung verse. In the live performance, the "audience" members are seated amongst the performers and are not given program notes. The proximity of the performers in a commonly understood environment (seated at a restaurant, for example) provides a physical and genuine experience perhaps greater than that of a standard performance space where the division between performer and listener is marked.
The film version captures this performance objective masterfully. The depiction of time is expanded over one night and into the next morning. As in the live version, there is absolutely no dialogue in the film, the narrative is entirely created in images and song through a complete performance of Monteverdi's Il quarto libro de madrigali (1603) sung and acted by the vocal ensemble I Fagiolini. Of the couples dealing with the events, only one of each pair is a member of I Fagiolini; the other is absolutely silent.
Through scenes revealing the history of the couples, including a series of flashbacks, we come to know more about how each pair has arrived at the point of emotional despair. Accompanied by the music of Monteverdi, the viewer witnesses images of events that have ultimately led to this night. Adding to the passionate display, it is not entirely clear in every instance which of the lovers in each pair is actually the guilty party.
Throughout the film, La Bouchardiere shows no consistent desire to portray the more subtle double meanings of the original texts, but focuses instead on the basic emotions involved in betrayal: disbelief, sadness, anger, regret, desperation, passion and rejection.
Some of the more blatant imagery is set purposefully. For example, in "Si ch'io vorrei morire," particular phrases including "Now as I kiss, love, the beautiful mouth of my beloved heart," and "Ah, dear, sweet tongue," Monteverdi's setting of Maurizio Moro's poetry is accompanied by images of two of the couples kissing. Poignantly, the line "Yes, I want to die" in the same madrigal is accompanied by what appears to be a momentary reconciliation at several of the lovers' homes.
The reconciliation, however, is short lived as one partner in each of four of the pairs is seen leaving the home the next morning accompanied by Monteverdi's setting of Guarini's Anima dolorosa.
Momentary hopes that one of the couples might survive the romantic challenge are dismissed towards the end of the film, as the last couple of the six, is seen finally breaking up in Anima del cor mio along with continued scenes of the emotional devastation of the other five couples.
Musically, the performance by I Fagiolini (recorded in a studio and lip-synched in the film) is lovely and has some unusual interpretations, as dictated by filmic necessity. For example, Monteverdi's setting of Guarini's A un giro sol is portrayed as absolutely sarcastic and bitter during a scene in which the lovers accuse their partners of mocking their love. Never has the breeze laughing sounded so cruel ("Ride l'aria d'intorno").
Surprisingly, the scene in which O'hime, se tanto amate was sung the performance was very fast, rushing past any depiction of the word painting by Monteverdi of Guarini's loaded text.
In terms of the narrative structure, the absence of dialog is unproblematic, partially due to the visual cues and partially due to the fact that Monteverdi's work already contains nascent recitative. Monteverdi fans will not be disappointed.
ALICIA DOYLE
California State University, Long Beach
Carl Nielsen. Maskarade. DVD. Michael Schonwandt / Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Danish Opera. With Stephen Milling, Susanne Resmark, Niels Jorgen Riis, Johan Reuter, Gisella Stille. Copenhagen: Da Capo, 2007. 2.110407. $32.98.
Gioacchino Rossini. La cambiale di matrimonio. DVD. Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli / Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e Trento. With Paolo Bordogna, Desiree Rancatore, Saimir Pirgu, Fabio Maria Capitanucci. Hong Kong: Naxos, 2008, 2006. 2.110228. $32.98.
Gioacchino Rossini. La pietra del paragone. DVD. Jean-Christophe Spinosi / Ensemble Matheus. With Sonia Prina, Francois Lis, Jose Manuel Zapata, Joan Martin-Royo, Christian Senn. Paris: Naive, 2007. V5089. $39.98.
There is a popular sub-genre in the eighteenth-century comedy of manners which has proved irresistible to opera composers from that era onwards: the virtuous young lovers are tried repeatedly and emerge triumphant from the snares of spongers, hypocrites, elderly roues, and curmudgeonly fathers. The three operas under review here fit this bill admirably, and the gap of nearly a century between their composition (and another century between the most modern of them and our time) does nothing to dampen their relevance and high spirits.
La cambiale di matrimonio was Rossini's first professional opera, the first of several one-act farces written for Venice in 1810. While the "Rossini sound" is not quite developed yet, it is a highly polished comedy concerning a miserly merchant who attempts to use his daughter's hand as part of a business deal. This production was filmed at Pesaro's Rossini Opera Festival in 2006, and meets all of the high standards associated with that venue. The cast is made up of young singers, mostly not well known on the international scene, the exception being soprano Desiree Rancatore, but all are highly accomplished and the performance is a success on all levels. The DVD from Naxos offers no extras beyond English subtitles and the choice of stereo, or surround, sound, and there are occasional jumpy movements in the video image which probably derive from the PAL to NTSC transfer. These are mildly distracting but not enough to ruin an otherwise fine production of a rarely seen opera.
