Customer Reviews

Korngold - Die tote Stadt / Jan Latham-Koenig - Denoke, Kerl - Opéra de Rhin (1999)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In the ongoing battle between great operas and pretentious, self-impressed production designers and stage directors, the operas usually win hands down. After all, they have the advantage of all that great music, all the beautiful poetry, all the genius! And, here too, Korngold and his heart-melting opera "Die Tote Stadt" do emerge the victors, but just barely! There is so much to admire about this release. It's filming is state of the art, and should be a model for future attempts to put staged opera on the screen. The singers are universally fine, and it's Marietta, Angela Denoke, is a revelation. But if there were ever a production which showed utter contempt for the vision of the creators, it's this one. In the place of the braid of his dead wife's hair, Paul cradles a small doll, and strokes it's hair. He apparently has his wife's skeleton hidden under the floorboards, and during "Marietta's Lied" he strokes the skeletal hand. Later, he drags her shrivelled corpse around the stage with him. Marietta appears to be pregnant in act III, and, worst of all, in an opera which inspired hope in the ruins of post-World War I Germany, he inexplicably stabs himself to death as he sings his final lines. Yet, for all the intelligence insulting rubbish in this staging, I had a hard time not giving this release five stars, because when Marietta sang her final aria, tracing her past from the gutter to finding her own faith, I couldn't help but feel my heart leap into my throat, and couldn't stop the tears welling up in my eyes. But all that is to the credit of Mr. Korngold, and Ms. Denoke. They deserve eight or ten stars.
Yet, complaints aside, anyone who loves Korngold, or the splendid intensity of late romantic opera should still see this, because in the end, it IS the opera that triumphs.

I'd give this more that 5 stars if I could. This DVD definitely makes up for some of the more boring ones I've purchased. If you're adventuresome and want something that is a challenge, GET THIS! It's perverse, it's garish, it's over the top! But remember, Die Tote Stadt translates to The Dead City and it is about a man's overwhelming obsession for his dead wife and his dream, or better put in this director's point of view - nightmare. The first act only hints at what is to come in acts 2 and 3. I found the ending heart wrenching. Does it all work? No. But those things are easily forgotten compared to the rest of the production, singing, and gorgeous music.

The two principles sing and act as if their lives depended on it. Torsten Kerl is truly magnificent in the difficult role of Paul and Angela Denoke as Marietta is almost his match. It must have been an electrifying night in the theatre. My only complain is that it has too soft a focus and at times seems slightly blurry, especially during distance shots. A word of caution - if you have a good sound system, be careful. You could use parts of this recording to break your lease!

If your tastes run to the standard operas and conventional stagings, this is definitely not for you. But if your at the other end of the spectrum or at least willing to try something new, order this one now!

Suppressed by the Nazis as "decadent", this wonderfully inspired
score has Straussian ebb and flow, volcanic eruptions, tender, touching moments, unusual, colorful orchestral effects, not to mention unforgettable melodies. Puccini's influence is distinct, but more of the modern, incisive Puccini of La Fanciulla del West
and Turandot, than that of the earlier, sentimental La Boheme.
There are reminescences of Wagner, Richard Strauss and Mahler, but these are influences never copies.
The 23 year old (!) Korngold is already showing his lion's teeth
in the highly original,inventive and tremendously impressive Bell sequence in the second act: Giant bells of different pitch toll incessantly with the pounding of percussion creating an impression of the dead city, Bruges ,in the night, with its gloomy
mediaeval streets, canals and bridges, the famous cathedral looming in the background.
Unfortunately this is not what we see on the stage, however. The director, instead, has other ideas. He gave us too much light, neon lit cafes, nuns in silly looking hats and other cheap effects. This, I think , dilutes the otherwise fine production.
On the positive side: The first act is fine and follows the composer's intentions faithfully. Even the frantic doll-clutching
works well, indicating Paul's fanatical obsession, symbolically.
The mirror effect and other cinematographic devices are interesting and suitable for a modern 20th century work, such as this. The bellowing skirt, al la Marilyn Monroe, is cute.
But apart from presentation,one should concentrate on the music and singing, which are the essence, and here we doubly get our moneys worth! In the tricky dual role of Marie/Marietta, the gorgeous
German soprano Angele Denoke carries the day. A natural redhead, she sings,acts and dances to exaltation.In the gruelling tenor role Tornsten Kerl braves the monstrous difficulties, though signs of strain are noticeable. After all, this is like singing Tristan continuously for an hour and a half.
A great highlight for me is the long love duet at the end of the
second act, with varying moods in succession (anger, doubt,sadness, awakening ardour and unconquerable passion).
At the end of this duet the lovers fall into each other's arms, much like in the wonderful finale of Sigfried. Even the concluding melody has some similarity.
The conducting of Latham-Koenig is excellent in controlling a huge orchestra of a sustained vulcano, bursting at the seams underneath the action. We can still look up to the late, great
Erich Leinsdorf, but Latham-Koenig is a worthy successor.
One can go on and on. I give it 4 stars, though it probably deserves more were it not for those directorial excesses and self indulgences I mentioned.
Very recommendable for all those curious to SEE this opera (since
it is highly unlikely they will see it anywhere else). Three (or four) cheers for Opera de Rhin and, of course, Arthaus.

