Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro / Te Kanawa, Cotrubas, von Stade, Luxon, Skram, Fryatt; Pritchard, Glyndebourne Opera
by John Pritchard
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DVD details
Actor: Benjamin Luxon, Frederica von Stade, Ileana Cotrubas, Kiri te Kanawa, Knut SkramDirector: John Pritchard
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Italian (Original Language), Stereo; Italian (Dubbed), Stereo
Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 185 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-09-21
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Arthaus Musik
DVD Reviews of Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro / Te Kanawa, Cotrubas, von Stade, Luxon, Skram, Fryatt; Pritchard, Glyndebourne Opera
DVD Review: Splendid singing, sabotaged by the audio
Summary: 2 Stars
As one of the top-rated "Figaros" on these pages, it should be better than this. Yes, the singing is wonderful; and almost everything about the production as seen in the theater was top-notch, although the orchestral playing was not of the same quality as the singing. The orchestra may, however, have been better than can be heard through the poor audio quality, which makes it sound as if they're all playing on cheap starter instruments. The sound from the orchestra pit is dead, while the sound from the stage is as if from a gym heard through a tunnel and then trapped in a honky old loudspeaker. Live pickup was still an underdeveloped technology at the time of this recording in 1973. There is no stereo separation and almost no sense of space; so it might as well have been mono. At first I couldn't stand it and turned it off, but then I gritted my teeth and ventured back in for about half of it. I am surprised that so many of the reviewers here have ignored or dismissed this deficiency as irrelevant. What could be more important than the sound?
Fortunately, there are alternatives, one being the delicious film by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, also featuring an all-star cast (also including Kiri Te Kanawa as the Countess) and the estimable Mozartean, Karl Böhm, conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro). To be fair, however, the Ponnelle film is one of those strange hybrids between movie and opera--not a live stage performance. Made only three years later than this video, the film benefits from having the sound recorded in a studio, even though it meant that the singers had to lip-sync their arias. More directly comparable is a much more recent Covent Garden production, stunningly beautiful on Blu-ray Le Nozze di Figaro [Blu-ray], but a little lacking in the vocal department on the women's side. To find a stage production on video that did full justice to this miraculous score, I had to return to the 1985 Met performance with Kathleen Battle and Frederica von Stade. Alas, it is not available for sale; but one can stream it for a modest price from the Met's Website. The picture quality is comparable to that on this release (not very good, but bearable), and the audio is better.
Back to the performance at hand, it is wonderful to see Te Kanawa and von Stade in their younger days, and this would make a good one-time rental, but is definitely not for the opera library if one cares about the sound. As far as the video is concerned, I did not find it particularly objectionable; unlike the audio, it is not critical to the enjoyment of the music; and it is quite serviceable in terms of showing the costumes, action, and sets. Its quality is slightly better than standard-broadcast TV, though well short of the best available on DVD. (The aforementioned Böhm DVD, on the other hand, having been made from a film rather than a TV broadcast, comes close to the full quality available on DVDs, even though, like this video, it is in the old non-wide-screen 4:3 format.)
Returning again to the merits of the performance itself, the singing is about as close to perfection as it gets; but the ensemble between the singers and orchestra is just OK, suffering from the lapses that are all but unavoidable in live performance. If this production were available on a DVD that was of at least average quality, or if the performance itself were so miraculous as to brush aside any technical objections, it would be worth owning; unfortunately, neither is the case.
More Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro / Te Kanawa, Cotrubas, von Stade, Luxon, Skram, Fryatt; Pritchard, Glyndebourne Opera reviews:
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1 2 3 4 5
Description of Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro / Te Kanawa, Cotrubas, von Stade, Luxon, Skram, Fryatt; Pritchard, Glyndebourne Opera
Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart?s timeless opera buffa, is one of the greatest of all operatic masterpieces. It is based on Beaumarchais? comedy Le Marriage de Figaro and tells the tale of the servant Figaro, who is about to marry the maid Susanna. Count Almaviva, keeping an eye on Susanna himself, tries to prevent this marriage with the help of Bortolo, the doctor, but is continually thwarted.This exquisite production by Peter Hall, Director of the National Theatre, features a host of renowned opera singers lead by Kiri Te Kanawa as the Countess, the role that made her an international superstar. Knut Skram?s charming and likeable take on the character of Figaro works very well with Cotruba?s gentle Susanna. Also noteworthy is the outstanding Frederica von Stade, elebrated for her performance in the trouser role of Cherubino.
From the Glyndebourne Festical Opera 1973.
Picture Format: 4:3 ? Subtitles: I, D, F, GB, SP
Sound Format: PCM Stereo
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