Customer Reviews

Handel - Rinaldo / Bicket, Daniels, York, Prinzregententheater Munich

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

On this DVD, during the scene in "Rinaldo" where Argante, the King of Jerusalem is singing of his love for Almirena, daughter of the general of the besieging Christian army, a gigantic plastic bobble-headed doll rolls onto stage and drops its pants. Then it turns its back to the audience.

My feelings about this production, exactly.

The DVD's added feature is a movie called "Handel the Entertainer." In it Sir Peter Jonas, the General Director of the Bayerischen Staatsoper and Harry Bicket, the conductor discuss Handel and their treatment of "Rinaldo." Sir Peter considers "Rinaldo," one of Handel's early works, a comic farce and treats it as a burlesque. This production features several partial strip teases, including that of the previously-mentioned bobble-headed doll, and a fair amount of genital groping, so 'burlesque' is really an operative term here, not 'erotic undercurrent' as was Sir Peter's intent. The wicked but loving sorceress, Armida is transformed into a cheap hooker. Almirena is a prissy Christian kewpie doll.

As to the setting, David Alden, the stage director explains that he was trying for the ambience of the Grand Beach Hotel in Tel Aviv, where he was once stranded for several days. That might explain the bright orange couch and chairs that show up in almost every scene. I was thinking "airport lounge," but "one-star 1950's hotel" works, too. The ambience is further enhanced by a larger-than-life-size plastic statue of Jesus elevating the cup and host, and wallpaper where stylized eyes appear centered in the palms of hundreds of green, red, and flesh-colored hands.

The emotional quality of sound is a huge part of Handel's world, and the singing on this CD is good, especially counter-tenor David Daniels in the title role. But the scenic element must support the music and the words. If an operatic producer unravels a single thread of the original composer's unity of words, music, and staging, then the opera's symbolic center will not hold.

This production is overrun with symbolism, especially that of a cheap anti-Catholic variety, but I don't believe it was the symbolism intended by Handel.

The added feature, "Handel the Entertainer" is actually the highlight of this DVD, and features arias from many Handelian operas, including "Ariodante," "Xerxes," "Julius Caesar," and "Agrippina."

Rinaldo is a warrior on a "crusade" to "liberate" Jerusalem. En route, Armida, the Saracen Queen of Damascus falls in love with him, and being a sorceress, she uses magic to capture him. Earlier, she had ensnared Rinaldo's beloved, Almerina, daughter of the General of the crusade. Eventually both are freed by some counter-magic and Rinaldo conquers Jerusalem, and, as a result, Armida is converted to Christianity. If you think it might be a story hard to stage, you are right. But, in Handel's time, the story didn't matter much, it was for the arias that the audience came-especially those sung by famous "castrati.". The opera abounds in this last commodity, with four castrati parts (usually sung by counter-tenors today), two soprano parts and a bass part. Its saving grace is some of the most ravishing music Handel ever wrote.

This performance is a throughly "camp" production-in modern dress, mostly. I am generally not a fan of updating operas (especially when the emphasis is changed to fit some political view which was not part of the original) let alone placing them in bizarre sets, but this is a rare exception. The story is almost impossible to stage "straight" and it has wonderful comedic possibilities which are developed here. The singing is superb as is the acting, especially by Noemi Nadelmann, the Armida, whose attempted seduction of Rinaldo is sensational though almost X rated!

In the dvd a full appreciation of what is going on is sometimes masked by an excessive amount of close-up camera work during arias. I had the advantage of seeing a revival of this production in Munich before watching (and buying) the dvd, and in the live performance the purpose of some of the "camp-iness" was clearer. I think the avant-garde staging of the second act where Rinaldo is entrapped by Armida's magic and she attempts to seduce him is especially imaginative and effective. However, the production's eccentricity is not all to the good-for example the giant "bobble-head"(commented on by another reviewer) made no sense whatsoever to me. But, all in all for me, even though I am a fairly strong traditionalist when it comes to opera, this was a worthy and mostly successful excursion into "experimental" theater. Add to it the fabulous singing by all seven members of the cast, it comes out to be a five star production. If you can't stand modernized productions of Handel operas ("modernized" Handel stagings are a fairly common occurrence these days) there are a couple of wonderful CDs of this glorious music-though usually with a mezzo-soprano singing the title role instead of the estimable David Daniels.

