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DVD : Offenbach - Des contes d'Hoffmann (Some Tales of Hoffmann) / Nagano, Galvez-Vallejo, Dessay, Lyon Opera
1 2 3 4 5
Rating: 
- Some prententious intellectualism
There are several reason you may want to own that DVD.
First of all: Natalie Dessay. She is incredible. So much nuances and clear control of the voice! Not to mention she is adding two high G (same in the CD version) and one high high A flat (not in the CD version)without any strain.
Second, the marvelous Barbara Hendricks, loveliest Antonia with a vibrato more controled than usually. Beside her high C sharp at the end of the trio which seems a bit thight to my ears, the colour of the voice is opulent.
Third, the Van Dam-Bacquier duo with perfect style, "intelligence de la scène".
Galvez-Vallejo is an adequate Hoffmann but not a revelation. However you have to think that it was a non stop evening which is quite a marathon for the tenor, Hoffmann being one of the heaviest role of french repertoire. Isabelle Vernet has a fine dramatic voice for Giulietta but too heavy in her aria "L'Amour lui dit, la belle" much suited for a coloratura. The alternative aria "Venus dit à Fortune" would have been more appropiate for that kind of voice but that is a matter of edition's choice.
All that put together could have make an outstanding production of Contes d'Hoffmann. Instead we get a pretentious mixture of false new ideas. Indead, Offenbach and all the musicologists who edited it never understood the true meaning of this opera. But we, the guys of the Opera the Lyon, are way over them all. So let rewrite it all!!! Hoffmann is not a romantic poet having to sacrifice his terrestrial loves to reach artistic apotheosis. He is a mentally ill man who, at the end, turn to be ... a mentally ill man. How deep!!! This production is the reflect of the dictatorial denaturation pseudo-theater directors are holding operas these days. They dont hear nor read music. They dont care about musicians and librettist, those are sooo annoying! Result: emptiness, obtuseness and a missed opportunity. I just just wish they could be sued.
Rating:
- Magic.....magic.....OMG.....where's the magic???
You know what I hate? I hate musically challenged producers and directors who because of their lack of understanding of a masterpiece, and a penchant for robbing others of their due reward, invade the composers artistic impression just to rape it with a vile and grotesque version of their own. What we have here my fellow opera lovers is sin spewing out from the Grand Opera stage dragging some truely remarkable singers down to it's vulgar depths with it. I know what you grave robbers are thinking who gave birth to this test tube baby.....it's an esoteric work stupid.....and as such you who are unenlightened could never understand it. So we'll just sit back stroking each other. All the while an angry audience is demanding that justice be served. And how can justice be served? Who financed this project? Can we get a grand jury to indict them? Nay! Can we tie them up and drag them through town to be stoned? Nay? Then what are our options to help avenge the violation of our dear brother Offenbach? AVOID THIS MOVIE LIKE THE PLAGUE!
Rating:
- Vaguely Hoffmann
I was relieved (it's not so bizarre, grotesque as these other reviewers say) and mildly entertained. Though the music is sublime, beautiful, this version makes even less sense than the original. And if I hadn't known the original, I would have been hopelessly lost. I was anyway. It had some effective moments, particularly the draping of the corpse of Antonia's mother over Antonia's shoulders, in fact that whole story was wonderful I thought. The story of Olympia who in this version was called a mechanical doll but was actually a girl in braces who when she first stood could barely walk was, frankly, I thought, in very poor taste. Guilietta's part made no sense at all, it doesn't in the original to me either, but particularly not in this nonsense. The stories are arranged Olympia, Antonia, Guilietta. I won't give away the ending which I didn't understand anyway, I disliked the "modern" vocal sound effects that showed up towards the end, and the last words of the opera were inaudible, but fortunately there were subtitles, for all the good they did. There were no sets at all, it ran 2 hours with no intermission, the costumes were contemporary dress, I have only the reviewers here to assure me that it all happened in a mental hospital, it was a trip, kept my interest, but like most "modern art," was more of a curiosity than something to care about. It had no feeling whatsoever. But the music was grand. By the way, the reviewer who lambasts the old (old is new to someone) and calls it in bad grammar and all lower case "conservative," said nothing I remember about the opera at hand. And no one in his right mind who knows me would ever call me "conservative." I don't even like to say the word. But being old doesn't make a thing bad, just as being new doesn't ipso facto make it good. Look at "modern verse." But like the lower case reviewer who relishes all things new and despises all things old, I also think art is about dead, but not through want of novelty. Through want of genius. But that always was rare. And there has been a lot of it in Western music since Bach. Oh. I almost forgot. I for one did not think the tenor who sang Hoffmann was that outstanding. He was almost good enough, but I thought his loves were better.
