Customer Reviews

Handel - Ariodante / Bolton, Murray, Rodgers, English National Opera

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

 

 

My husband and I saw this production when it was revived at the ENO in 2002. We are fervent Handelians, experienced music and opera listeners, and no strangers to postmodern productions of baroque works. Sometimes they work well. For example, the po mo production of Purcell's Faerie Queene done at the ENO in 1998 was delightful. ENO's modernist production of Handel's Semele in 2000 was fabulous. We saw a production of Handel's Radamisto at the St. Louis Opera which, despite some problems with the singers, was one of the most beautiful and meaningful set designs I've ever seen (the designers won a Tony shortly after that for another production). I say all this to let readers know that we are not closed-minded attendees who only respond to period-correct-in-every-way productions.

That said, I have to say that this production of Ariodante, one of Handel's most beautiful operas, was one of the most ridiculous and disappointing experiences we've ever had with an opera, and has made us really wary of crossing the pond to go to anything else at the ENO. The design is preposterous, ugly, has no purpose except to shock the audience and absolutely torture the singers who have to negotiate it. The singers have apparently been instructed to at times act as if their words mean the exact opposite of what they are actually singing, for some reason. It's impossible to watch the production for long without having an impulse to laugh.

Don't waste your money on this DVD unless you're looking for an example of how best to ruin an opera.

"Ariodante" can easily be regarded as Handel's most romantic opera - "Flavio" is a close second. It does not deal with the fate of nations/kingdoms but rather focusses on the individual and his/her romantic desires. Many scenes are set in the outdoors: the countryside, the royal gardens, or a forest; and a lot of the drama takes place at night. These different locations afford Handel the opportunity to 'indulge' his fertile imagination to compose the most sensual and programmatic music of his or any other time - like the rising of the moon at the beginning of Act 2. To go into the musical and dramatic 'architecture' of "Ariodante" and Handel's breaking with the Baroque tradition would take too much time here. (Please see Winton Dean's "Handel and the Opera Seria" for more information on this and Handel's other operas.)

The director clearly had a (weird) personal agenda. And to expect the performers to be at their best in a production like this is not realistic: Ginevra and Ariodante (respectively the future Queen and King of Scotland) look like they receive EST treatment very regularly; the King of Scotland looks like a dirty old man who has not bathed for months. And Dalinda (the Lady-in-waiting to Ginevra, the future Queen of Scotland) looks off like an Italian widow. The scheming Polinesso, Duke of Albany, who is an elegant courtier (who can insinuate himself into the crown princess's private chambers!) ... just does not look like he could/should be allowed into polite society.

One should always try to be objective when reviewing a product and this is one of the few DVD's I would not recommend you to buy. It is a dark, ugly, unintelligent and sexually explicit production. The characters are not believably portrayed as indicated in the libretto as Handel set it.

Finally, if I can be abstract, Ariodante should remind one of a Renaissance garden (at night) saturated with the scent of jasmine and other summer flowers. Instead here we get stuck in a stinking bog. A great pity as the ENO's 'Serse' was a beautiful, imaginative yet truthful reading as this one is unattractive and uninspired.

For those of your operaphiles out there who have yet to venture into the operatic world of Handel, this is the performance for you! The production is stunningly modern--crisp, clean, sharp--and yet, at the same time, takes you back to share in the visceral excitement of that first opening night. Ann Murray is a wonder! I was forced to repeat her first act aria three times before I could move on. I could list a number of "hidden joys" to watch for: how the chorus "changes" throughout the performance, the dramatic force of the work, etc. but, honestly, I would rather that you discover them for yourselves. To put it simply: I thought that I would "test the waters" and watch only a bit of it when it arrived. Wrong!!! I watched the entire performance--all 177 minutes of it. And, in the past week, I have reviewed sections, repeatedly, which particularly enthrall me. And who would have thought it from Handel?

The opera video club I run was really looking forward to this DVD, especially as many of us are Handel fans. Unfortunately, we only made it about 40 minutes in before we had to turn it off! The singing is not the problem, it's the rolling on the floor that drove us crazy. Maybe it seemed like a fresh idea in 1996, but it doesn't now!

Don't be fooled by the glorious colors and the intriguing postmodern-retro-baroque production. The end result is that each of the characters ends up an unappealing caricature, someone you really don't care about. This one rolls on the floor all the time, that one tongues his walking stick in a lewd manner all the time... Enough said. Now you have various opinions, and you'll have to make up your own mind...

We did enjoy the ENO's production of Xerxes, though, in case you're looking for an alternative.

This is clearly a production intended for Lucius Malfoy and his social set. Polinesso even bears a close resemblance to Professor Snape. In short, it's very hard to look at. However, I can't second the recommendation of other reviewers to darken the screen and just listen. It's not well sung. How could it be, when the singers are asked to distort their instruments (their bodies) and pervert the affect of every aria in the most far-fetched manner possible. I'm not a conservative about opera productions, by the way. I heartily recommend Handel's "Theodora" and "Rodelinda" - both modernistic, both conducted by William Christie and sung gloriously. This Ariodante is simply a bad piece of work.

