Adolphe Adam’s Le Postillon de Lonjumeau was a great success at its premiere in 1836, and, along with the ballet Giselle, has remained one of the composer’s most popular works. Following the great French tradition, this opéra-comique has it all: 18th century Rococo Parisian glamour and a perilous love story involving the dashing and flirtatious Chapelou and his opposite, the powerful and clever Madeleine. This lavish and spectacular production from the Opéra Comique in Paris received widespread critical acclaim and also features costumes by the iconic French fashion designer Christian Lacroix.
ADAMS Doctor Atomic & • Lawrence Renes, cond; Gerald Finley (Oppenheimer); Jessica Rivera (Kitty); Eric Owens (General Groves); Richard Paul Fink (Teller); James Maddalena (Hubbard); Thomas Glenn (Wilson); Ellen Rabiner (Pasqualita); Netherlands PO & Op Ch • BBC/OPUS ARTE 998 (2 DVDs: 168:09)
& Illustrated synopsis; documentaries on opera, cast, composer, and director; interview with director
John Adams has already analyzed Nixon as he visited China and scrutinized terrorists and cruise ship passengers in extremis. Now, Doctor Atomic focuses on the final days of the Manhattan Project as J. Robert Oppenheimer and his colleagues struggle to produce the first atomic bomb. The moral dilemmas presented by that weapon drive the conflict, but though the effects of its future use are made starkly obvious and are central to the purpose of the creators, no conclusion is imposed. Rather, Doctor Atomic is an exploration of the extraordinarily gifted people who, for the cause of good, created a diabolical device that irrevocably changed them and the world that summer of 1945.
Long-time Adams collaborator Peter Sellars fashioned the libretto. Using historical sources throughout, he gives the work a strongly documentary flavor, allowing the viewer to piece together the events, personalities, and conflicts. However, it is Sellars’s use of poetry that is the most striking. Oppenheimer makes love to his wife Kitty with Baudelaire’s sensual verse, and quotes him again as the final countdown stretches time agonizingly. Kitty voices Muriel Rukeyser’s vision of peace in a world facing inescapable death. Pasqualita sings evocative Native American verse as a lullaby; and the atomic blast is anticipated with quotes from the Bhagavad Gita. In the finale to act I—a stunning piece of theater—Oppenheimer cries out his personal agony in the words of John Donne’s sonnet “Batter my heart,” as the enemy, the “Gadget,” hangs shrouded Ark-like behind him. That many of these poems and poets were significant to Oppenheimer—the Donne sonnet inspired the project’s code name “Trinity,” and he learned Sanskrit in order to read the Bhagavad Gita—adds yet another layer to this strikingly profound work.
The role of the intense and driven Oppenheimer was created by Gerald Finley, a singer who inhabits every part with his superb acting and his tightly focused, richly expressive baritone. Other excellent artists from the San Francisco Opera premiere include sonorous bass Richard Paul Fink, a Mephistophelian Edward Teller, cynical and provocative; lyric tenor Thomas Glenn, whose sensitively performed Robert Wilson is uneasy but likeable; baritone Eric Owens, a physically and vocally imposing General Leslie Groves, the no-nonsense military commander of the project; and baritone James Maddalena—Nixon in Adams’s earlier opera—a long-suffering meteorologist Jack Hubbard. New to this production are mezzo-soprano Jessica Rivera and contralto Ellen Rabiner. Rivera’s Cassandra-like Kitty Oppenheimer, the conscience of the work, is vocally vivid, though some of the acting seems posed. Pasqualita, the Oppenheimer’s Tewa Indian housekeeper, is the only fictional character. Rabiner sings her role with a rich, if not always steady, voice, balancing Kitty’s intensity with quiet compassion. The fine Netherlands Opera Chorus, playing scientists and project personnel, serves as Greek chorus, intoning the opening scientific credo, chanting the targets, crying out in fright at the vision of Vishnu and staring into the blast in stunned silence at the culminating moment.
Edgard Varèse and 1950s science-fiction movie scores are John Adams’s acknowledged inspirations, and the combination is winning. The ostinatos of traditional minimalism are used sparingly and are often disjointed and irregular, creating an undercurrent of disequilibrium. More often, Adams employs extended chords, late Romantic in their chromatic richness, punctuated with bells, shrieks of brass, snatches of melody, and electronic roars and rumbles. Above this, Adams’s lyrical vocal lines wheel, often fraught with tension. This compelling score is by far the richest and most complex Adams has created.
