Customer Reviews

Beethoven - Fidelio / Nylund, Kaufmann, Polgar, Muff, Magnuson, Strehl, Groissbock, Harnoncourt, Zurich Opera

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I didn't have very high expectations for this DVD of 'Fidelio' from the Zurich Opera House, but with Nikolaus Harnoncourt in charge of the music I was looking forward to his take on Beethoven's only opera because I had been very pleased with his complete Beethoven Piano Concerto recordings with Pierre-Laurent Aimard as soloist. Certainly he is one of the better conductors currently working. My expectations were exceeded by a large margin, however. This is a wonderful production of 'Fidelio' with singers who are not well-known and who might not, truth be told, be capable of taking their parts in larger opera houses, but for the intimate Zurich venue -- and in a very effective minimalist production by Jürgen Flimm -- they triumph. Particularly outstanding were the young Munich-born tenor, Jonas Kaufmann, and his Finnish Leonore, Camilla Nylund. I had never heard of either of them but I was never disappointed either vocally or dramatically. Nylund is a slim, attractive woman who plays the pants role of Fidelio with appropriately masculine gestures -- 'mit Mut und Kraft' -- and sings with a smallish silvery voice that is nonetheless capable of riding atop the orchestra and in ensemble pieces that dot this opera. It might be mentioned that in Leonore's dramatic 'Komm, Hoffnung' the horn section of the opera house orchestra are equal and superb partners to the determined heroine. Kaufmann is a darkly handsome, slender young man whose dramatic talent as the nearly-starving Florestan who is genuinely moved at the courage of his wife's attempts to rescue him from a dungeon is both believable and extremely moving. [Beethoven's music doesn't hinder this impression, of course -- 'In des Frühlingstagen' is simply superbly done here, as is the joyful duet with Leonora, 'O namenlose Freude']. His voice is surprisingly large and baritonal, and has that little bit of squillo that is necessary in a dramatic role such as Florestan.

The secondary characters are all done well -- Lászlo Polgár as the jailer Rocco, Elizabeth Rae Magnuson as his daughter Marzelline, Christoph Strehl's Jacquino, Alfred Muff as Don Pizarro (whose name, by the way, is consistently misspelled as 'Pizzaro' in the English subtitles) and the deus ex machina, Don Fernando sung by Günther Groissböck. The Zurich Opera chorus is moving in their 'O welche Lust' at the conclusion of Act I and the joyful 'Heil sei dem Tag' near the end of Act II. They are kitted out in echt-expressionist garb with shaved heads and black numbers written on their foreheads, and always shown in dim oblique light until the final scene.

The real heroes in this production are the marvelous Zurich Opera House orchestra. They are simply superb. Much credit, of course, goes to Harnoncourt, but he couldn't have gotten such alert, subtle and exciting playing from an inferior orchestra.

I have not seen the DVDs of the Met production with Mattila, Heppner and Pape. I strongly suspect their voices are superior to those of this cast. But I can only reiterate that I found the Zurich cast to be exceedingly satisfying both dramatically and musically.

TT=134mins; Sound DD 5.1, DTS 5.1, LPCM Stereo; Subtitles in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish; no extras

Scott Morrison

Camilla Nylund is undoubtedly visually the best Fidelio on record. She has everything a young girl would fall for - noble and courageous, charming and forthright. Vocally, Nylund is adequate for the role, though at the earlier stages her voice does not appear to have warmed up sufficiently to project the drama in her first big aria.
What strike the audience most in this production is undoubtedly the two tenors - Jaquino and Florestan, portrayed respectively by Christoph Strehl and Jonas Kaufmann.
Strehl is one of today's foremost German lyrical tenors. Casting him as Jaquino is a real luxury:in Die Zauberflote under Claudio Abbado, he has sung an impeccable Tamino.
Kaufmann's Florestan is a real wonder. He has by now fully 'graduated' from the role of Jaquino, a role he used to sing earlier in his career, and now he really owns the role of Florestan. The treacherously difficult solo aria is being pulled off heroically and the later duets and ensemble works done with absolute finesse.
If any thing, the entire tempo of the work is a bit heavy, and the power to move the audience somewhat lessened (as compared with, say, Leonard Bernstein's version with Kollo and Janowitz).

Scott Morrison's review says everything I would have, so I'll add only a few comments (plus the extra star he omitted). The rising German tenor, Jonas Kaufmann, now set to become a star thanks to his debut album on Decca, sings Florestan with astonishing accuracy and tonal color. At a young age he sounds ready to join the ranks of Julius Patzak and Jon Vickers in this role. Every note is hit perfectly and with completely solid support -- very impressive. It doesn't hurt that in close up Kaufmann "tortures up pretty," as someone once wrote of Johnny Depp when he suffers on screen.

Overall, the musical values from all concerned are so faithful that you could take the soundtrack of this DVD and use it for a studio recording. (The drawback is that the singers rarely teear their eyes away from the conductor.) Hylund and Kaufmann are both rather slight of build, so it's a bit uncanny how big they sound. I imagine that Mr. Morrison is right in guessing that the lead voices might not fill a large opera house, but they are full-bodied here. Dramatically, both leads are intense and convincing -- if only the director had allowed them to show more joy at their reunion instead of making "O namenlose Freude" a duet for two shell-shock victims who don't embrace until after the final note. Also, having Marzellina hold a six-gun to her head during the finale dampens Beethoven's intended triumphal mood, besides being innately ridiculous.

That said, all praise is due to the Zurich Opra for its high standards. Anyone who loves "Fidelio" should rush to experience this fine performance.

Jonas Kaufmann is miraculous as singer and actor; there may never have been a better Florestan. But he is only part of the glory of this DVD. Harconcourt's conducting is authoritative and exciting, and the rest of the cast is terrific too. The opera is intelligently and sensitively directed. I recommend the disc without any reservation.

Overall, this is a very good production; Camilla Nylund is a wonderful Leonore and Jonas Kaufmann the best Florestan since Jon Vickers. The roles are all well-sung and acted and the singers look very believable: Musically, this "Fidelio" is excellent. The stage set is very simple but the costumes are late eighteenth century, which I much prefer to the forced modernizing that seems to be so much en vogue now. However, making Jaquino a kind of obsessive sadist and having him level a rifle at everyone at the drop of a hat makes no sense whatsover, given Beethoven's music which suggests a completely different character. Also, the end is spoiled by Marzelline holding a revolver to her head right after singing " You (God) test us; you do not abandon us". And after this testimony of hope and faith she wants to shoot herself? Where is the logic? Can't we just have a satisfying happy ending? Also, Jaquino shooting Pizarro down as he tries to flee detracts from the idea that finally true justice will triumph - not taking justice into your own hands.
In addition to that, the shell-shocked reaction of the reunited couple, sitting apart, not even looking at each other at first, is completely at odds with what they sing: "My husband/wife in my arms". Why, why, why can't they leave time-honored works alone or respect the composer's intentions? Beethoven wanted to portray his ideal of wedded love and the perfect woman he never found in reality, but what's wrong with presenting us with some ideals? Better than the incessant gloom and pessimism that pervade lots of modern theater productions, both operatic and otherwise.
(The worst "Fidelio" I have ever seen was one in which Pizarro slit Florestan's throat, leaving him standing like a zombie for the rest of the opera, singing "O namenlose Freude" with stage blood down his front. My immediate reaction at the time was regret that directors who perpetrate such things can't be strung up by the heels to promote circulation in the brain!)
I do so wish that the old Klemperer "Fidelio" with Jon Vickers and Christa Ludwig were available on DVD, but I guess that ain't gonna happen.