Customer Reviews

Leos Janacek: From the House of the Dead - Festival Aix-en-Provence 2007

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Janacek's final opera, composed in 1927-28 and given its posthumous premiere two years later, is based on the Dostoyevsky novel written in 1861-62 in which the author renders his own prison experiences. The story as seen in the opera is not presented in a linear fashion, rather it is like a Robert Altman film such as Nashville or Short Cuts where an ensemble cast presents several intertwined stories of a disparate nature and with varied emotional impact. Janacek chose six characters and their compelling stories to focus on, reducing the novel's sprawling, amorphous structure into a more manageable form. The selection by Janacek is masterful: we are drawn into this bleak world with its ever-present despair and random violence because we identify with the plight of the inmates. It is a world later visited by Kafka, cold gray prison walls functioning as real and metaphorical agent of enslavement. It is the perfect paradigm of the twentieth century.

Janacek's music is astringent, slightly dissonant but tonal and often strangely lyrical. The amazing musical renaissance of his final years, one in which he discovered his true musical voice during his sixth decade, is reminiscent of Rameau. This uniquely modern lyricism and his expert choice of material makes Janacek one of the most important opera composers of the early 20th century. If you are unfamiliar with his work, this DVD is a fine place to begin. It is a superb performance in every way. Boulez conducts the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Arnold Schoenberg Chor with his typical steely precision. His emphasis on sonority is perfect for this opera. Voices and instruments are sharply defined, crystalline in sound but without brittleness. The conductor's musical vision is like an edifice built of soft marble: the structure is polished and solid, adamantine but pliable. The effect is both warmly human and coldly monumental. It is a fierce, incendiary performance that will leave you marveling at how much impact a 100 minute opera can provide.

In director Patrice Chereau's brilliant 2007 production, all of the singers are splendid. This is a true ensemble performance. The costumes are nothing more than the filthy rags of the gulag. It is not pretty, nor should it be. The set consists of towering gray prison walls enclosing a drab, depressing prisonyard. The angular walls suggest a massive, impersonal labyrinth. The sole symbol of hope in this sorrowful opera is a tattered wounded eagle: much like Beckett's solitary tree, with its single leaf tenuously fluttering in the breeze, in Waiting for Godot. The images are searing but disturbingly familiar, for this universe is also wounded. The random brutality we witness is life in its most basic and cruel guise. We spend all of our lives trying to keep this version of life at bay. We don't always succeed. This opera is for those times. You won't soon forget this masterful production.

The opera was filmed in July 2007 in high definition and looks splendid. Sound in PCM stereo and DTS 5.1 is crystal clear. The DVD contains a 48 minute bonus making of film as well as the 100 minute opera. There are the usual DGG menus.

One of the finest DVDs of the year, this is an exemplary performance that is most strongly recommended.

Mike Birman

Prior to watching this, I had never seen or heard this opera before, but I like Janacek, love Dostoevsky, so I thought I would give it a try. Good call. From the House of the Dead is a bleak but essential opera, and Stephan Metge's film of Patrice Chereau's dank, foggy, severe staging makes for a powerful viewing experience. Almost from the first note I fell in love with Janacek's score. The composer has created a brilliant melange of lyricism and dissonance where the orchestration is more important than the vocalism. The singing in this opera is non-melodic, at times sparse, austere, almost conversational. What melodies there are are all contained within the instrumental portion of the score, it's Janacek's schizophrenic orchestration that sets the mood, creates tension and individualizes the characters. And the tension rarely comes to a stop, even when very little is happening onstage.

Based on Dostoevsky's experiences in a Siberian prison camp, Janacek's opera has no real story, although it begins with the imprisonment of a nobleman and ends with his freedom. Not much happens over the course of three acts, yet we learn about the lives of some of the prisoners, the crimes they committed that brought them there, almost uniformly crimes of passion(Janacek, wisely, doesn't ask us to sympathize with the crimes, he only wants us to respect the incarcerated as flawed beings). There is a strange lack of regret among the men, almost as if the years of being jailed have beaten much of their feeling out of them, other than their loneliness, plus traces of anger and sadness for what's been lost. By the time we meet them the men are threadbare, submissive, seemingly robbed of their passions, a far cry from the hotheads sent to prison for giving in to their violent desires. Yet these men are far from dead. They tend to an injured eagle and revel in its eventual freedom, show an interest in each other's histories, and enthusiastically perform a couple of pantomimes that, like Hamlet's play within a play, have relevance to the bigger picture. Occasionally, they turn their suppressed rage against each other. They even form bonds, the most of touching of which develops between the nobleman(the newcomer among the bunch) and a young, heartsick prisoner who seems to have captured the sympathies of almost the entire population. Although the details of their friendship are given only a small amount of attention, at least in the larger scheme of the opera as a whole(the older man teaches the younger to read and write and through this becomes a paternal figure), the audience has no trouble feeling empathy, and being moved by their bittersweet separation which comes at the end of the piece. This is partly because of Janacek's music, his mastery at subtly painting an emotional connection, a dramatic minimalism so to speak(this opera has not a trace of melodrama except for that which is contained within the various prisoners' narratives) and partly because the prisoners as a whole converge into a single collective character, forcing the audience to connect with each experience. No prisoner's story has any real precedence, and yet they all manage to be effective. Hence, the title House of the Dead becomes ironic; the prisoners, despite their disenfranchisement, despite having a good deal of their vitality drained out of them by years of isolation, are still very much alive.