Not all is perfect. Well as it recreates the anxiety of the night of the test, with its portentous storm, the second act occasionally makes repetitious dramatic points and is in need of some tightening. More troubling, there are a number of visual distractions, especially the rather silly choreography, expressing heaven knows what, and the frenzied video editing with its constant cutting, panning, and zooming, and continual, often shaky, tight close-ups. The editing seems to highlight the mechanics of vocal production as much as the acting and often leaves one with no sense of what is happening on the stage as a whole. Peter Sellars was both stage and video director, so I have to assume these were important parts of his conception. There is much to admire in that vision, but sometimes less is more.
By this time, many interested readers will either have seen the Metropolitan Opera broadcast of this work in the movie theater or heard it on the radio. Despite the similarities in casting and the typically small audience for modern operas, I hope it appears on DVD. This powerful opera deserves the documentation of both directorial visions. This Netherlands Opera production, in any case, should not be overlooked. It presents Sellars’s original concept, more abstract than the Met’s, well sung, conducted, and played, and with several fine performances not reprised in the Met production. Give it a try.
FANFARE: Ronald E. Grames CAST: J. Robert Oppenheimer – Gerald Finley Kitty Oppenheimer – Jessica Rivera General Leslie Groves – Eric Owens Edward Teller – Richard Paul Fink Jack Hubbard – James Maddalena Robert Wilson – Thomas Glenn Captain James Nolan – Jay Hunter Morris Pasqualita – Ellen Rabiner
Bonus: - Interview with Peter Sellars - Illustrated synopsis and cast gallery
Picture format: NTSC 16:9 anamorphic Sound format: Dolby Digital 2.0 / DTS 5.1 Region code: 0 (All Regions) Menu language: English Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch Running time: 228 mins Number of DVDs: 2
If you see one opera this year, make it The Exterminating Angel, ran the headline in the New York Times after the US premiere of Thomas Ades' "stunningly inventive" opera based on Luis Bunuel's surreal and satirical 1962 film El angel exterminador. Like the British composer's score, Tom Cairns' production is both spectacular and surprising. "Ades keeps the listener on edge," wrote Opera magazine, "because one never knows where his dazzling palette of possibilities will take him next." Thomas Ades TITLE: Ades: The Exterminating Angel (MET)(DVD) Label: PRX/Warner Classics/Parlophone
Few of Gioachino Rossini's operas are less well known than Adina. This production by Rossini Opera Festival and Wexford Opera Festival revives a masterwork of glittering arias and rich orchestral textures. The oriental tale, where Adina is a slave in a Baghdad seraglio, is set by Rosetta Cucchi on a giant and colorful wedding cake. The vocal star Lisette Oropesa "gave a splendid rendition as Adina. Her voice was brilliant, shiny on top, warm and round in the middle." (Bachtrack) World Premiere Recording on DVD and Blu-ray
To celebrate the Verdi bicentennial, La Fura dels Baus opened the "Centanario Festival 2013" of the Arena di Verona with a new production of “Aida”. The most popular opera of Verona Festival, Aida is the only one performed every year, in front of 17,000 spectators. Using their experience in leading large-scale shows, La Fura dels Baus created an Aida for the XXIst century. The young, talented conductor Omer Meir Wellber led the Orchestra, Coro, Corpo di Ballo e Tecnici dell’Arena di Verona.
