Music CD - Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro

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Music CD: Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro

List Price: $45.98
Our Price: $31.72
Your Save: $ 14.26 ( 31% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: BBC / Opus Arte
Starring: Schrott, Persson, Finlay, Pappano, Royal Opera House

Average Customer Rating:

Tracks:

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0809478009900
Format: Classical
Label: BBC / Opus Arte
Manufacturer: BBC / Opus Arte
Number Of Discs: 2
Number Of Items: 2
Publisher: BBC / Opus Arte
Region Code: 0
Release Date: 2008-04-29
Running Time: 202
Studio: BBC / Opus Arte
Theatrical Release Date: 2006

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Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: An Excellent Production
Comment: In scanning the reviews that Amazon has printed I note that the only criticism leveled at the set are the sonics. Oddly enough they don't mirror my reaction.

I should begin, however, with positive reactions to the set and clearly they are predominant, although I wonder what McVicar was trying to accomplish by moving the action forward to the Regency period. With the exception of a few of the costumes (notably those for the Countess) I tended to forget that we were not contemporaneous with Mozart. This is doubtless due to the genius of the composer. The political aspects of the work do not have any resonance with today's audience, but the morality does. Whatever. If it works then I can live with it and with this glorious cast I have no problems. Persson is a wonderful singer; her Fiordiligi and Sophie are delightful. Any singer who sings this well and looks this good can have the career she wants. Schrott is already on his way to an international career and he keeps his shirt on! Besides his warm and beautiful voice do carry the day--and he can act as well. Finley is the only real known quantity and he delivers. Ten years earlier he was a Figaro or charm and substance. His elevation to the Count is definitely in order. Rinat Shaham's Cherubino was the only unknown quantity to me, but ROH casting have delivered. She is quite engaging and possessed of both acting ability and a lovely voice. Will she have the career that other Cherubinos have had? Time will tell.

Now, my only criticism re the sonics. For long stretches of the secco recits, the harpsichord cannot be heard. The other criticisms that have been leveled sonically would seem to be endemic to live performances and the engineers can't always adjust sound levels as they would in a studio performance. But to the hear the singers chattering on without the usual harpsichord/cello accompiment is irritating and unmusical. It isn't a deal breaker, but it would weigh in as a factor if I could only have one Figaro. You can be sure that in the Rene Jacobs performance on Bel Air there is no problem in hearing the harpsichord. I am surprised that Opus Arte weren't able to correct this in the mixing process. I did write to them and did expect at least a "boiler plate" reply. Surprisingly it has been silence.

Customer Rating:

Summary: An excellent DVD version of Le Nozze di Figaro.
Comment: David McVicar is one of my favorite opera directors. He always has something new to say about the opera he is directing, but never forcing himself at the expense of the composer and librettist. Musically, this is a very good performance, especially by Miah Persson as Susanna, Gerald Finley as The Count and Erwin Schrott, as Figaro. Antonio Pappano is these days one of the very best opera conductors.

Highly recommended.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Pappano vs. the best
Comment: The CG "Figaro" is one of the better ones on video. I think it holds up to Glyndebourne 1 (women great/men not so good) or Glyndebourne 2 (Fleming/Finlay). I don't care much for Schrott's delivery of Figaro's act four aria, however. Toni Bernhard likes the Gardiner, but to me, only Terfel shines.If the one from the Met ever makes an appearance, Terfel, Fleming & Bartoli will make that one the live performance to get. If You don't have to have a live performance, then get the DG Unitel. Prey, Te Kanawa & Freni put this one at the top.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Bravo McVicar, Pappano and all the cast
Comment: He who procrastinates finds that others get in first. I was waiting for the weekend to review this wonderful production only to find that Toni Bernhard and Bob Epstein have written much that I would have. So I will content myself with only a few remarks.

