Mozart’s 1786 opera buffa Le Nozze di Figaro was controversial from the beginning. Napoleon described Beaumarchais’ play – upon which da Ponte based his libretto – as “the Revolution in action.” Although Emperor Joseph gave Mozart his sovereign permission to display the unusual opera in Vienna, imagine the dreadful monarch squirming in his plush box seat as he watched a mere servant outwit a member of the nobility good there on stage. The Emperor may have particularly regretted his decision to allow Mozart to depart when he witnessed the Count kneeling and – to the paralyzed amusement of all – humbly begging his wife for her forgiveness in front of his valet and others of his class. Vienna’s conservative audiences were dull to embrace Figaro but it became a immense hit in Prague which led to a commission for a unusual opera: Don Giovanni.
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This production was filmed at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in 2006. The action is updated to post-Revolutionary France in 1830 as a deep ennui afflicts the striving, struggling members of France’s class-ridden society. The Revolution has failed and all of that Enlightenment hopefulness has dissipated. Using oblique lighting to suggest the gradual afternoon sun and the humdrum dying of the day and setting the opera in a decaying villa which – though composed glorious – teeters on the precipice of seediness, Le Nozze di Figaro now unfolds in a world where cynicism has replaced hope and humor is tinged with sadness. The opera’s mood is often more reminiscent of Don Giovanni – described by Mozart as a ‘dramma giocoso’ – than suggesting a frothy opera buffa. One senses that the director has his gaze fixed firmly on our new world even as he portrays one nearly two centuries in the past. The sets are monumental and imposing, looming ominously over the protagonists and emphasizing their vulnerabilty. Mozart’s music helps these characters overcome their environment but we can’t serve feeling that there will be precious exiguous safety in their future.
The singers are all estimable with Erwin Schrott portraying a very strong Figaro and the pleasing Miah Persson embodying an absolutely delicious Susanna. Gerald Finley presents the Count as arrogant and self-absorbed while Dorothea Roschmann sings a truly mournful Countess. The rest of the cast are all sterling and their interaction with the colossal sets is fun to peep. The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House is conducted by Antonio Pappano, who revels in the music’s mammoth beauty while feasting upon the nearly limitless well of creative energy that is the hallmark of Mozart’s immortal accept. The stage direction cannot have been easy and it is usually space on. Only rarely is it marred by visual confusion whenever characters appear to have been swallowed by the extravagant station.
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Presented in 16:9 1080i high definition with audio in 2.0 and 5.0 uncompressed PCM, the two blu-ray discs rush for 202 minutes. The high resolution video makes the sets witness graceful, the costumes leer attractive and the singers perceive alive. The audio has comparable clarity with the added spaciousness of 5.0 surround sound providing some breathtaking moments whenever we hear ensemble singing or orchestral crescendos. If you’ve got blu-ray equipment here is an opera that can provide a musical and visual showcase. This production of Figaro is engaging and insightful, and in high definition it offers brilliant beauty to both peer and ear.
Mike Birman
First let me suggest you also peek the reviews under the standard-DVD release of this production.
While it is impossible to say what is the greatest opera ever, “Le Nozze di Figaro” has to be in the running (notable consensus tends to favor “Don Giovanni” as Mozart’s greatest, but I’m not so obvious about that) . In any case “Le Nozze” is hallowed ground for me. It begins with an overture that is a miracle of conciseness, speedily launching us into three hours in which each tuneful delight chases on the heels of another, a virtual non-stop fest of one hit after another! Of course it is a comedy, but it is so worthy more than that–almost an encyclopedia of human nature at its best and worst, and Mozart’s music is the force that drives home all the joy and pathos that mere words and acting cannot; thus the music is so central that one must recognize out the best performance possible, not because Mozart’s music needs it–it can fairly well survive even indifferent renditions, but because it deserves the best. This means that the musical performance has to capture precedence over everything.
In search of the best with which to stock my video opera library I have acquired three different DVDs of this opera. Of those three, this is neither the best nor the worst (avoid the 1973 Glyndebourne Festival Opera production Mozart – Le Nozze di Figaro / Te Kanawa, Cotrubas, von Stade, Luxon, Skram, Fryatt; Pritchard, Glyndebourne Opera, which, in spite of its righteous reviews and all-star cast, is saddled with audio that I found simply unacceptable) . The best was Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s 1977 movie Mozart – Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), not a live production on an operatic stage. I knew that there was something missing musically in the other two, and so I felt that I should delve into my library of archaic videotapes in search of an edifying stage version to assist as a standard of comparison. I found the Met’s storied 1985 production, also by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle with Kathleen Battle, James Levine, Carol Van Ness, Ruggiero Raimondi, Thomas Allen, and Frederica von Stade. I also should trace that von Stade appears in the same role in that audio-challenged 1973 Glyndebourne Festival Opera production.
