CD Charts
Welcome to The CD Charts, here you will find all the latest and top selling DVD cds available to buy online. You can search and locate the best selling DVD cd's and have them delivered to the door. We have a large selection of DVD all with reviews.
Back to Home Page > Go back a page
DVD : Mozart - Idomeneo
1 2
Rating: 
- Fine singing, ugly visuals
Before I begin, I want to mention that I don't think there is any problem with the sound in this video, and that occasionally I have put in one of these modern dvds, thought the sound was terribly full of ambience, and then I chose a better sound track for my antique system, and everything sounded much better.
Anyway, the singing in this video is quite good, particularly Kozena as Idamante, Vargas as Idomeneo, and the Ilia was also very good. The Arbace was also quite enjoyable, but I am pretty sure that one of his arias was cut, the way I am used to hearing this opera. I have only watched this once and would have to go back and check to make sure of that. The Elettra was beautiful but the role seemed just a bit bigger than the voice. I thought she really only succeeded on the middle, slower aria.
The sets in this video are very yellow and downright ugly in my opinion. So were some of the costumes. Vargas has to wear a white quilted cape at one point, (white quilt - such a slimming fabric), and he also has to wear a paper crown. Arbace has a sleeve missing on his costume - wonder what that was supposed to symbolize? And Arbace's hair is pretty weird too. Kozena, for such a cute lady, makes the ugliest of young men - the light-colored trousers accentuating her slight figure didn't help. Vargas is extremely chunky, and as I mentioned, no slimming fashions were offered him. The Elettra, however, is a visual breath of fresh air, looking gorgeous the entire opera. The Ilia was pretty cute too.
One thing I really enjoyed about this dvd, was hearing Vargas in this role which seems tailor made for him. I have always been disappointed in his lack of unabashed passion when he sings his regular Italian roles, but for Mozart, he is dead perfect - his manner of restraint with still a pinch of passion is perfect for Mozart, and so is his beautiful voice and his wonderful coloratura technique. I say he should ditch all that Verdi he's been singing and sing more Mozart.
If you just want to hear this recording, they may still have an archive of the live radio performance available for listening at the NPR site.
Rating:
- Wonderful singing but disappointing DVD.
The singing on this DVD is phenomenal, however, the costumes and sets are atrocious and some of the performers over act to the point that they are no longer believeable, especially Elektra. Was this opera actually presented at the Salzburg festival? It must have been produced on a really low budget.
Rating:
- So far the best Idomeno
By Thomas Hultén
For my taste, Idomeneo M22, is so far the best DVD version for this opera. The Herrmanns are excellent, the music under sir Roger Norrington and the all and I mean all the actors are marvellous.
The sceneries are very simply but together with the music, the singing and Chorus you get a powerfull music feeling and a fantasic performance.
I strongly recommended this DVD.
Rating: - FIRST IDOMENEO I ENJOYED START TO FINISH, GREAT SOUND
This is the second DVD from M22 that uses regietheater in a constructive way, solving far more problems than it creates, La Finta Semplice is the other one. This cast is so strong that I feel no need to go into details of acting and singing. Norrington's conducting is also part of the success story.
Unlike another reviewer, I found nothing wrong with the sound or acoustics of the hall. Maybe this is a problem in the DTS 5.1 sound which I did not test as I only use headphones (AKG 240 studio) at present. The LPCM sound is perfect. My sound signal path is totally independent of the TV. Sometimes built in TV audio amplifiers mess up the sound of some DVDs and not others.
Costumes are much better than I expected, no slips, no underware, and no nudity. Siurina deserved something better than a tent dress, but it could have been much worse. The red goo on Idamante as he awaits the execution (which of course does not happen)was a bit overdone. These are very minor complaints. The lighting effects were excellent, and not over done.
In conclusion, I want to hear all these singers again. If in the past you have found Idomeneo boring, as I did, please try this one.
Rating: - stellar
This is the best DVD of Idomeneo I've seen. The Regies are Ursel and Karl-Ernst Herrmann. I think this production actually premiered a few years back with a different cast (have seen photos of it with Kasarova and Roeschmann), and this is a revival.
Anyhow, it is a minimalistic conceptual staging that works remarkably well in telling the story. Stage-front is extended forward to enclose the orchestra pit in the middle, the backstage is sometimes curtained off, but when exposed, features a triangular upward slope flanked by blue canvas that gets blown up to convincingly simulate the sea. The singers get to move around the orchestra pit a lot and are sometimes between the audience and the pit (dunno how Sir Roger Norrington managed to keep track of them myself...). It works in allowing them to not just be standing around waiting their turn to sing (this is an opera seria, after all).