This production takes place before an audience, but it looks more like a film than the typical taping of a live performance, and the audience doesn't even realize that it is live until the curtain drops on the final act. Chereau and Metge have created a stark look for the film, effectively creating a sense of imprisonment and deprivation, which contrasts to a certain extent with Janacek's mood-swinging music, running the gamut of emotions, but is appropriate for the overall feel of the piece. There is little hope in the narrative and therefore in the lighting, sets, costumes or camerawork; even the ending, when both the eagle and the nobleman are released into the wide open, is handled in a delicate and non-commital manner rather than being celebratory. Nonetheless the opera and film do manage to be uplifting, in their own way, and the emotional effect is as overpowering as Verdi or Wagner while lacking those composers' sweep(which would have been inappropriate here). Despite the subject matter, this work of art goes beyond simply being disturbing, thanks to the fact that it is empowered by a heart and a soul.

This is the best opera DVD I watched lately.

From the House of the Dead is a great 20th century opera, realizing miraculously the essence of Dostoevsky novel Notes from the Dead House. There is no narrative to the opera as a whole, but individual characters narrate episodes in their lives, which are focused on the reasons for their imprisonment.

The very unique team of conductor Pierre Boulez and stage director Patrice Chereau has done it again after their legendary collaboration in the late seventies Bayreuth Ring. This is a powerful and very moving production of the opera. The Mahler Chamber Orchestra plays outstandingly for Boulez, who said lately that this is the last opera production he will participate. From the House of the Dead is definitely a great choice. Every one in the large cast of male singers is excellent both in singing and acting. Boulez and Chereau decision to give the role of the young prisoner Aleyeya to a tenor (The young German tenor Erik Stokloßa) proves to be a brilliant idea. One should mention John Mark Ainsley who does an especially great job as Skuratov.

Urgently recommended!!

What an emotionally harrowing experience is watching this opera for the first time.

Stephane Metge has made a film using the production by Patrice Chereau and Pierre Boulez (together again 30 some years after their famous Bayreuth Ring) and what a film it is.

Boulez, almost literally seems to conjure this stunning performance from the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. From its haunting, jangly opening I was brought to mind of Strauss and Prokofiev and how all three use the orchestral colors in the boldest possible - and not always most subtle ways. The score is a wonder of violence, tenderness, dreamlike and gritty realism. It is magnificent.

Metge's camera work gets right into the middle of things, roaming through Richard Peduzzi's stark mile high walls with a voyueristic violence that thrusts the viewer into the world of this terrible place. Pulling episodes from Dostoevsky's tale, Janacek's opera is virtually plotless, yet this which is not to say "nothing happens" because there is plenty to focus on, as these hapless gulag prisoners live, suffer, dance, dream and reminisce of their lives outside these walls. Note I didn't say dream "of happier times" for the stories they tell of their pre-prison lives are as terrifying and violent as the world they create for themselves within the walls.

As Alexandr, Olaf Bar's entrance is terrifying stuff, clearly a man of some means, besuited and bespectacled, the guards and inmates encircle and strip him, hurling his glasses into the courtyard. When he later emerges near the end of the act, filthy, shackled, and blindly crawling across ground, it's tough not to weep But, as in life, there are occasional acts of kindness and one such here between Alexandr and the boy prisoner Aljeja (a remarkable and heartbreaking performance by young tenor Eric Stoklossa) is sufficient to remind us these are still human beings, still part of the family of man, still "us."

John Mark Ainsley is a riveting presence throughout giving seering performance as Skuratov. Mad with grief, and imprisoned "for falling in love" - we watch his pathetic tale played out as he changes his garments, his mind seeming to hold the focus of his love story to keep him centered - but clearly not working. Mostly silent during the 3rd act, Ainsley still manages to give a tour de force performance - simultaneously chilling and touching. It is a stand out performance from an ensemble filled with amazing work.