One final comment on the use of counter-tenors or mezzo-sopranos singing the role of a Handelian hero. Modern performances and recordings stick to the "original" intentions of Handel, but in the mid-20th century when Handel was revived, a bass or baritone often sang these parts-as can be heard in the Treigle-Sills CD of Julius Ceasar. While I enjoy the modern performances, I also think the transposed versions can work equally well.

Oh dear...

Is there some sort of rule in Director School that states "Do not stage in period. Wherever possible, be tasteless, be vulgar, ensure that your staging has nothing to do with the music, and above all, make the singers do very stupid things"?

I suspect many modern directors live in deadly fear of not being avant-garde. They must wake in terrible fear in the middle of the night, having suffered a nightmare of having produced a "traditional" opera. Oh shame, shame, shame... What a horror to avoid, because after all, it would prove nothing but that the director's mind is unoriginal and that he cannot be piquant and daring, brave and contemporary... right?

Hmm. Is it not time for directors to realise that they are NOT being original in creating a visual mess like the one presented in this DVD? Every second director is doing it - so where is the originality? The audiences must be seeing through the lack of scholarly thought involved in a "just make it vulgar" setting.

This setting is nothing short of an insult to Handel's glorious music. It looks like a combination of a Las Vegas wedding chapel and a cheap Chinese hotel-by-the-hour - all flash and plastic, no substance.

The poor Almirena is forced into a hideous pair of granny glasses with equally hideous dress and pious expression, clutching a Bible and leaping into a nun's habit just before being abducted. In her "Lascia, ch'io pianga" aria, sung while she is held in the power of the sorceress, she looks like a lavender moth squashed against the glass. It's not her fault... and I think the horrid production adversely affected Deborah York's singing. She is otherwise quite nice to hear - it's only in that ravishing aria that the poor soprano doesn't really have the chance to let her voice spin the music.

David Daniels is always a delight to hear, and he does his best in the role of Rinaldo. But as he is dressed up as a gangster, for no conceivable reason, one cannot think of him as a Christian knight, or indeed as anything in particular. What a waste of his fine voice and beautiful ability to ravish us with his voice.

Daniel Taylor, another beautiful countertenor, also does his best with his role, and he too wears a gangster-style suit - again, one is at a loss to explain why.

The Armida, another soprano, isn't quite what I'd have wanted to hear as far as timbre goes, although she is a suitably attractive woman. But her outfits do nothing but make her look like a cabaret singer who's inadvertently strayed into an opera by mistake.

For the most part, the singers are fine - and the instrumental playing is gorgeous.

The plot simply does not make sense in this setting. It's silly, but worse than silly - it seems as though the director didn't have a clue what this opera was about. Did he think it was a tongue-in-cheek joke? Did he think Handel cannot be enjoyed except with men groping inside their flies, plastic statues exposing themselves, and women either tartily sexy or as solemn as nuns in a "Carry on" film?

The silly staging DOES affect the singing. I can hear the singers trying to make it sound "funny" - no doubt on instruction from the director.

Had the staging not been so silly, this would have been a 4 and a half star performance. As it is, it's something I can simply NOT watch with enjoyment, and I doubt I will be watching it again. I'm not even tempted to LISTEN to it in preference to watching, because I have perfectly wonderful CDs of "Rinaldo" - two absolutely gorgeous ones, and one that's only there as a historical relic.

I'm sorry... most of the singers are terrific, but the setting utterly ruins this DVD. And unfortunately, so far there's no other version available. I shall have to keep looking...

This over the top production reads like an inside joke from beginning to end: if you
don't already know what's going on, you'll NEVER figure it out from this production. I
usually hate these modern dress Euro-trash productions, but I actually found this one
clever. There are more male sopranos that you can shake a stick at, but Daniels is
of course, the stand out. David Walker is no slouch either. There are too many inside
jokes to even list, but my favorite is the costuming of the Mago as a New Orleans
style voo doo conjure man: he seems to have escaped from a never written Tennessee
Williams play. Noemi Nadelmann is a knock out as Armida: sexy as all get out and sings up a storm, as does Egils Sinins as Argante. This must be one of the first instances of the evil sexy couple vs. the good
clean (and sort of sexy) couple in opera: I kept thinking Mimi/Rudolfo:Marcello/Musetta for some reason.