David McVicar is indeed a wonderful director. Judging from the "Bonus" on the DVD of his "Manon" of him directing, he is very much hands-on. He knows what he wants and does not stop until he gets it, usually acting it himself for the performers. His concepts are inventive and give a different view from the usual without being outrageous, unlike those of some directors I could name. Mind you, it will not work unless he starts with singers who can act as well, and I suspect that he has a say in the casting. Certainly all the performers here are wonderful.

I was not all that happy with Gerald Finlay playing the Count as such a one-sided brute until he slapped the Countess across the face -- and then the penny dropped. She is an abused wife, and that makes it all (particularly the forgiveness at the end) much more understandable. The happy ending is only temporary for the Count and Countess. In the third play of the Beaumarchais Figaro trilogy, The Count has an illegitimate child; and the Countess has one with Cherubino!!

I did not think that the sound was uneven. My impression is that there was a conscious decision to have the orchestra playing more up-front than as it is usually done. It did not mask the singers who were always clear, and I was pleased to be able to follow the wonderful orchestration with ease. Mozart and Pappano make a great combination.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Another inventive production from David McVicar
Comment: One strength of this Covent Garden production is that it puts equal emphasis on acting, stage movement, and singing (which only works when the latter is of high quality which it is here). Credit goes to David McVicar's directing for successfully combining all these features. He even uses the overture to highlight the class distinctions of the characters, as servants go about doing their work (and comically avoiding their work) in perfect time to the score.

Erwin Schrott, as Figaro, has a rich and deep baritone voice that literally booms out, but is flexible enough for the lyric demands of Mozart. He combines this with great acting. In fact, such is his focus on acting that he tends to speak his recitative. It sounds strange to the ear at first, but he has such a larger-than-life charismatic stage presence that, when combined with his superb singing, the speaking simply becomes Schrott's way of making the role of Figaro his own.

Miah Persson (Susanna) possesses a beautiful soprano voice, but she's not a natural comedienne and doesn't have a strong stage presence. The latter is only a problem because Susanna is the dramatic link to all the characters (another way of saying that she's really the star of the opera). I thought Persson was not quite up to the task. Mozart gave Susanna only one stand-and-deliver aria: "Deh vieni." Persson gives a beautifully nuanced performance of this exquisite song of hope and longing. She deserves the close-up camerawork she's given throughout the aria.

This is the second DVD featuring Dorothea Roschmann as The Countess (Salzburg's 2006 being the other). As always, her creamy soprano voice is rich and expressive. In particular, her "Porgi, amor" is performed with great pathos and is deeply moving.

Gerald Finley is excellent as The Count, appropriately brutish and dense at the same time. His baritone voice has deepened and matured since he played Figaro in the Glyndebourne production from 1994. His voice harmonizes beautifully with Roschmann's. Their work together in Act II is a highlight of the production.

The supporting cast is excellent, led by Rinat Shaham who sings Cherubino's two arias with exuberance and the sweetness of youth.

The major drawback to this DVD is uneven sound quality. It must have resulted from the placement of the microphones around the stage. There are times in arias and ensemble pieces when voices predominate but then suddenly fade away and all you can hear is the orchestra. It's very frustrating to listen to when this happens.

My favorite "Marriage of Figaro" on DVD remains the Theatre du Chatelet production conducted by John Eliot Gardiner, featuring Byrn Terfel as Figaro and Alison Hagley as Susanna. This is a matter of taste, but I prefer the more lighthearted approach of the Chatelet production, focusing as it does on the farcical nature of the plot (mistaken identities, etc.). This Covent Garden production focuses on the sexual tensions in the plot, resulting to a large extent from the characters' class distinctions. For example, Susanna's and Marcellina's brilliant first act duet, "Via resti servita " takes on a downright hostile tone in this production. I prefer the hilarious "trash talking" version in the Chatelet production. (Alison Hagley remains my favorite Susanna on DVD; she also plays the role in the Glyndebourne production from 1994 that features Gerald Finley as Figaro.)

I highly recommend this Covent Garden production and understand why many have given five stars to McVicar's more serious interpretation of this great opera.

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