"Der Ring des Nibelungen" (The Met - 1990); "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" (1993 recording)
Okay, so, we FINALLY finished Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen" (Commonly known as The Ring Cycle)- 4 operas on 7 dvds; this was a video-recording of The Met's 1990 production. This will be a critique on both the production as well as the opera itself; might as well combine them.
http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Nibelungen-Levine-Metropolitan-Complete/dp/B00006L9ZT/sr=1-2/qid=1171896347/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/104-7309927-2666338?ie=UTF8&s=dvd
My first impression of Wagner's opera style was a little off-putting (I watched another opera of his before this, I will review later)- I was used to Mozart, Rossini, Puccini, etc...where there are definite arias, tunes to the music, etc. Wagner took a different approach to opera- instead of the music standing out from the story, he felt it should all blend together; the music moving along the story- because of this, instead of arias, there are themes...the valkyrie theme, the rhinemaidens' theme, etc. The music is there to induce more of an emotional response to the story, to tell the audience what kind of emotion they should be feeling at this time. This was an entirely new approach to opera at the time. This is also why people tend to either love Wagner or hate him...to be honest, I would probably not ever watch these operas again. I do like the music...but as far as combining it with a long, plodding story, it wears on my patience after a while. The whole story is interesting, but feels very full of itself at times. It should not take a half an hour of singing to pull a sword out of a tree. What I don't like about Wagner's style is that, even as prevalent as the music is, the singers are almost negligible in a way...this may not make much sense, but to me, it doesn't seem that there is any beauty in the singing...it's just sing as loud as you can for as long as you can. I'm not saying that I don't recognize the tremendous effort or quality of voice in these singers...but I remember reading where critics said that singing Wagner had destroyed Placido Domingo's voice...and I can definitely see how. Call me simple...but I like songs that stick with me...if you asked me, I could not remember a single stanza of any of these operas. There are no stanzas. I do remember the music; the music is memorable. But the singing is not. And that disappoints me.
As far as the operas themselves- Das Rheingold is BORING. Sorry, it is. It's luckily the shortest at 2 and a half hours, but it maybe has 20 minutes of interesting stuff going on. It starts to pick up a bit with Die Walküre- the second half of which is good. Siegfried is by far the best of the series- the music and the action pick up, and there is very little plodding (until you get to the end with Brünnhilde- could have been cut down). The last, Götterdämmerung, is also good, if a little weak storywise compared to Siegfried (I hate when the story comes down to "unmovable fate" - what's the point of having a story if we see it coming all along?).
Now, as for the production itself- I guess it may have just been me, but were they trying to get rid of all of their rock set pieces? It was very barren, desolate, and cold looking- it adds to the dark feel of the operas, but after a while it becomes a bit overwhelming. It adds to the already plodding story- at least if we have to watch these people stand around for an hour singing, let them stand on something that looks a little interesting. Even in people's homes, it was ROCK. Even in the river, it's a big ROCK. The only time we ever got a break from this was the forest fight and Gunther's palace. The costumes...well, for being gods and nobles...couldn't they look a little better dressed? As far as the music went...it sounded wonderful. The singing was great (I still can't believe it's possible to sing for that long and that loudly). The orchestration was very good, too- although I'm not musician, so I can only say what it sounded like to me without being detailed.
I will give this one two ratings, that way my opinion of the operas don't reflect badly on my opinion of the production. I give the operas a 5/10. I give the production overall a 7/10. I think Tchaikovsky said it best when, after watching the final of the operas, he remarked "I feel like I've been released from prison."
Okay, now onto Mozart's "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" (The Escape from the Seraglio)- I bought this cd set from Barnes and Noble the other day (oh joy, oh sweet, money-sucking bliss that I finally found the boxsets).
This version was recorded in 1993:
http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Entf%C3%BChrung-Orgonasova-Hauptmann-Gardiner/dp/B0000057E6/sr=1-1/qid=1171896559/ref=sr_1_1/104-7309927-2666338?ie=UTF8&s=music
I bought this because I've been wanting to hear this opera (I love comedies), and I also wanted a libretto with it (since it is a singspiel, the recitives vary greatly from one version to the next). I love the music in this opera- so beautiful and never boring, despite somewhat weak characterizations. This recording is very good, save but a few nitpicks. Nitpick one- the recitives for the most part are stiff and a bit emotionless. Nitpick two- the singer of Belmonte, Stanford Olsen, doesn't quite have the "aristocratic" feel to his voice that I would expect of the role, but he does a fine job anyway. Now for what I loved- both of the leading ladies are absolutely superb. Luba Orgonasova makes a great Konstanze, with a wonderful mixture of sweetness, defiance and heartbreak, and Cyndia Sieden is wonderful as a brassy and determined Blonde. Even though, at times, the music sounds a bit reserved, should I say? for such a silly play, it nevertheless is a good recording.