I saw this performance on tv a few weeks ago, and since I never saw it before (eventhough I own the Minkowski CD and is one of my favorites) I looked forward to the broadcast. I can't stress enough my dissapointment, after years of having in mind a fantasy of how this divine music should come to life on stage, when I saw the horrible Ann Murray shatter this fantasy to pieces. She has the most dreadful voice I have ever heard and her acting skills are resemble those of a wooden log, as she keeps talking to her hands while singing every damn aria in this magnificant opera.
The other singers are also not the best you can find on the market but have certain qualities - Christopher Robson (Polinesso) acts as a true villain with his snake-like behavoir, and Lesley Garrett as Dalinda which is pretty AND has a nice voice.
But the most important thing - what's the deal with the translation from Italian to English?! I hate it when they do that! Opera should be sung in it's original language, and what language would be more suited for this lovely music than the most beautiful language in the world - Italian - the language of music.
I still keep this performance on tape just to show everybody who visits me how a perfect piece could be crashed under the harsh hands and voices of untalented performers.
This recording should be bought only to serve as a testament of how NOT to perform music!

This film features marvelous music and gorgeous voices. Everything else about it is awful. The costumes, representing all sorts of periods, are a joke. The lighting is dark and terrible. The staging is designed to make you forget the music and the voices and wonder only if Leslie Garrett will have a climax and if she will avoid Christopher Robson's eager tongue and anxious hands. The dancing, if that's what you want to call it, is simply pointless and pretentious. So, to enjoy this opera, simply listen to it. Turn off the television. By the way, Ann Murray alone is worth the price. What a glory.

Initially I was quiet excited about this DVD - widescreen edition, well-recorded and loud enough, and the performance started quite well, I liked the decorations and costumes; Ginevra (Lynne Dawson) sounded very pleasing to my ear.

But soon it was obvious that Ann Murray's voice is simply not rendering itself to Ariodante's role. I have two recordings of Ariodante - one by Marc Minkowski with Anne Sofie von Otter and another by Nicholas McGegan with Lorraine Hunt in the title role. Both are vastly superior to this whole production, especially von Otter - it is a rare occasion for me to prefer her over Lorraine Hunt, but this role of a noble knight requires, in my opinion, a restrain and nobility in expressing emotions, and von Otter is absolutely splendid in this. Perhaps her character lends more to play a male role, while Lorraine is unsurpassed in female characters, where more fragility is expected.

In any case, Ann Murray cannot come close to these two singers in this role; also the fact that it is sung in English ruins the magic; it is here just another element of disrespect to this wonderful opus by Il caro Sassone. To do justice to Ann Murray, I find her a very good soprano; acting-wise she is satisfactory and I actually liked that she had a fitting figure for a young prince here :), however, this role is for the mezzo-soprano, perhaps it can be sung by a contralto, and had to have certain maleness in it (even though it was written for a castrato Giovanni Carestini - they were famous for certain metal in their voices); it is not a role of Aminta (the shepherd and gentle lover) in Handel's cantatas; Ariodante is a proud prince, as Orlando, and soprano just doesn't sound convincing.

Other singers were quite good, I think, but again, English is not a fitting sound here.

Regarding the production itself, many other reviewers found it poor, and I join the same chorus - unfortunately, it progressed to be in poor taste, with supposedly enlivening erotic scenes, which made it especially vulgar. I am never sure what the producers are trying to achieve with adding scenes made in some debasing and demeaning manner to a particular opus - how were those scenes appropriate here? The audience that appreciates the high spirit of this work would not enjoy it, and those who could like the crudity employed would probably not come for Handel in the first place. I noted in other reviews that the only successful application of such risque scenes was to me in Alcina DVD; and if the eroticism is not done with enough exquisiteness and delicacy for Handel's music, it ruins the magic. Producers as for this Ariodante should always remember that Handel wrote for Royalty, and not for Inn Fields Theatre, thus a very delicate balance must be used for any erotic overtones when staging his works.

And finally, it is a great opera, and the story, if taken seriously, is absolutely terrible, of a young woman betrayed by both the father and the lover, a victim of calumny, left alone in her hour of need... Handel's mastery in conveying the slightest nuance of emotion is stunning.

I would recommend this DVD only as a narrative or an illustration to much better recordings, for better visualization of the action. Otherwise, it is not very good and I had to fight the temptation to stop it without watching to the end.

I was startled to find such extreme negativity in some of the customer reviews of this version of ARIODANTE. More than any other opera on dvd I've seen, it showed me that I could make emotional contact with the situations and characters in Baroque opera. I've watched it a number of times and it was one of very few dvd's that I am not currently in the process of unloading by selling them. This is, for me, a keeper!

It seems like ENO was short of money and put together some costumes and stages from other operas and ballets of unmatching periods, coming out with this sort of masked ball in a Mad House. Perhaps David Alden's Production of Ariodante is a sort of extreme challenge for opera lovers who so often have to divorce the rational part of their brains from the ridicule and unlikeness of a cast, plot or stage production, in order to enjoy with their spirits the sublime grandeur of the music.
That certainly applies to this DVD. If we watch it with the rational part of our brains we will miss miserably the magnificent beauty of this opera and the brilliant interpretation of most of the singers, trying to understand (unsuccessfully) what David Alden wanted to tell us (by the way I personally think that is more important and easy to get connected with Mr. Haendel than with Mr. Alden). It is a pity that the same ENO that produced the brilliant Semele I had the pleasure to see at the London Coliseum in 1999, has came out with this "Frankestein". By the way, Ann Murray disappointed me as usual. In spite of her best efforts, she is not a coloratura singer at all. I have never liked her voice, even by listening her live in a recital at the Edinburgh International Festival long time ago. If you love opera and, particularly, Haendel's operas, you will enjoy this DVD anyway, but do not try to be rational, let the music alone to guide your soul.