I have seen "die tote Stadt" on stage 8 or 9 times in Germany. It was shown on German TV in a 1980s production from the Deutsche Oper Berlin; this was available on DVD for a short while but is now n.l.a. In the absence of this fantastic production (directed Brian Large), you have no choice but to buy this one.

The production is bizarre; but no more bizarre than is the fashion in most German opera houses (the Bremen version is particularly weird).

The music is fabulous: like an exotic cross between Puccini and Richard Strauss with added sugar and extra volume and melodrama. It has 3 show stopping arias.

The DVD cast is good, the playing fine and the production interesting and perfectly comprehensible IF YOU KNOW THE OPERA; if you want audio, get the Leinsdorf RCA set (which has the bilingual libretto too). Avoid the recent Salburg CD set (dubious vocals, no libretto); if you are dead mean, the Naxos Stockholm set is fine (but no libretto in English).

Ideally you want the 1980s Berlin set. But you may have a long wait. The opera is being performed this year in Berlin, Vienna, Barcelona and maybe Ghent. Maybe it will get onto a new DVD from one of those sources.

In the meantime, buy this one.

I too, hated the production. Using a knife to kill Marietta in his dream, instead of strangling her with his dead wife Marie's long braid of hair (so lovingly kept in a glass case) was truly stupid!

In response to those who wondered about the teenage boy in formal attire in act one during the lute song: he is the personification of Korngold. Find a picture of him about the time he wrote Violanta or Der Ring des Polykrates (age 14) and you'll see the resemblance.

Just another example of this stage director trying to be clever: having a youthful incarnation of the composer come out to "play" the piano and "accompany" the top 10 hit that was/is "Mariettas Lautenlied," although witty, hasn't got "squat" to do with the libretto or the plot.

Good performances: bad production!

Get the 1975 RCA recording (Neblett, Kollo, Leinsdorf) listen to it with the libretto in front of you: you'll conjure up your own clear staging and know exactly what it should look like. This set designer and director had no idea what this opera was about. Makes me wonder if they even read the stage directions in the score.

I bought this with the CPO Cd's Die Kathrin and Polykrates (which I will review for you later) as a make up and also as I did not have a "visual" interpretation. I have the Naxos CD set and first got to know Korngold's music from the Leinsdorf and the Gerhard (film scores) recordings in the '70's. I have now become a "Korngold tragic", justifiably I believe, he was a real genius and his increasing popularity is endorsing that! You do however have to like late romantic 20th century music, he nearly always sounds modern too at some stage!

Enough background...what do I have to say about this DVD? Well firstly I decided to ignore some of the reviews on here and just pop it in the DVD player and press play...I soon realized that I wanted English sub titles and set that up and then I was glued to my seat until a toilet stop in the 3rd act! After a 10 minute break to do this and that around the house I quickly resumed to the end and then I replayed Mariettas Lied. At the end I concluded it had been a privilege to sit and watch this performance it is awesome. Vocally stunning, the acting especially the tenor unbelievable, and the choir and orchestra divine.