I give this recording an 8/10. I give this opera a 9/10. One of Mozart's best.
Okay, I guess that will do for now.
http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Nibelungen-Levine-Metropolitan-Complete/dp/B00006L9ZT/sr=1-2/qid=1171896347/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/104-7309927-2666338?ie=UTF8&s=dvd
My first impression of Wagner's opera style was a little off-putting (I watched another opera of his before this, I will review later)- I was used to Mozart, Rossini, Puccini, etc...where there are definite arias, tunes to the music, etc. Wagner took a different approach to opera- instead of the music standing out from the story, he felt it should all blend together; the music moving along the story- because of this, instead of arias, there are themes...the valkyrie theme, the rhinemaidens' theme, etc. The music is there to induce more of an emotional response to the story, to tell the audience what kind of emotion they should be feeling at this time. This was an entirely new approach to opera at the time. This is also why people tend to either love Wagner or hate him...to be honest, I would probably not ever watch these operas again. I do like the music...but as far as combining it with a long, plodding story, it wears on my patience after a while. The whole story is interesting, but feels very full of itself at times. It should not take a half an hour of singing to pull a sword out of a tree. What I don't like about Wagner's style is that, even as prevalent as the music is, the singers are almost negligible in a way...this may not make much sense, but to me, it doesn't seem that there is any beauty in the singing...it's just sing as loud as you can for as long as you can. I'm not saying that I don't recognize the tremendous effort or quality of voice in these singers...but I remember reading where critics said that singing Wagner had destroyed Placido Domingo's voice...and I can definitely see how. Call me simple...but I like songs that stick with me...if you asked me, I could not remember a single stanza of any of these operas. There are no stanzas. I do remember the music; the music is memorable. But the singing is not. And that disappoints me.
As far as the operas themselves- Das Rheingold is BORING. Sorry, it is. It's luckily the shortest at 2 and a half hours, but it maybe has 20 minutes of interesting stuff going on. It starts to pick up a bit with Die Walküre- the second half of which is good. Siegfried is by far the best of the series- the music and the action pick up, and there is very little plodding (until you get to the end with Brünnhilde- could have been cut down). The last, Götterdämmerung, is also good, if a little weak storywise compared to Siegfried (I hate when the story comes down to "unmovable fate" - what's the point of having a story if we see it coming all along?).
Now, as for the production itself- I guess it may have just been me, but were they trying to get rid of all of their rock set pieces? It was very barren, desolate, and cold looking- it adds to the dark feel of the operas, but after a while it becomes a bit overwhelming. It adds to the already plodding story- at least if we have to watch these people stand around for an hour singing, let them stand on something that looks a little interesting. Even in people's homes, it was ROCK. Even in the river, it's a big ROCK. The only time we ever got a break from this was the forest fight and Gunther's palace. The costumes...well, for being gods and nobles...couldn't they look a little better dressed? As far as the music went...it sounded wonderful. The singing was great (I still can't believe it's possible to sing for that long and that loudly). The orchestration was very good, too- although I'm not musician, so I can only say what it sounded like to me without being detailed.
I will give this one two ratings, that way my opinion of the operas don't reflect badly on my opinion of the production. I give the operas a 5/10. I give the production overall a 7/10. I think Tchaikovsky said it best when, after watching the final of the operas, he remarked "I feel like I've been released from prison."
Okay, now onto Mozart's "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" (The Escape from the Seraglio)- I bought this cd set from Barnes and Noble the other day (oh joy, oh sweet, money-sucking bliss that I finally found the boxsets).
This version was recorded in 1993:
http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Entf%C3%BChrung-Orgonasova-Hauptmann-Gardiner/dp/B0000057E6/sr=1-1/qid=1171896559/ref=sr_1_1/104-7309927-2666338?ie=UTF8&s=music
I bought this because I've been wanting to hear this opera (I love comedies), and I also wanted a libretto with it (since it is a singspiel, the recitives vary greatly from one version to the next). I love the music in this opera- so beautiful and never boring, despite somewhat weak characterizations. This recording is very good, save but a few nitpicks. Nitpick one- the recitives for the most part are stiff and a bit emotionless. Nitpick two- the singer of Belmonte, Stanford Olsen, doesn't quite have the "aristocratic" feel to his voice that I would expect of the role, but he does a fine job anyway. Now for what I loved- both of the leading ladies are absolutely superb. Luba Orgonasova makes a great Konstanze, with a wonderful mixture of sweetness, defiance and heartbreak, and Cyndia Sieden is wonderful as a brassy and determined Blonde. Even though, at times, the music sounds a bit reserved, should I say? for such a silly play, it nevertheless is a good recording.
I give this recording an 8/10. I give this opera a 9/10. One of Mozart's best.
Okay, I guess that will do for now.