17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Let the buyer beware..., January 27, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Beethoven - Leonore / Martinpelto · Oelze · Begley · M. Best · A. Miles · Hawlata · Shade - Gardiner (Audio CD)
Though this is a fine performance of the opera Gardiner's liberties with the text make it exemplary of all that is (historically) wrong with contemporary opera reconstruction and performance. First, Gardiner largely utilises the earliest text of the opera adding material from the revised version only if "aesthetics" dictate. Second, Gardiner disses the original dialogue (it doesn't meet the "transcendental" aesthetic criteria he relies on) and replaces it with a version written by a German actor of today...
I suppose that if Gardiner got a hold of Huckleberry Finn he would jettison a couple of chapters and re-write Huck's monologues. God save us from such ahistorical reconstruction.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting and pretty good, October 24, 2006
This review is from: Beethoven - Leonore / Martinpelto · Oelze · Begley · M. Best · A. Miles · Hawlata · Shade - Gardiner (Audio CD)
Other reviewer makes valid comments.
The narrator is OK, but not sure if it works really well. Strange with the German translation of the Wordsworth at the beginning.
The recording quality and the orchestral playing is superb, so that is certainly a big plus of this set.
The singers are OK; nothing to get excited about. But the Pizzaro (Matthew Best) is pretty awful -- random rough sounds all over the place a lot of the time!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