The performance uses the original Munich version... so we are deprived of Idomeneo's 'Torna la pace' and Idamante's 'No la morte'. But are treated to a superb rendition of the difficult version of 'Fuor del mar' by the excellent Idomeneo of Ramon Vargas, who also shows himself a much better actor than I had expected.
Magda Kozena is vocally very close to perfect as Idamante, tho I don't take to her bipolar (and badly in need of heavy dose of Lithium) theatrical portrayal of him much. Seems this Idamante is either in a manic mode or a depressive one. Ekaterina Siurina is vocally gorgeous as Ilia and a good actress (tho I wish the acting would get into the voice more... Her 'Zeffiretti lusinghieri' sounds lovely but doesn't tell much story). Jeff Francis is a good Arbace and Robin Leggate is a good High Priest. Guenther Groissboeck is the Voice of ...I suppose..Zeus? Can't be Nettuno, since they have the actor Andreas Schlager playing him on-stage and looking disgrunted at what the Voice says. I like that Nettuno is onstage most of the time sinisterly observing the Cretans he's playing his bloody game with.
The show; however, is stolen in plain sight by Anja Harteros' deliciously demented (but not one-dimensionally so) Elettra. Steals practically every scene she appears in. I love the Herrmanns' use of lighting to simulate lightnings during her first rage aria. And she sings every syllable of that obnoxiously deranged Act III 'D'Oreste e d'Ajace'.... Never shouted once, but sings every syllable! This Elettra is as involved theatrically as Hildegard Behren's on the DVD from the Met, and blows all competition out of the water vocally (with the exception of the air-check from Chicago Lyric Opera in 1997 with Carol Vaness as Elettra). Wunderbar!!
The Salzburger Bachchor is wonderful both vocally and in their acting (they are required to act a lot and delivered splendidly). Sir Roger Norrington leads at a brisk pace, though no nuance is lost. A characterful read from the pit.
It is a stellar performance all around. One of the highlights of the M22 Projects (there are some productions I don't care to ever view again, but this one will get worn out by my DVD player very soon). Highly recommended.
btw, there are 2 DVDs (never mind the product info above). The extras are on the 2nd disc... Like all the M22 DVDs (except for 'Tito', perhaps), includes 'Making Of' documentary, clips from other M22 Project stuff, and from Peter Sellar's Mozart opera productions (ack!). Menu is in English, but the work is sung in Italian.
- Fine singing, ugly visualsBefore I begin, I want to mention that I don't think there is any problem with the sound in this video, and that occasionally I have put in one of these modern dvds, thought the sound was terribly full of ambience, and then I chose a better sound track for my antique system, and everything sounded much better.
Anyway, the singing in this video is quite good, particularly Kozena as Idamante, Vargas as Idomeneo, and the Ilia was also very good. The Arbace was also quite enjoyable, but I am pretty sure that one of his arias was cut, the way I am used to hearing this opera. I have only watched this once and would have to go back and check to make sure of that. The Elettra was beautiful but the role seemed just a bit bigger than the voice. I thought she really only succeeded on the middle, slower aria.
The sets in this video are very yellow and downright ugly in my opinion. So were some of the costumes. Vargas has to wear a white quilted cape at one point, (white quilt - such a slimming fabric), and he also has to wear a paper crown. Arbace has a sleeve missing on his costume - wonder what that was supposed to symbolize? And Arbace's hair is pretty weird too. Kozena, for such a cute lady, makes the ugliest of young men - the light-colored trousers accentuating her slight figure didn't help. Vargas is extremely chunky, and as I mentioned, no slimming fashions were offered him. The Elettra, however, is a visual breath of fresh air, looking gorgeous the entire opera. The Ilia was pretty cute too.
One thing I really enjoyed about this dvd, was hearing Vargas in this role which seems tailor made for him. I have always been disappointed in his lack of unabashed passion when he sings his regular Italian roles, but for Mozart, he is dead perfect - his manner of restraint with still a pinch of passion is perfect for Mozart, and so is his beautiful voice and his wonderful coloratura technique. I say he should ditch all that Verdi he's been singing and sing more Mozart.
If you just want to hear this recording, they may still have an archive of the live radio performance available for listening at the NPR site.
Rating:
- Wonderful singing but disappointing DVD.The singing on this DVD is phenomenal, however, the costumes and sets are atrocious and some of the performers over act to the point that they are no longer believeable, especially Elektra. Was this opera actually presented at the Salzburg festival? It must have been produced on a really low budget.