Now to the production and staging, well yes you could dwell on the extreme interpretation but I for one thought with one or two exceptions that it was a compelling visualization and whilst the accompanying booklet gives the usual synopsis the producers variances are not in fact anything more than underlining of those. For instance whilst you think it strange Brigitte sticks a poster of roses to the wall rather than bringing in roses...the poster travels better to the end of the opera as a visual tableau so by the end you understand why a poster and not an awkward bunch!

The obsession with the dead wife is correct and whether it's the doll with the blond hair or the skeletal hand it seemed in character! One other thing, in sound alone I had never been able to work out exactly what happens in the opera and why, and this production finally solved that for me not that you really need to know to understand Korngold's music it just flows like a stream of consciousness and that is sufficient on its own (I told you you had to like late romantic....).

My only quibbles are the poor diction, I think the Swedish Opera set has clearer sung German anyway the subtitles cure that soomewhat. The other quibble was that dream and actual real sequences are not noticeably differentiated and whilst I would kind of liked that, I was also surprised alongside Paul in act 3 as a result of there being no transformation curtain so perhaps it is better this way. Handled differently this could have been a source of titter but it wasn't, you were also genuinely surprised!

One last rave and that's the costumes, lovely, stunning and just one more reason to have this DVD - oh and the sound is very good, almost no audience noise and only one obvious cutout of applause so a tremendous effort by all concerned!

Turn off the video and listen to the top quality DTS sound and musicians perform Korngold's best opera. The stage production would have turned Korngold over in his grave. It is so distracting from the music it is a useless part of the DVD.

We cannot put ourselves in a position where we accept only one vision of an opera. There are no operas or plays that "must be" staged and/or set in a certain way. "Rigoletto" in a gentlemen's club? "Cosi fan tutte" at a diner? Why not? The staging is nothing more than a vehicle. In the end, it's always about the opera. To dislike a production because of staging is akin to disliking a person because of their fashion choices.

The staging in this production of "Die Tote Stadt" is polarizing, of that there is no doubt. I actually liked the use of the doll through the opera. In my mind, it showed graphically the depth of Paul's obsession with his dead wife. It made the obsession over the top and set up the end beautifully. This opera does, after all, utilize a dream device. Given that, we should evaluate the staging in the context of a dream.

The performances were fabulous. One reason this opera is not performed more frequently is the difficulty of casting the character of Paul. This is a monstrous role that places huge demands on the singer. I was absolutely blown away by Torsten Kerl. This guy puts the "helden" in heldentenor. In addition to his powerful yet controlled singing, he gave his all as an actor.

His partner, Angela Denoke as Marietta/Marie, is a fine performer. Her arias were beautiful. "Marietta's Lied" is always risky, since the aria is in the standard rep of every lyric soprano. Any performance of this aria will inevitably bring comparison. She brought her own interpretation, and I was particularly impressed with her note onsets and her beautiful pianos. Her acting was also very good, as she is able to rouse sympathy, then antipathy, then sympathy again.

I think this was a wonderful production. I was completely engaged from start to finish. I highly recommend this DVD.

Ever since I was fortunate enough to see this opera in a Berlin Opera production I have longed to see it again. So when the dvd came out I was thrilled. I read the reviews and purchased it with some reservations, since some of the reviews were so negative, but it is the only production on dvd. I have two very fine recordings on cd one with Renee Kollo and Carol Neblett and with the Royal Swedish Opera, both sumptuous and very satisfying. This production is such a disappointment. It's beautifuly sung and the acting is very fine which unfortunatly can't overcome this garish and sometimes laughable production. (Why that silly doll instead of his wifes braid) It is a perversion of the composers intent. So until a better one comes along listen to a cd and use your imagination. I give the singers 5 stars and the production a 1..

At long last we have a video of this neglected masterpiece. The production could be better, but for Europe at this time it is fine. The work contains a haunting aria, "Gluck, das mir verlieb," which will stay with you forever. Puccini saw it in Vienna a few years before his death and said it was great. I agree with Puccini. Korngold, of course, wrote memorable movie music - Robin Hood, Captain Blood, Sea Hawk, King's Row, and others. The heldentenor should lose a few pounds, so he can move around the stage better.