Customer Reviews

Meyerbeer - Les Huguenots / John Dew · Stefan Soltesz - Richard Leech · Angela Denning - Berlin Deutsche Oper

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

 

 

Les Huguenots, transported into divided Berlin, given by Deutsche
Oper rejuvenates the now almost unfairly forgotten opera. This production is very original, emotionally involving and with a tremendous shock value about the
cruelty and barbarism of men. In contrast, some parts are rather lighthearted and comic (eg. the bathing scene, or the duet between Raoul and the
Queen) which makes the progress of the work even more disturbing
and tragic. The Hungarian born Soltesz has an authoritative grip,a thorough knowledge of the score an keeps the opera moving
like a steam roller. The fourth and fifth acts will blow you away! The singers are very competent. They were selected for looks and acting ability as well as voice. Angela Denning has comic talent and makes her aria come off very well.
Lucy Peacock, the tragic heroine, is unforgettable.The American tenor Richard Leech, who established his reputation in this role as Raoul, sings and acts marvelously in spite of the tremendous demands of the role.
To sum up: Great theater, very memorable and enjoyable. Highly recommended!

Having said all that and after watching the Australian DVD which is to all intents and purposes complete, I must say that this production is severely cut.
The main problem is leaving out most of the 3rd act where a great deal of action takes place and without it we lose the dramatic continuity. The 3rd act also contains a wonderful ballet, one of Meyerbeer's specialties. Even so, I'll still prefer the German production for the reasons mentioned earlier.

Although the modern dress production with its fascist uniforms may not appeal to everyone, the story is told clearly and keeps fairly closely to the original in dramatic concept. Richard Leech's Raoul is alone worth the price of the DVD. His singing is absolutely top notch and very exciting. The rest of the cast are pretty good too. Only one draw back - French would have been preferrable, but it's a small quibble.

Altogether a fine recording visually and musically.

I loved this rendition of The Huguenots despite the fact that in general I detest it when operas are put into medern dress and I'm used to French as the language used in The Huguenots. In addition to wonderful voices, the whole thing comes together with great meaning - it is a treatise against all sorts of religious fanatasism - and makes it's point succintly. I prefered this much more than the Australian Opera's rendition with Joan Sutherland, in which I felt the wonderful Joan did not do justice to her part.

Good singing by the principals cannot rescue this production from its fatally wrong-headed staging.
The opera as written by Scribe and Meyerbeer is the story of the flirtation of Raoul, a young Huguenot (French protestant), with assimilation by mainstream, Catholic society. The action takes place during a truce in the religious civil war that tore France apart in the 17th century, a truce that ends with the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre. In the end, Raoul chooses to keep his faith and be massacred by the Catholics along with his Huguenot compatriots. In moving the setting of the action to our own times (location not clear) this Deutsche Oper Berlin production chooses to have the Catholic faction dress and otherwise behave as an overtly fascist organization.
This seriously distorts the drama. The worldly charms of Catholic society, a serious temptation to Raoul in the original staging, have to be lost in this version that portrays that society as frankly fascistic, obviously repulsive long before the ethnic cleansing of the denouement. Raoul in turn has to be portrayed as a boorish idiot to even consider wanting to assimilate into this society.
Even worse is the effect this change has on the "outer drama", the way the drama interacts with the audience. This contemporary version certainly achieves a certain shock value, some recognition of the possibility of such primitive barbarism in our advanced society, merely by staging the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre in contemporary dress. But that shock is superficial, stands little chance of penetrating deeply into an audience that, after the experience of this past century, will never be tempted to identify with, to recognize itself in, any group of people dressed like fascists. Only if the audience can be lulled into sympathy and identification with people who seem so civilized and urbane at the outset, but are led step by step (in stages sadly familiar) to turn to ethnic cleansing to solve their problems, can this drama create the catharsis of fear of which it is capable if competently staged, acted and sung.

NON CONOSCO TANTO BENE L'INGLESE MA VOGLIO DIRE LO STESSO QUALCOSA SU QUESTO DVD.INNANZITUTTO CI SONO TROPPI TAGLI INAMMISIBILI (2 ARIA DEL PAGGIO/DUETTO VALENTINE-MARCEL/TRIO DEL QUARTO ATTO ECC.).IL TENORE E' SPLENDIDO IL SOPRANO CHE INTERPRETA MARGHERITA E' STRIDULO MEGLIO VALENTINE,BENE IL BARITONO IL RESTO.....L'ORCHESTRAZIONE E' APPENA DECENTE.
MA IO AMO QUEST'OPERA E TRA LA "VECCHIA" SUTHERLAND E QUESTA EDIZIONE SONO STATO OBBLIGATO ...A COMPRARE IL "MENO PEGGIO)

I don't care much about the updated staging, I'm just thrilled to have this glorious opera on dvd with good voices, even if we are singing Italian opera in German. Leech sounds good as ever. Denning is not Sutherland, but is ok and makes her role a bit comic. This opera needs a few light touches as this ends in massacre. Peacock sings ok but is more of an actress.

Maybe one has to be German to understand the staging. Its certainly different. A bathing suit scene in an opera that ends in a bloodbath.

I haven't bought this dvd. However, I saw it at my local store, and on the back of it's box, it said the dvd lasted about 150 minutes. Seeing it, I just couldn't help comparing with the australian opera dvd's length...And if you take not only the farewell ceremony at the end of the latter, but also all the credits before it, it still leaves *170* minutes. Therefore, from pure logic, I would say either the conductor in this Arthaus dvd production has real fast tempi, or there were made substantial cuts to the score.

Also, from the reviews made on this dvd, the catholics in this production are dressed in fascist uniforms. Not only it may be offensive for any christian who buys it, but it also takes out what the public in Meyerbeer's time praised: impartiality. Indeed, peoples in the 19th century praised Meyerbeer for having put protestants and catholics on equal grounds. The two lovers are a catholic and a protestant, and both are good. And to Valentine's father's savagery is opposed Marcel's slightly pedant and hateful attitude toward catholics, and Valentine's husband's indignation toward the plans of massacring the huguenots. However, approaching the story of Batholomew's day massacre to the persecutions the jews suffered during the second world war is, I think, of very bad taste, and may miss the composer's point.

To that is added the fact that the opera is sung here in german instead of french, and without french subtitles...In front of all that, question yourselves just how important superior quality singing is to you before choosing between both versions of the opera...If, for you, opera's all about voice, get this dvd. But if you think the composer's view of the subject he puts into music is important, and that what's important is before all the artistic value as a whole, the australian opera's dvd, despite its slightly imperfect cast, has many more merits from this point of view.

Despite the mediocre quality of most of the music in the opera, I was mesmerized. Here we have a story of two religious faiths, each deciding they are the true one and that God tells them that the other should die. Maybe it could be staged where the two were Sunni and Shia instead of Catholic and Protestant. The emotions and lack of logic are essentially the same. The musical highlight, for me, was the Verdian encounter between Raoul (Richard Leech) and Valentine (Lucy Peacock) in the fourth act. But overall it was a strong performance with excellent sound and video.

Music and singing is excellent.
However, production is a complete trash.
I am the music lover and I can not listen to massive noise and distraction even during beautiful arias. There is lot of running, stomping, door slamming, chairs throwing and other noise making activities. Musicians and singers effort is ignored.

I bought this one because of Sutherland's aria "O beau Pays de la Tourainne"...and got very very disappointed when I played this for the first time and it was in German...and sung badly by the australian soprano...and the rest of the performers are average and there is no energy into this performance....truly disappointed!!!!!!!!