Rating:
- So far the best Idomeno By Thomas Hultén
For my taste, Idomeneo M22, is so far the best DVD version for this opera. The Herrmanns are excellent, the music under sir Roger Norrington and the all and I mean all the actors are marvellous.
The sceneries are very simply but together with the music, the singing and Chorus you get a powerfull music feeling and a fantasic performance.
I strongly recommended this DVD.
Rating:
- FIRST IDOMENEO I ENJOYED START TO FINISH, GREAT SOUNDThis is the second DVD from M22 that uses regietheater in a constructive way, solving far more problems than it creates, La Finta Semplice is the other one. This cast is so strong that I feel no need to go into details of acting and singing. Norrington's conducting is also part of the success story.
Unlike another reviewer, I found nothing wrong with the sound or acoustics of the hall. Maybe this is a problem in the DTS 5.1 sound which I did not test as I only use headphones (AKG 240 studio) at present. The LPCM sound is perfect. My sound signal path is totally independent of the TV. Sometimes built in TV audio amplifiers mess up the sound of some DVDs and not others.
Costumes are much better than I expected, no slips, no underware, and no nudity. Siurina deserved something better than a tent dress, but it could have been much worse. The red goo on Idamante as he awaits the execution (which of course does not happen)was a bit overdone. These are very minor complaints. The lighting effects were excellent, and not over done.
In conclusion, I want to hear all these singers again. If in the past you have found Idomeneo boring, as I did, please try this one.
Rating:
- stellarThis is the best DVD of Idomeneo I've seen. The Regies are Ursel and Karl-Ernst Herrmann. I think this production actually premiered a few years back with a different cast (have seen photos of it with Kasarova and Roeschmann), and this is a revival.
Anyhow, it is a minimalistic conceptual staging that works remarkably well in telling the story. Stage-front is extended forward to enclose the orchestra pit in the middle, the backstage is sometimes curtained off, but when exposed, features a triangular upward slope flanked by blue canvas that gets blown up to convincingly simulate the sea. The singers get to move around the orchestra pit a lot and are sometimes between the audience and the pit (dunno how Sir Roger Norrington managed to keep track of them myself...). It works in allowing them to not just be standing around waiting their turn to sing (this is an opera seria, after all).
The performance uses the original Munich version... so we are deprived of Idomeneo's 'Torna la pace' and Idamante's 'No la morte'. But are treated to a superb rendition of the difficult version of 'Fuor del mar' by the excellent Idomeneo of Ramon Vargas, who also shows himself a much better actor than I had expected.
Magda Kozena is vocally very close to perfect as Idamante, tho I don't take to her bipolar (and badly in need of heavy dose of Lithium) theatrical portrayal of him much. Seems this Idamante is either in a manic mode or a depressive one. Ekaterina Siurina is vocally gorgeous as Ilia and a good actress (tho I wish the acting would get into the voice more... Her 'Zeffiretti lusinghieri' sounds lovely but doesn't tell much story). Jeff Francis is a good Arbace and Robin Leggate is a good High Priest. Guenther Groissboeck is the Voice of ...I suppose..Zeus? Can't be Nettuno, since they have the actor Andreas Schlager playing him on-stage and looking disgrunted at what the Voice says. I like that Nettuno is onstage most of the time sinisterly observing the Cretans he's playing his bloody game with.
The show; however, is stolen in plain sight by Anja Harteros' deliciously demented (but not one-dimensionally so) Elettra. Steals practically every scene she appears in. I love the Herrmanns' use of lighting to simulate lightnings during her first rage aria. And she sings every syllable of that obnoxiously deranged Act III 'D'Oreste e d'Ajace'.... Never shouted once, but sings every syllable! This Elettra is as involved theatrically as Hildegard Behren's on the DVD from the Met, and blows all competition out of the water vocally (with the exception of the air-check from Chicago Lyric Opera in 1997 with Carol Vaness as Elettra). Wunderbar!!
The Salzburger Bachchor is wonderful both vocally and in their acting (they are required to act a lot and delivered splendidly). Sir Roger Norrington leads at a brisk pace, though no nuance is lost. A characterful read from the pit.
It is a stellar performance all around. One of the highlights of the M22 Projects (there are some productions I don't care to ever view again, but this one will get worn out by my DVD player very soon). Highly recommended.
btw, there are 2 DVDs (never mind the product info above). The extras are on the 2nd disc... Like all the M22 DVDs (except for 'Tito', perhaps), includes 'Making Of' documentary, clips from other M22 Project stuff, and from Peter Sellar's Mozart opera productions (ack!). Menu is in English, but the work is sung in Italian.