Acclaimed dancer-choreographer Akram Khan ‘speaks tremendously of tremendous things’ (Financial Times) and this new Giselle reimagines the classic narrative ballet for the 21st Century. Giselle had become a former garment factory migrant worker, Albrecht, a member of the wealthy factory-owning class. An abandoned ‘ghost factory’ haunted by the memory of female migrant workers, many of them victims of industrial accidents, replaces the traditional glade of Act II. There, Giselle’s desire to break the cycle of violence will lead her to reconciliation with Albrecht and his release from the retributive justice of the Wilis. “Giselle has been transformed for the ENB by Akram Khan into the ballet event of the year. Staggeringly beautiful and utterly devastating, it is an electrifying triumph which any dance or theatre fan must not miss.” (The Daily Express)
Francesco Piemontesi, a BBC Music Magazine award-winning pianist and lauded as a 'wonderful Mozartian', has an intense curiosity about his fellow artists - their pianos, the sonorities they cultivate, the secret elements that animate their playing, and what drives them. In this documentary by Jan Schmidt-Garre, filmed over one year, Piemontesi talks with some of the world's leading performers, including his mentor Alfred Brendel, Maria Joao Pires, Stephen Kovacevich and Antonio Pappano, in a series of revealing encounters that illuminate their individual approaches to the instrument, it's colour and form. The film is complemented by a bonus 60-minute recital by Yulianna Avdeeva, Zlata Chochieva and Francesco Piemontesi, played on Rachmaninoff's Steinway piano at Villa Senar, his home in Switzerland during the 1930s.
Franco Alfano’s opera Risurrezione draws its inspiration from Tolstoy’s novel Resurrection and was the work that ensured Alfano’s considerable success as a composer. The plot narrates the story of Katiusha and her tragic love for prince Dimitri who seduces and abandons her, condemning her to a life of sacrifice and desperation. Seen here in Fancesco Lanzillotta’s acclaimed Florence production, Risurrezione recalls Richard Strauss and Puccini – the drama evolving in an uninterrupted flow with moments of soaring lyricism alongside striking and evocative orchestration. The work gives voice to an idea that Alfano left in his memoirs: ‘Recoiling from catastrophes, I believed and still believe in the renovation, regeneration, and final purification of human passions from evil to goodness.’
When, in December 2008, six decades into his illustrious career, Alfred Brendel bade farewell to an emotional Viennese audience, it was not a “full stop”, as it may have appeared at that moment. Rather a “semicolon”. With more time on his hands, the celebrated pianist went on to focus on other activities – writing (essays on music, poetry), giving lectures, leading masterclasses. In January 2021, Brendel will celebrate his 90th birthday, possessing profound knowledge and experience, as well as a great zest for learning new things. And also a sense of humour, which he has often turned against himself. Precious few artists have influenced the perception and performance of music as much as Brendel has. He was the first to have recorded the complete Beethoven piano works, he succeeded in bringing Franz Schubert’s music back to the concert stage, among other achievements. Of late, Brendel has often visited Prague to give lectures and masterclasses at the Rudolfinum, highlights of which are captured on the present release. Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert are the figures he, as a pianist, treasures most. The autobiographical lecture My Musical Life provides the viewer with a glimpse of the universe full of paradox that gave rise to the legend called Brendel – unveiling the sources of his inspiration, education and artistry, that formed his vision of the world.
Recorded at Tokyo Bunkamura Orchard Hall, 15th June 1996. This 1996 Tokyo recital is a celebration of the distinguished Spanish tenor Alfredo Kraus's 40 year career. After warming his voice with two classical arias transcribed by Parisotti, Kraus launches into an anthology of music from the French, Spanish and Italian repertoires. The recital includes a duet from the first act of Lucia di Lammermoor and the famous aria "Pourquoi me réveiller?" from Massenet's Werther, an opera in which Kraus was considered an outstanding interpreter of the title role. Each and every piece is managed with extreme elegance, noble aplomb and ease, qualities that he attained through a formidable technique and a careful career pacing. At sixty nine Kraus sings without any apparent effort and with that aristocratic nonchalance that was one of the most charming aspects of his style. Language: Italian Language: Italian, German, English, French, Spanish. Edemiro Arnaltes (Piano) Emiko Suga (Soprano) Asier Polo (Cello) Alfredo Kraus (Tenor).
From a mysterious Cheshire Cat and a tap-dancing tea party, to frogs acting as footmen and unknown potions that turn you tiny, many treats and eccentricities await in this weird and wonderful world. You never know what you might find when you fall down the rabbit hole. Christopher Wheeldon's?Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?burst onto the stage in 2011 in an explosion of colour, stage magic and inventive, sophisticated choreography. Joby Talbot's score combines contemporary soundworlds with sweeping melodies that gesture to ballet scores of the 19th century. Bob Crowley's wildly imaginative, eye-popping designs draw on everything from puppetry to projections to make Wonderland wonderfully real. The result shows The Royal Ballet at it's best, bringing together world-class dance with enchanting family entertainment and ingenious music and design.
