Giulio Cesare
by David McVicar, Robin Lough
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Actor: Angelika Kirchschlager, Christophe Dumaux, Danielle De Niese, Sarah Connolly, William ChristieDirector: David McVicar, Robin Lough
Brand: Naxos OF America INC
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); German (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Italian (Subtitled); Italian (Original Language), DTS 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Box set, DTS Surround Sound, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 233 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-05-16
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Opus Arte
DVD Reviews of Giulio Cesare
DVD Review: Ravishing Music, Delightful Staging
Summary: 5 Stars
This production of Handel's 'Giulio Cesare' was a box-office and critical triumph at the Glyndebourne Festival, as it well deserved to be. I'll get to the music later, but first let me rave about the theatrical staging It's 305 minutes of spellbinding Entertainment! It has everything: pathos and passion, wit, visual splendor, a seductive Cleopatra voluptuous enough to be plausible as the most beautiful woman in history, Vegas-worthy strutting and dancing, well choreographed swordplay, outrageous gender-nuanced camp humor, a beefcake acrobat, an onstage fiddler, and marvelous acting by all the principals. This is not the stand-and-belt stereotypical opera of the Age of Divasaurs and Pachytenors. This is Baroque opera in full crowd-rousing mode, as Handel's original 1724 production must have been, since that production was also a box-office success, revived in 1725, 1730, and 1732, and also staged in Paris, Hamburg, and Brunswick. If all of Handel's operas had been as well-attended as 'Giulio Cesare', odds are that he could have remained true to his First Love - Italian Opera - and not have been forced to compose music for pious pastiches by Charles Jennons in the barbarous English tongue.
The love affair of Caesar and Cleopatra has been transported from imperial Roman times to a setting in the British Raj, circa 1910, with the Roman legions in redcoat regimentals and the subservient locals in costumes that blend Egypt and Punjab. It's a concept that works well for me, apt historically and dramatically, considering that Handel wrote for an audience of rising Brrrritish world-conquerers. One would not have seen togas on a baroque opera stage in 1724, I hope everyone realizes. This is a modernizing production -- "Eurotrash" for some hide-bound conservatives-- that truly expands and enhances the 'content' of the libretto and the music.
Caesar, sung by soprano Sarah Connolly, is a foppish, starchy gentleman/officer -- a character straight from the pages of a Harry Flashman novel. He's a bit of a poof, yet calmly secure in his Sahib mastery and brave as a schoolboy on the fields of Eton. Connolly manages to look quite masculine in an epicene upper-class fashion, and she sings gloriously. The role of Caesar has the widest diversity of musical affects, from military bravura to love-torn rapture to birdsong glee. Connolly renders them all, eventually with apomb enough to make even a 'soprano' Caesar quite a dominant, heroic presence.
Ptolmey is sung by countertenor Christophe Dumaux; he's an odious, corrupt, cruel slimebag, this descendent of Alexander's general, and Dumaux makes him effectively creepy. His right-had villain, Achilla, is sung by baritone Christopher Maltman, the only non-trebel voice in the cast. Maltman is a skillful foil, musically, to all those high voices, and he acts his tough-guy role convincingly.
Cornelia, the widow of murdered Pompey the Great, is sung by alto Patricia Bardon, while her impetuous son Sextus is sung superbly and acted powerfully by soprano Angelika Kirschschlager. Their troubles at the hands of Ptolmey and Achilla form a sub plot almost as compelling as the 'hooking up' of Caesar and Cleopatra, and their duet in the first act is one of the pinnacles of Handel's composition. It's also a sterling example of stage director David McVicar's witty attention to detail; mother and son sing their poignant duet in the posture of a Michelangelo Pieta. They're so good vocally, especially Kirschschlager, that they'd steal the show if the other principals weren't equally good. Kirschschlager has the finest voice per se, the finest physical instrument, of the cast.
But the show-stealer, as the recorded enthusiasm of the audience proves, is Danielle de Niese in the role of Cleopatra. De Niese is gorgeous, as beautiful of face and form as the actress Halle Berry, whom she resembles. She also vivacious, sexy, agile; she dances and prances as well as any hoofer in a Broadway musical, and she can convey anguish, despair, or anger just as well as allure. It's an odd phenomenon, which you can see in the reviews of d Niese's Handel showcase CD, that her rapid success and/or her physical charms seem to provoke some people into ridiculous diatribes -- one-star reviews --about her vocal technique. "She's no Beverly Sills" they howl. Well, thank goodness! Sills completely lacked the historically-informed vocal technique to sing Handel. De Niese does not have a voice per se of the quality of Kirschschlager's, but then neither does Sarah Connolly, Both of them amply compensate by their control of their voices, that is, by their polished baroque technique. De Niese has three major virtues: She has excellent tuning, something that Kathleen Battle, for instance, never learned. She makes expressive use of her control of dynamics, something Cecilia Bartoli or Renee Fleming often fail to do. And she deeply understands baroque ornamentation, her graces, trills, and cadences are always 'integrated' into her phrasings, making musical sense of a sort that Joan Sutherland or even the sublime Janet Baker never approached. To denigrate her singing as 'technically undeveloped' is bizarre. One make think she was running for Congress against a darling of the Tea Party blatherskates.
Music? Oh yeah, this IS an opera, not just a stage spectacular. 'Giulio Cesare' is a ravishing score, still composed in the style of Handel's Roman cantatas, calling for flamboyant vocal virtuosity. I can hardly imagine a more perfect cast for it than Connolly, Kirschschlager, Bardon, and d Niese. The orchestral writing is equally flamboyant, with colorful obbligatos for flutes and natural horns. Conductor Bill Christie brings out the elegance and complexity of the score without any twitch of academicism. In fact, he lets the music and the instruments be playful. He doesn't need to be cautious; the musicians of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment handle their 'period instruments' as skillfully as any opera orchestra of 20th C instruments in the world. And if you still cling to the troglodytic notion that Baroque instruments lack the richness or power of modern, just listen closely. You'll be disabused.
Fortunately, the sound recording is equal to the quality of the musical performance. Voices and orchestra are well in balance, equally 'present'. The camera work is also first rate, a good mix of long shots and close-ups, with good editing, nothing distracting or overdone, totally supportive of the singing and acting. This is a magnificent DVD, one of the most excellent filmings of an opera I've ever watched and heard.
Description of Giulio Cesare
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