The at the center of the second act - and perhaps the longest sequence of the opera - is a harrowing "pageant" a ballet of depraved sexuality played out by some of the prisoners for the entertainment of the rest of the gulag. The symbolic meanings of what goes on are made clear without feeling obvious. It is stunningly choreographed (as is most of the movement seen throughout) by Chereau's collaborator Theirry Thieu Niang.

Centering on the lives and stories of these men, Chereau tends to keep the spectacles down, but he cannot resist giving us several arresting coups de theatre, particularly at the end of each act. Each of these is, in their own way, visually stunning and complimentary to Janacek's amazing score.

Everything comes together perfectly, every element of the score, drama, characterizations and visual elements serves to bring this difficult work to life and when it's brief 100 minutes are over, every feeling, every emotion was felt both deep in my bones and raw on the surface.

There is a fascinating 48 minute feature on the "making of" this production which, likewise, is not to be missed.

I am thrilled that the Metropolitan Opera will be featuring this production in its 2009/10 season and wild horses won't be able to keep me from being there.

p.

I have no idea how this compares to Charles MacKerras' cd versions of the opera, nor do I care - I'm keeping both (I own the Decca/Vienna Phil. recording from MacKerras). Watching this on dvd brings the story and action to a whole different level, especially when the acting is as visceral and excellent as it is here. Of course, the real star of the show is Janacek's amazing orchestral score (for me, anyway), and the Gustav Mahler Chamber Orch. do an outstanding job from start to finish. Even if you don't find Janacek's vocal writing to your liking (don't look for many pretty arias here), or the story too unsavory, "FTHOTD" still possesses one of the greatest opera preludes ever composed. This may seem like a petty detail, but I like it that the camera cuts to the percussionist who's lifting and shaking the chains - as in the prisoner's chains! - during the prelude.

Also enjoyable for me is a series of different rehearsal segments, added as a bonus. In one bit of footage, Chereau is giving incredibly minute acting instructions (more like coaching) for the sequence where some of the prisoners put on a play for the others. Another rehearsal segment has Boulez going through bits of the prelude, leading into the start of Act 1. As could be expected, Boulez is very careful and precise with rhythm and balances. Interesting stuff.

Bottom line: if you have the slightest interest in late Janacek; Dostoevsky realized; Boulez, as a conductor; great opera dvd's in general, whatever - GET THIS!

There are already seven reviews that rate this DVD most highly. I can only agree with all of them: it is one of the most stunning productions I have ever seen; that is made it to the Met is extraordinary and Gelb is to be honored for taking a chance on an opera that is so little known in this country. I suspect that is didn't create a box office bonanza but for those willing to take a chance they will be richly rewarded. Owning this DVD is a way to acquaint yourself with the idiom and Janacek's style. It is quite different from Jenufa, but clearly both works represent the composer. Yes, repeated viewings are required, mandatory if you are to "know" this work. Rewards are there for those willing to make the effort.

This, one of the greatest operas of the twentieth century which, because of its language and setting, is not performed as often as it should be receives a magnificent performance here: the production, singing, and orchestral performance are all superb. A must for all lovers of Janacek and of twentieth-century opera. More than just a supplement to the definitive Mackerras CD recording of the work. Most enthusiastically recommended!

Nine 5-star reviews for a single opera is a cumulatively compelling recommendation that is hard to ignore. I don't disagree that this is a good rendering of Janacek's difficult work, but it is my opinion based on two stage performances of the piece in the style of the original period, i.e. more elaborate costumes and props and singing that is warmer and more declamatory, that there is one feature missing from this performance -- the human touch. Several factors contribute to this impression. Firstly, as revealed in the insightful documentary of Chereau rehearsing the cast, he has trained them to conduct themselves on-stage more like marionettes than real men. Secondly, Boulez is probably the most cerebral musician of the age; his compositions and interpretations are usually drained of all humanity, and that is precisely what has happened here. The settings and costumes are grey and frigid with hardly a trace of colour, so much so that the whole thing would probably look much better in black-and-white. The pain and suffering of these unfortunate individuals is seen through coldly analytical eyes rather than through the warming light of compassion that I feel certain both Janacek and Dostoyevsky intended. The superlatives lavished upon the singing, the orchestral playing, the camera work and the extras are well merited, but the overall experience is so icy-cold that you may feel it necessary to wear an overcoat while listening to this DVD.

The subject is in itself a tremendous provocation since it is an adaptation of a novel by Dostoyevsky but one or two centuries later, which means in a context of post soviet Gulag deportation that continued the Czar's tyranny.