Rating:
- attn: classical fundamentalists!
the classical fundamentalists are as annoying and as harmful as christian fundamentalists.
why?
because, like the religious fundamentalists the 'classical crowd'
has become so conservative, so insistent on the 'sacred word' that they are, in affect, killing the future of artmusic.
and that, is what classical music and jazz really is; artmusic.
interpetation is an art within itself.
the plague that was toscanini had devestating affects that we are still struggling to recover from today.
and the result is that classical music is in its death throes.
where are the current composers?
oh, we have knussen, salonen, saaarhio making small dents, but that is all.
it was less than a mere hundred years ago that debussy, ravel, stravinsky, milhuad, bartok, shoenberg, berg, and webern caught our attention.
but, that is past.
no one today can make that type of impact and the fault lies at the very feet of the medium's 'fans'.
in film and theatre we have seen new retellings of hamlet, midsummers nights dream and etc, but even that group's conservative adherents pale in comparison to the plethora of conservatives in classical music.
numerous complaints spring up every time a leonard bernstein or pierre boulez type interpets a piece in a subjective light, although even karajan,despite what is claimed, was a subjectivist.
today it seems only the incresingly dull levine is 'acceptable'.
mahler, kubelik, and klmeperer all attached themselves to new music and all met obstacles in the toscanini corrupted states.
and the recording industry is replete with play it safe thinkers as well.
do we need another beethoven cycle?
even boulez is now recording much recorded music.
peter sellars and group did some innovative films of the mozart duponte operas years ago. those have long been out of circulation and its doubtful that they will be seeing the light of day any time soon.
barenboim and kupfer did a superb, abstract parsifal and ring cycle that have inexplicably vanished.
barenboim and chereau did a (by all accounts) startling wozzeck that has never made its way to the states.
yet we can find any levine la boheme or magic flute on dvd, vhs, laser disc, etc in any tower records.
and still, the sales, even on levines output is miniscule.
mainly because theyre dull, flat, and unimaginative.
if the recording industry and 'fans' could find it within themsleves to take a chance on new music and new interpetations on the old chestnuts, then perhaps the death of artmusic would not be so imminent.
but, from the reactions i have seen on amazon towards innovative interpetations (like this one), i am not optimistic.
Rating: - Interesting but it's not Offenbach
If you think that you are getting Offenbach's opera, think again. This modernistic production which seems to be set in a madhouse bears only the faintest relationship to Les Contes D'Hoffman. (Hence the title Des Contes.) If I didn't hear the music I would think I was watching a staging of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari or Marat/Sade. It remined me of a production of Rienzi I saw where everyone was clad in camoflauge? Where were the visuals to go with the grand music? And where in this version of Offenbach is the charm, the beauty, and the humor that goes with this music? Is it really doing composers a service to mask their intentions and create incongruous crap in the name of invention and eschew convention? I felt as one who sits down to dine on Beef Wellington on fine china and is served hamburger on paper plates.
- Some prententious intellectualismThere are several reason you may want to own that DVD.
First of all: Natalie Dessay. She is incredible. So much nuances and clear control of the voice! Not to mention she is adding two high G (same in the CD version) and one high high A flat (not in the CD version)without any strain.
Second, the marvelous Barbara Hendricks, loveliest Antonia with a vibrato more controled than usually. Beside her high C sharp at the end of the trio which seems a bit thight to my ears, the colour of the voice is opulent.
Third, the Van Dam-Bacquier duo with perfect style, "intelligence de la scène".
Galvez-Vallejo is an adequate Hoffmann but not a revelation. However you have to think that it was a non stop evening which is quite a marathon for the tenor, Hoffmann being one of the heaviest role of french repertoire. Isabelle Vernet has a fine dramatic voice for Giulietta but too heavy in her aria "L'Amour lui dit, la belle" much suited for a coloratura. The alternative aria "Venus dit à Fortune" would have been more appropiate for that kind of voice but that is a matter of edition's choice.
All that put together could have make an outstanding production of Contes d'Hoffmann. Instead we get a pretentious mixture of false new ideas. Indead, Offenbach and all the musicologists who edited it never understood the true meaning of this opera. But we, the guys of the Opera the Lyon, are way over them all. So let rewrite it all!!! Hoffmann is not a romantic poet having to sacrifice his terrestrial loves to reach artistic apotheosis. He is a mentally ill man who, at the end, turn to be ... a mentally ill man. How deep!!! This production is the reflect of the dictatorial denaturation pseudo-theater directors are holding operas these days. They dont hear nor read music. They dont care about musicians and librettist, those are sooo annoying! Result: emptiness, obtuseness and a missed opportunity. I just just wish they could be sued.
Rating:
- Magic.....magic.....OMG.....where's the magic???You know what I hate? I hate musically challenged producers and directors who because of their lack of understanding of a masterpiece, and a penchant for robbing others of their due reward, invade the composers artistic impression just to rape it with a vile and grotesque version of their own. What we have here my fellow opera lovers is sin spewing out from the Grand Opera stage dragging some truely remarkable singers down to it's vulgar depths with it. I know what you grave robbers are thinking who gave birth to this test tube baby.....it's an esoteric work stupid.....and as such you who are unenlightened could never understand it. So we'll just sit back stroking each other. All the while an angry audience is demanding that justice be served. And how can justice be served? Who financed this project? Can we get a grand jury to indict them? Nay! Can we tie them up and drag them through town to be stoned? Nay? Then what are our options to help avenge the violation of our dear brother Offenbach? AVOID THIS MOVIE LIKE THE PLAGUE!