This all said, the one thing that gets a little left out of the picture with this production is the MUSIC: the cast is encumbered with all manner of strange and
funny stage business. Everyone sings well, but you sometimes forget to LISTEN, so
odd are the things the singers are called upon to do, especially Almirena's cheerleading/chicken wing bits. Whereas this is interesting if you ALREADY know the story,
if this were your intro to Rinaldo, you would leave the viewing completely confused. I kept wondering what MUST have been going through the minds of the singers, too,
as they valiantly sing killer coloratura while acting supremely silly.

I can recommend this DVD like I would recommend a vodka martini to one who already loves the gin variety . . .VERY different, and you just might like it.

I was hesitant - when I read some of the previous reviews - whether to buy this dvd or not. But the choice was severely limited. You do not find many dvd versions of "Rinaldo" around, so I decided to risk. The first act - when viewed for the first time - gives quite a shock. If you watch it not knowing the libretto, you'll almost certainly get lost. The second act, with the shock subdued - was much better and the third - sheer fun. The singing is very good throughout, though not as sublime as on the Decca CD version with Daniels and Bartoli (Hogwood dir.), but this CD is hard to match. David Daniels is perfect as Rinaldo when he sings, but while acting he is somewhat too, well, hedonistic - for lack of a better word. David Walker as Goffredo plays convincingly and sings well (but again Bernarda Fink is a more subtle Goffredo on the Decca CD); Deborah York as Almirena - flawless; Axel Kohler as Eustazio - a brilliant performance; Eglis Silins as Argante - he has in his acting the something that Daniels lacks (charisma?); Noemi Nadelmann as Armida - wonderfully hexy and sexy. This dvd can be enjoyed but you have to give it a second chance and a third chance - it gets better this way and, yes, bizarre, but in a lavish and stylish way,colourful - bordering on the playfully kitschy; postmodern to be sure but, let's face it, most German opera houses just cannot seem to be able to do it otherwise. It is interesting to note that what Haendel envisioned as "special effects" (thunder, birds' chirping) is translated here into the visual rather than aural extravaganza.

The only way to "view" this opera is with your eyes closed. Both the scenery and the acting distract from the beauty of the music. What a visual waste of David Daniels who sings magnificently. Get the CD instead.

People don't tend to simulate singing when they are having sex. Why do we have to sit through simulated sex while people are singing? Someone should inform today's directors that people who love opera love it for the singing. This kind of childish stage direction is simply distracting. When listening to a recorded performance of this early work of Handel's one sense a grandeur in the concept for all its silly plot devices. This production has all the grandeur of an old battered garbage can. We have so little of David Daniels on DVD. Too bad we have to watch him work his magic in this trash heap.

This is the most ridiculous production of an opera I've seen yet. I don't love, but don't "mind" updates and remakes, but it helps when they have something to do with the plot. What movie crime figures and Jerusalem as theme park have to do with the Crusades escapes me. If it's a joke, it sure got by me, and definitely interfered with my enjoyment. I agree that the singing is very good, and that's what helped me listen as long as I did, but finishing it was not possible. I first bought Rodelinda by mistake, and, thank goodness for that. It was wonderful (and an update)! For Rinaldo, buy the CD.

Handel - Rinaldo / Bicket, Daniels, York, Prinzregententheater Munich is a production of Rinaldo that is a mixed bag. The setting is absurd and truly an eye sore. A true travesty. The pace of the music is also a bit too fast. Harry Bicket seems bent on speeding through the music. The vocals are quite amazing. This is the saving grace. However, the stage production is so absurd that it takes away from the pleasure of enjoying this fine opera. An opera that can be enjoyed without the visuals. Then again, if this is the case then I can just listen to a CD recording. Not recommended. 2/5.

I found this unusual presentation of Rinaldo to be exceptionally amusing. The fantasy cabaret of the scenes does not seem to me to be at all at odds with Handel's marvelous music; but some reviewers would apparently like to see this performed in powdered wigs and stiff, formal poses. Who knows how much "burlesque" and "lewd gropings" may have occurred during contemporary performances? The obvious analogy is to Shakespeare at the original Globe; judging by the quantities of orange peel and nut shells unearthed by archaeologists, theatre-going was not a particularly formal affair in the sixteenth century. "Insult to Handel's music"? "Simply horrible and insulting"? I doubt if Handel was such a stuffed shirt. And far from being a "stuffed kewpie doll", I think Almerina is cute and sexy as hell, especially when she desperately flees the infamous bobble head giant. Almida is hot! And David Daniels couldn't turn in a bad performance if he tried.

Nothing against traditional performances, just against the attitude that that is the ONLY way.