Some Wagnerian accents in the overture are telling us exactly where we are. In a prison camp with high concrete walls and no sight of the sky or whatever fresh from outside. The opening scene is the distribution of water to the thirsty prisoners. The wardens are just plain violent, dressed in some drab green whereas the prisoners are in grey and brown. It is a demonstration of violence from the wardens and of grunting obedience from the prisoners. This scene then moves to the standard fight among prisoners with insults and derogatory terms, and yet the violence is contained if not regulated by some when they announce the arrival of a nobleman. When brought in this one is at once undressed "A prisoner owns nothing!" He has his head shaved. He declares himself a political prisoner. His glasses are discarded but recuperated by a younger prisoner. And the punishment is immediate: one hundred lashes.

One older prisoner has something in a blanket. They chase him for it and discover it is an articulated Czarist eagle. They play with it trying to make it fly away since a bird can, but the game is short lived because they are sent back to work while the half naked nobleman is taken to be whipped.

We jump to after work when they come out of the showers naked or nearly naked and dressing on stage. One starts telling his past. It is incoherent. It is a sign of the mental alienation they run into in such an environment. Violence then is some psychotic evasion from their locked-up fate. Another of the older ones starts telling how he got here after killing the major of his company who was a real tyrant with the men. It is hardly coherent again. He considers he is justly punished though what he did was perfectly justified. He is sewing during that time and the younger prisoner is providing him the thread he needs. He tells he was beaten up and then the nobleman is brought back after his whipping, all covered in blood with manacles and shackles, practically blind since he has lost his glasses and trying to move around by feeling the wall with his hands. Then the younger prisoner gives him his glasses back. He finally sees where he is and hides in some recess. The first act ends with the falling of an enormous pile of ripped up books and notebooks on the stage.

In the second act the prisoners pick the mess with baskets, sacks and crates. The younger prisoner, Alyeya, and the nobleman are teaming together. Alyeya is telling about his sister and mother. He feels guilty about the grief he has caused to the latter. The nobleman suggests he teaches Alyeya to read and write. It is quitting time. The rest of the day is free, three women arrive with big bags and a stage play is announced. A pope comes in to bless the day in the presence of the prison officials and their wives. It is the occasion of more past telling.

The incoherent one who had started the telling in the first act is coming back with how he killed, out of love, the brother of a certain Luisa he had fallen in love with. The music becomes very romantic during that tale while the actor is turning it into a grotesque undressing and re-dressing episode. He confesses how he killed the brother. The music turns into a chase and the play is going to start. They all get on the bleachers. The play is the Kedril play. A man lives his last day on earth and is chased by devils. It is the occasion for some orgiastic action on the stage between male prisoners and others playing the women. And then the pantomime of the fair miller's wife is announced. With more frolicking between one man playing the miller's wife and many others playing her husband and her lovers, till the miller is damned and taken away by devils.

An argument develops against the nobleman who has tea, which means he can pay for it. One angry man menaces him. Alyeya comes in between and his wounded. The culprit is taken away with rolling drums that seem to mean he is going to be executed on the spot.

The third act is in the dormitory. The prisoners all get kind of crazy, telling bits of stories, ranting and raving, with some violence and the attempt to put everyone to sleep. Two seem to stand apart, Alyeya and the nobleman who has taught him how to write and read, which is some difference here.

Time for one more story. A man, Filka, employed by a rich farmer decides to take his pay, go away and refuse the farmer's daughter telling him he has had her for one year. The farmer becomes furious and the girl is beaten up. She is hastily married to the story-teller. She was a virgin. He goes after Filka who laughs at him and tells him he got married because he was drunk. He goes back to his in-laws accusing them. Then he beats his wife. Filka joins the army. Before leaving he apologizes to the girl and she forgives him. She then acknowledges her love for Filka and her husband takes her to the woods and kills her.

At this very moment one prisoner calls for the guard: one man is dead who is discovered to be Filka. At this moment the nobleman is called by the wardens. The governor of the prison comes to apologize to the nobleman, make peace with him and announce he is free. Before leaving we have a short sad scene between the nobleman and Alyeya who considers the nobleman as his father.

The eagle comes back and manages to fly away by magic. It brings some kind of dream of sweet liberty, but the prison never changes. The wardens send the prisoners back to work, throwing the nobleman out and the scene closes on one crazy prisoner dancing half naked on a bed and Alyeya torn up by pain violently wiggling on the ground.

There is little and a lot to say. The story is absolute pessimism about no future in this world that is nothing but a prison from which you may escape in your dreams for five minutes at night. The music is a marvelous accompaniment, so part of the story and storytelling that you don't even capture it separately. The stage direction is absolutely drab and squalid like the story and the music. We are in front of a masterpiece of the post-post-modern era: there is no future, there is no hope.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

This production is really something to see! It is quite raw and engaging, and an excellent example of the work.