Alice – Lauren Cuthbertson Jack / Knave of Hearts – Sergei Polunin Lewis Carroll / White Rabbit – Edward Watson Mother / Queen of Hearts – Zenaida Yanowsky Father / King of Hearts – Christopher Saunders Magician / Mad Hatter – Steven McRae Duchess – Simon Russell Beale
Royal Ballet Royal Opera House Orchestra Barry Wordsworth, conductor Christopher Wheeldon, choreography
Bob Crowley, designs Nicholas Wright, scenario Natasha Katz, lighting design
Recorded live from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 9 March 2011.
Bonus: - Cast Gallery - Documentary – Being Alice
Picture format: NTSC 16:9 anamorphic Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1 Region code: 0 (worldwide) Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish Running time: 120 mins (ballet) + 30 mins (bonus) No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)
R E V I E W:
A stimulating production.
It is a brave company that is prepared to take such a surrealist novel and turn it into a stage show. Where film can provide the visual trickery necessary to give visual magic, theatre machinery is cumbersome and pedantic in comparison. Yet the development of technical resources and video projection can help. With ballet, a large part of the stage must be kept free of obstructions to allow ballet routines to progress unimpeded. To then faithfully transfer to a video medium without high level on-line visual trickery may not ideally help the viewer. So how then has Covent Garden fared in bringing about a stimulating production?
Very well, in fact. The prologue where Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) is taking photographs of the family group works excellently. It is set in a realistic deanery garden. Bob Crowley’s backdrop painting in faded Victorian hues is in keeping. In this opening scene we are introduced to the personalities that later appear as stereotypes in the fantasy world Alice uncovers. The only odd thing in a private deanery garden is having a nurse wheel a perambulator across the stage as if in a busy street.
Some of the settings contain more subtlety than might at first sight be noticed. Monotone backdrops, the Cheshire Cat and a paper boat are styled on the engravings found in Carroll’s first edition book. As the ballet progresses the settings become more flamboyant and graphically modern.
Particularly stunning is the Playing Cards scene. Choreography and costumes strike just the right note. A clever routine with a segmented Cheshire Cat allows believable animation.
As one might expect, the dancing is up to the exacting standards of the corps with a Covent Garden reputation. The problem of having Alice change size was well contrived and Lauren Cuthbertson’s acting is excellent. The character of the White Rabbit is extremely officious throughout I noticed, yet pales before the bombastic pomp of the Queen of Hearts (Zenaida Yanowsky).
The orchestra plays well under the secure direction of Barry Wordsworth, a conductor not seen enough of nowadays. Talbot’s music has facets of talent and although classical harmony is mainly maintained, it is heavy, strongly percussive and is often reminiscent of the fight scene of West Side Story. One could hardly call the music melodious which is a pity as it misses out in appealing to the younger generation for whom the story is intended. I find the scoring unnecessarily heavy and is an ill fit with the elegance of classical ballet choreography.
The DVD is divided into play chapters, and contains a gallery photographs of the key dancers. It has the bonus of a well compiled and informative BBC documentary ‘Being Alice’. In it we see the planning, realisation and execution of the staging through the eyes of the principal dancer, Lauren Cuthbertson. Subtitles are provided in English, French, German and Spanish. In-depth background production notes with synopsis by David Nice are written in English, French and German.
All Star Orchestra: Programs 3 & 4 - Dvorak, Shostakovich / Gerard Schwarz
Naxos AudioVisual
DVD
$20.99Nov 19, 2013
The All-Star Orchestra gives you a front row seat to the world's greatest music, performed by top players chosen from over 30 great American orchestras. The programs feature complete performances of popular masterpieces and world premieres of new works by leading American composers. Filmed in High-Definition with 19 cameras during a once-a-year 'summit' in New York's historic Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center, the All-Star Orchestra celebrates the symphonic experience in the 21st century. Program #3 the New World and It's Music Inspired by American dreams and legends, Dvorák created some of his greatest works while living in the United States, above all the 'New World' Symphony. This program illuminates the multiple stories and influences Native American, African-American and Czech that Dvorák transformed in his most beloved work. Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Avanti! Offers a contemporary interpretation of the American archetype of 'moving on.' Program #4 Politics and Art Music has sometimes reflected, and at other times challenged repressive ideologies. Shostakovich abandoned the premiere of his challenging 4th symphony for fear of reprisals from the Stalinist government. His triumphant 5th Symphony was next, and the authorities were pleased. To this day the 5th is Shostakovich's most popular symphony. What is it's message? What does 'political music' mean today?