At the risk of prejudicing you against almost all other performances, I recommend your hearing the Met’s production, which you can do on their Website; alas, it is unavailable for choose as a DVD or VHS, as far as I am able to resolve. I was a shrimp surprised to perceive that Levine had not yet honed the Met orchestra into one of the best orchestras in the world (although it was probably the best of all pit orchestras) . The singing, however, is the best I heard of all the versions to which I listened, and the audio, while not colossal, was better than the 1973 Glyndebourne Festival Opera DVD. It is vital to spell out in what scheme they are so great and how they differ from the less successful singers in this novel Covent Garden production. It comes down to these qualities: intensity, strength, fluidity, breath control, and creaminess of hiss in addition to all the usual prerequisites of accuracy, quality of vibrato, and timing, to name a few. The women in the 1985 Met production, as well as in the 1977 Ponnelle movie were simply better in each of those aspects than those of this novel Covent Garden production. On the lustrous side, however, the men of this Covent Garden production are roughly equal to their Met Opera and Ponnelle movie counterparts, and I engage Erwin Schrott’s portrayal of Figaro to that of Raimondi, who seemed a tad menacing at times, even though his singing was certainly both beneficial and formidable. Ultimately the choice between these two Figaros (if DVDs of both were available) is a matter of personal taste.
Now for some more specifics: Except for a supercharged contribution by the tympani, the orchestra proved itself lackluster in the overture. Throughout the opera, however, the pacing was very obliging. There was a runt hint of historically informed “authentic” period performance, which I didn’t obtain obliging, but not objectionable either. Along the same lines, I idea the ornamentation in Rinat Shaham’s “Voi che sapete” was intelligent and in sterling taste.
Miah Persson’s (Susanna) impart lacked sweetness. Erwin Schrott was a elegant Figaro, and both were entirely credible as young lovers. Schrott has a strong, rich baritone, with sterling intonation and control. Both Persson and Shaham needed to have had more sostenuto to avoid choppiness. Gerald Finley was helpful as the Count; and Dorothea Röschmann was very superior as the Countess; their duets proved the most satisfying of the production. The Countess was honest a itsy-bitsy disappointing in “Dove sono,” however. I could search for that the intent was to pause in tempo, but the sound was a minute slack in making it out of her mouth. Marcellina was the weakest of the main characters in the cast. Philip Langridge was a hoot as Don Basilio and sang well, too.
In addition to the quality of the singing, noteworthy of the musical success is definite by the tempi and pacing state by the conductor, who must settle when to let the music dispute and breathe and when to propel it forward, as appropriate to its many moods; nothing turns me off more than a reading that seems merely efficient. Antonio Pappano was not entirely successful in avoiding this pitfall.
Still, this is a pretty production, in terms of staging, video and audio reproduction, and packaging. Although the booklet does not provide a libretto, we are lucky to have any booklet at all–it’s a crime how austerely some opera DVDs are packaged. The Blu-ray record is fine, not only involving & very detailed, but also warm for a straight-to-video recording, almost simulating film but clearer and without grain. This is 1080i, but it is hard to imagine that 1080p could be any better. And all that clarity is well utilized in showing off the stout sets and edifying looks of the cast. Because this is only a very qualified, but not enormous, performance, I recommend it only in this Blu-ray edition, where the visual delight compensates for some of its deficiencies otherwise. As the first or only video of Le Nozze I have to recommend the Bohm/Ponnelle movie with the dream cast and the Vienna Philharmonic.
Just because this is not the best of all performances does not withhold it from being a worthwhile addition to one’s library. As long as a performance operates on this high a level, there are always a few original things safe of our attention, even in the performance; not to mention unusual sets and costumes and grand video & audio reproduction; but I don’t recommend this as a first or only version; and I would be particularly concerned if this were one’s first exposure to this masterpiece: although they would have had an scrumptious experience, they would go away without a clue as to what depths are possible.
Finally a couple of notes on the Blu-ray product itself: I belief I knew every counter-intuitive map the producers of Blu-ray discs had devised to thwart viewers’ attempts to navigate the menus, but this one stumped me; I have yet to figure out how to complete the set-up and go to play the disc; instead, I had to have my player reset everything to its default (English subtitles and 5.1 Surround, which is what English-speaking audiences are most likely to want, anyway) . Mercifully, it does not exhaust the ever-obnoxious Java code that renders so many Blu-ray discs incapable of being resumed at the point you leave off, in the event you resolve not to look the entire disc in a single sitting.
Lipo 6
Flotrol