Rating:
- Vaguely HoffmannI was relieved (it's not so bizarre, grotesque as these other reviewers say) and mildly entertained. Though the music is sublime, beautiful, this version makes even less sense than the original. And if I hadn't known the original, I would have been hopelessly lost. I was anyway. It had some effective moments, particularly the draping of the corpse of Antonia's mother over Antonia's shoulders, in fact that whole story was wonderful I thought. The story of Olympia who in this version was called a mechanical doll but was actually a girl in braces who when she first stood could barely walk was, frankly, I thought, in very poor taste. Guilietta's part made no sense at all, it doesn't in the original to me either, but particularly not in this nonsense. The stories are arranged Olympia, Antonia, Guilietta. I won't give away the ending which I didn't understand anyway, I disliked the "modern" vocal sound effects that showed up towards the end, and the last words of the opera were inaudible, but fortunately there were subtitles, for all the good they did. There were no sets at all, it ran 2 hours with no intermission, the costumes were contemporary dress, I have only the reviewers here to assure me that it all happened in a mental hospital, it was a trip, kept my interest, but like most "modern art," was more of a curiosity than something to care about. It had no feeling whatsoever. But the music was grand. By the way, the reviewer who lambasts the old (old is new to someone) and calls it in bad grammar and all lower case "conservative," said nothing I remember about the opera at hand. And no one in his right mind who knows me would ever call me "conservative." I don't even like to say the word. But being old doesn't make a thing bad, just as being new doesn't ipso facto make it good. Look at "modern verse." But like the lower case reviewer who relishes all things new and despises all things old, I also think art is about dead, but not through want of novelty. Through want of genius. But that always was rare. And there has been a lot of it in Western music since Bach. Oh. I almost forgot. I for one did not think the tenor who sang Hoffmann was that outstanding. He was almost good enough, but I thought his loves were better.
Rating:
- attn: classical fundamentalists!the classical fundamentalists are as annoying and as harmful as christian fundamentalists.
why?
because, like the religious fundamentalists the 'classical crowd'
has become so conservative, so insistent on the 'sacred word' that they are, in affect, killing the future of artmusic.
and that, is what classical music and jazz really is; artmusic.
interpetation is an art within itself.
the plague that was toscanini had devestating affects that we are still struggling to recover from today.
and the result is that classical music is in its death throes.
where are the current composers?
oh, we have knussen, salonen, saaarhio making small dents, but that is all.
it was less than a mere hundred years ago that debussy, ravel, stravinsky, milhuad, bartok, shoenberg, berg, and webern caught our attention.
but, that is past.
no one today can make that type of impact and the fault lies at the very feet of the medium's 'fans'.
in film and theatre we have seen new retellings of hamlet, midsummers nights dream and etc, but even that group's conservative adherents pale in comparison to the plethora of conservatives in classical music.
numerous complaints spring up every time a leonard bernstein or pierre boulez type interpets a piece in a subjective light, although even karajan,despite what is claimed, was a subjectivist.
today it seems only the incresingly dull levine is 'acceptable'.
mahler, kubelik, and klmeperer all attached themselves to new music and all met obstacles in the toscanini corrupted states.
and the recording industry is replete with play it safe thinkers as well.
do we need another beethoven cycle?
even boulez is now recording much recorded music.
peter sellars and group did some innovative films of the mozart duponte operas years ago. those have long been out of circulation and its doubtful that they will be seeing the light of day any time soon.
barenboim and kupfer did a superb, abstract parsifal and ring cycle that have inexplicably vanished.
barenboim and chereau did a (by all accounts) startling wozzeck that has never made its way to the states.
yet we can find any levine la boheme or magic flute on dvd, vhs, laser disc, etc in any tower records.
and still, the sales, even on levines output is miniscule.
mainly because theyre dull, flat, and unimaginative.
if the recording industry and 'fans' could find it within themsleves to take a chance on new music and new interpetations on the old chestnuts, then perhaps the death of artmusic would not be so imminent.
but, from the reactions i have seen on amazon towards innovative interpetations (like this one), i am not optimistic.
Rating:
- Interesting but it's not OffenbachIf you think that you are getting Offenbach's opera, think again. This modernistic production which seems to be set in a madhouse bears only the faintest relationship to Les Contes D'Hoffman. (Hence the title Des Contes.) If I didn't hear the music I would think I was watching a staging of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari or Marat/Sade. It remined me of a production of Rienzi I saw where everyone was clad in camoflauge? Where were the visuals to go with the grand music? And where in this version of Offenbach is the charm, the beauty, and the humor that goes with this music? Is it really doing composers a service to mask their intentions and create incongruous crap in the name of invention and eschew convention? I felt as one who sits down to dine on Beef Wellington on fine china and is served hamburger on paper plates.