All Star Orchestra: Programs 5 & 6 - Schumann, Brahms, Danielpour, Jones / Gerard Schwarz
Naxos AudioVisual
DVD
$10.49$20.99Save 50%Nov 19, 2013
The All-Star Orchestra gives you a front row seat to the world's greatest music, performed by top players chosen from over 30 great American orchestras. The programs feature complete performances of popular masterpieces and world premieres of new works by leading American composers. Filmed in High-Definition with 19 cameras during a once-a-year 'summit' in New York's historic Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center, the All-Star Orchestra celebrates the symphonic experience in the 21st century. Program #5 Relationships in Music Robert Schumann's wife Clara was herself a gifted pianist and composer. She became a lifelong friend and source of inspiration for Schumann's protégé Johannes Brahms. This program will explore the turbulent musical and emotional relationships between these three, and the masterpieces that they produced. Program #6 the Living Art Form This program explores the creation of new concertos and the artistic process. Outstanding young soloists and leading American composers are featured in performance and in interviews.
All-Star Orchestra: Music for the Theater - What Makes a Mas
Naxos AudioVisual
DVD
$20.99Nov 19, 2013
The All-Star Orchestra gives you a front row seat to the world's greatest music, performed by top players chosen from over 30 great American orchestras, and conducted by Gerard Schwarz. The programs feature complete performances of popular masterpieces and world premieres of new works by leading American composers. Filmed in High-Definition with 19 cameras during a once-a-year 'summit' in New York's historic Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center, the All-Star Orchestra celebrates the symphonic experience in the 21st century. Program #1 Music for the Theatre (Igor Stravinsky: Suite from the Firebird; Maurice Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe Suite No. 2; Bright Sheng: Prelude to Black Swan) the legendary impresario Serge Diaghilev of Les Ballet Russes commissioned from Stravinsky and Ravel some of the greatest music for the ballet. His influence stretched from St. Petersburg to Paris to the New York City Ballet founded by Diaghilev's collaborator Georges Balanchine. Former NYCB Composer in Residence Bright Sheng captures the beauty of the dance with his Prelude to Black Swan. Program #2 What Makes a Masterpiece? This program is an exploration of the creative process, tracing the genesis of Beethoven's iconic symphony, and the development of a new work by a modern master. Introductory features will demonstrate how short rhythmic and melodic motives evolve into vast symphonic organisms. Interviews include leading Beethoven scholars and the All-Star musicians.
The All-Star Orchestra gives you a front row seat to the world's greatest music, performed by top players chosen from over 30 great American orchestras. The programs feature complete performances of popular masterpieces and world premieres of new works by leading American composers. Filmed in High-Definition with 19 cameras during a once-a-year 'summit' in New York's historic Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center, the All-Star Orchestra celebrates the symphonic experience in the 21st century. Program #7 Music's Emotional Impact This program delves into Tchaikovsky's dramatic personal life, his brief marriage, and his intense correspondence with his patroness Nadezhda von Meck whom he never met, and to whom he dedicated his 4th Symphony. The dramatic brass fanfares that for Tchaikovsky symbolized Fate find a modern echo in David Stock's Blast! Program #8 Mahler: Love, Sorrow and Transcendence Mahler's turbulent passions are expressed through his music. His settings of poems by Friedrich Rueckert explore themes of love, nature, and otherworldliness. Mahler was haunted throughout his life by the premonition of his own death. The first movement of his 2nd Symphony, which Mahler called 'Totenfeier' ('Funerary Rites'), draws stark contrasts between the composer's premonition of doom, and his vision of life. Modern reflections on these themes can be found in 'Adieu' by Bernard Rands and 'Of Paradise and Light' by Augusta Read Thomas.
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