La pietra del paragone was written only two years later, Rossini's first commission from La Scala, but it shows the twenty-year old composer already at the height of his powers. All of the Rossini trademarks are on display, and it can stand beside his better known comedies and not suffer from the comparison. Its neglect over the years is due, I am told, to the lack of authoritative source materials, but the Fondazione Rossini has compiled at last a critical edition of the score, which is used here. This 2007 production was filmed at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, co-produced with the Teatro Regio di Parma. That this is not going to be your typical opera production is clear from the start: the two DVDs are packaged inside the cover of a hardbound book, which offers photographs and extensive commentary on the opera and production. The staging is the work of video artist Pierrick Sorin, and consists of a modern-dressed cast performing before video cameras on a "blue screen" set. Their images are then superimposed over ever-changing and often surreal backdrops (filmed from miniature models, also on stage), with the finished product projected on large screens over the heads of the singers. The DVD release adds another dimension to this by freely mixing views of all these aspects to create yet another version. The young and mostly unfamiliar cast enters into this with enthusiasm and gusto, and their performances are never less than satisfactory, but one suspects that a little more freedom of movement on a traditional set might have made their performances more effective. Contralto Sonia Prina as the heroine Clarice and bass-baritone Joan Martin-Royo as the corrupt tabloid journalist Macrobio are the most successful at overcoming these obstacles and offer the most persuasive performances. All in all, the production is highly entertaining, and any new recording of this forgotten masterpiece is welcome, but it is likely to appeal most to viewers interested in innovative staging techniques. The second DVD contains interviews with conductor Jean-Christophe Spinosi and Pierrick Sorin, as well as an amusing short film on Sorin's other work--created by Sorin, and starring Sorin in all of the roles in this "mockumentary." The technical quality of both the performance and the added features is excellent.
Carl Nielsen had wanted to compose an opera based on the work of the early eighteenth-century dramatist, Ludvig Holberg for years, but it was not until 1906 that he produced Maskarade. Widely regarded as a comic masterpiece which bears comparison to Verdi's Falstaff, it has been produced only rarely outside Denmark, due no doubt to the language barrier: few singers on the international scene are comfortable singing in Danish. There are no such problems here in this production from the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen, where it ranks as a national treasure.
This 2006 production was filmed at the new opera house in Copenhagen, and celebrates the newness of the theatre by thumbing its nose gleefully at tradition. This timeless "generation gap" comedy is presented in modern dress, which works quite well, and is full of sight gags, in-jokes, gravity-defying and highly elaborate sets, and Cirque de Soleil-inspired choreography for the masked ball in Act III--sorry, there is no "poultry in motion" for the familiar Dance of the Cockerels! While only bass Stephen Milling and veteran heldentenor Poul Elming are well known on the international scene, the cast is superb, musically and dramatically, but pride of place must go to baritone Johan Reuter, who nearly steals the show as the Figaro-like valet Henrik. The DVD includes a documentary on the rehearsal process and optional introductions to each act by conductor Michael Schonwandt. The only drawback in this presentation is the too frequent habit of cutting away from the stage to show us the orchestra, which is fine during the overture and interludes, but the delightful stage action deserves to be seen at all times, and watching the string section playing this admittedly wonderful score is no substitute. Nevertheless, this one is a must-have.
JOHN HOLLAND
Chicago Public Library
Tchaikovsky. DVD. Directed by Matthew Whiteman. New York: BBC Video, 2008. 1000037749. $19.98.
This 2006 BBC documentary strives to explain the genius of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky by finding biographical parallels to the emotions conveyed by his music. Director Matthew Whiteman alternates between visits to the places in the composer's life by Charles Hazelwood, who also conducts fragments of many of Tchaikovsky's major works, and dramatizations of the high points in his life. Occasionally such approaches can result in one format (musical lecture or drama) overwhelming the other, but Whiteman and his collaborators achieve a balance to create an informative and entertaining documentary.
Tchaikovsky is presented in two fifty-two-minute segments entitled "The Creation of Genius," focusing on the composer's early career, and "Fortune and Tragedy," dealing with his fame and early death at fifty-three. Hazelwood, a veteran of BBC radio and television programs about classical music, establishes the right tone at the beginning, presenting Tchaikovsky as a complex figure whose genius cannot be fully appreciated without knowing about the events which influenced the music. Hazelwood visits the composer's residence in Klin (now a museum) and sites associated with Tchaikovsky in St. Petersburg. He also talks with young musicians, all of whom emphasize the Russianness of the composer.
While Hazelwood discusses Tchaikovsky's devotion to his mother, closeness with his brother Modest, homosexuality, and ill-fated marriage to Antonia Milyukova, these matters are vividly dramatized by Whiteman and co-writer Suzy Klein. According to the filmmakers, Tchaikovsky's guilt over his homosexuality led to the romantic longings in many of his compositions, especially Romeo and Juliet and Eugene Onegin. The composer is painted as a paranoid so afraid of a scandal destroying his career that he decides to get married and proposes to the first woman who shows any interest in him, the adoring fan Antonia. The Fourth Symphony is presented as mirroring both his hope and his despair. The most dramatic scene involves a confrontation with his mentor, Anton Rubinstein (Nicholas Jones), who calls his piano concerto "childish," as Tchaikovsky declares his independence from the musical establishment....
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