Customer Reviews

Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This is not your grandma's Figaro. At first I was surprised, then taken aback, then intrigued and then completely mesmerized. It's Figaro meets Psycho. The pacing is slower, more deliberate and the whole tone and atmosphere darker and more intense. And in the end, I think it works. The whole theme of this production is the maddening power of Eros (here portrayed by an extraneous character- a seductive non -speaking/singing young man dressed in school boy uniform with cherubic wings running around trying to manipulate all the characters) locked in a battle with "Love." In the end "Love" triumphs. (except for poor Cherubino who throughout the opera is portrayed as a poor young thing totally defenseless against the power of Eros--in the end he's reduced to a zombie). The singing and the technical quality I thought were first rate (It's a very recent production so it utilizes the latest in live sound recording..not like some of the older productions where the sound drifts when the singer moves in and out of microphone range).I think if you are not familiar with the more standard productions of Figaro, you'll have a hard time with this production, both in following the plot and understanding all the new meanings and interpretations that are being created. But if you already have seen a number of standard productions, I'd thing you may enjoy this, if not just for its strangeness. I doubt this production will ever replace the more standard production, but it sure made for an unexpected and interesting evening of opera.

As soon as the Wiener Philharmoniker play the first bars of the Overture, we know that we are going to be in for a looooong evening. Nikolaus Harnoncourt's tempi are extremely slow and will remain so for the next three hours and sixteen minutes (excluding credits and curtain calls). This is a good ten minutes more than his previous efforts in Zurich (on DVD) and in Amsterdam (on CD). It is about 15 minutes more than the average performance, 25 minutes more than Gardiner or Mackerras.
This in itself, would be nothing special if Harnoncourt was able to inhabit his tempi, to draw meanings to them. Unfortunately, he doesn't. The reason for this lies in the fact that the music does not really lend itself to "contemplative" visions. "Le Nozze" is first and foremost a comedy, the pace is supposed to be reasonably brisk on stage: Nozze is not Parsifal and the big risk of a slower, more dramatic approach means that the piece is deprived of its meaning: your turn a slice of life into a meaningless, inanimate musical object, beautiful at times but completely devoid of life. The big finales at the end of each Act (pick any: I, II, III or IV) will be the saddest example of this static musical direction. The music does not move, the musical material remains motionless, and ultimately one loses interest in front of such a stubborn view of "Le Nozze di Figaro".
By conducting "Le Nozze" this way, Harnoncourt lends a sympathetic hand to the production of Claus Guth. An extremely good, profound stage director, Guth is much more at ease with tragedy than comedy (Fliegende in Bayreuth, Zaide/Adama in this M22 collection). He therefore turns Nozze upside down and offers us a grim, petit bourgeois world that is unilaterally grey and evolving around a big staircase - Claus Guth LOVES staircases. In this Ibsenian, Bergmanian world, the Count is a pathetic middle-aged bourgeois cheating on his wife, the countess a cheated wife with no nobility whatsoever, and these three hours are just an isolated, one even feels almost a common routine in the uninteresting lives of these extremely unsympathetic characters.
One feels that the cast has been chosen with this musical/staging project in mind. It evolves around the dark-toned Susanna of Anna Netrebko, great sounding but Susanna is not Violetta: however, she fits perfectly Harnoncourts's and Guth's designs. Dorothea Roeschmann has a big voice, but there is no nobility in her Countess: listen to Te Kanawa or Fleming, and you'll know what I mean. Again, in light of her position in the "concept", it makes sense. The Count of Bo Skovhus is very tired. A pronounced vibrato has invaded the voice and his is simply not nice to hear, but this is again in line with the concept. Schaeffer was very successful even if she is not my cup of tea: I prefer a mezzo-soprano Cherubino. Selig barks, McLaughlin is a fun Marcellina. The only one who refuses to play Harnoncourt's game is Ildebrando d'Arcangelo. He is very often ahead of the orchestra but he has a beautiful voice and he tries to impose his conception of the character at all costs, despite the conductor and despite the staging.
Brian Large directs the video: the numerous close-ups on Miss Netrebko - even when she is not singing are extremely annoying after a while.
Let's face it: there are not a lot of good reasons to own this Figaro. I'll stick to Haitink/Fleming in Glyndebourne (NVC Arts). Deutsche Grammophon has two very good performances in its catalogue: a film by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle (Prey/Freni/ Boehm) and a very good performance by Gardiner and Terfel. Harnoncourt should always be commanded for his sense of experiment and his permanent willingness to take risks, but here the experiment blows in his (and our) face. Avoid.

If you are really patient, read my whole article cause I've worked hard on it, however, if you need fast answer to decide whether to buy or not this DVD, just read a few more lines.

If you are ready for a new Figaro (this doesn't mean you are gonna replace your old Figaro versions), buy it.
If you like good graphics and good sound. Buy it.
If you are looking for a good orchestra with a huge conductor and good (not best) singers, buy this.
If you are looking for something new in Mozart's Opera, without changing the libretto, just with a new reading of it, buy it.
If this is the first time that you are coming to "Le nozze di Fígaro", don't buy it.
If you are not ready to see your Figaro slow and sad. Don't buy this DVD.


I got myself crying at the end of this "Le nozze di Fígaro", when Rosina sang "Piú docile, Io sono, I dico di sí" and my ears could not believe in that slow and strong march at the end.
Actually, I must admit that my favorite Fígaro will always be the "comedia", but this "tragedia" was very well done.
Harnocourt's task here was to turn a very soft and funny opera into a very complex human being's relationship. He did it very well.

Before listening to this Opera, I could never have imagined a "Figaro" in a Drama, but this opened my eyes and I wait anxiously for new versions of it.
This, rather than ruinning Mozart's music shows that it is so sublime that with a bit of slowness and pushing it (without blinding the singers) a little you can, with a lot of wit, change the spirit of the thing.
By using dark and big scenarios, the director brought a sadness to the house. This , I think, fits very well the idea of transposing the opera from the 18th to 20th century.

All is right here, in the 18th century, the treason was something more common and funny. In the 20th it had changed. To betray your husband/wife was something really ashaming. You can see that Susanna (in this version) really betrays Figaro with the count and that she is divided. Ana Netrebko says, in the making off that a person can love two people and this, I think, is true.
You can see here an anger "Contessa" and a very violent "Conte". The only carachter for me that looses its strength is Figaro. Here he looks like a man, commanded by the 2 women and this is a bit concerning, couse the name of the Opera is The marriage of Figaro, thus, he should be strong and I didn't like this submission.
Well, with all this, I just wanna express that I enjoyed this production, though it is not the usual way this opera is done.

The good points for me are: The strings in the orchestra. They are really impressive and you can notice it in the 4th act arias, where they are demand to be great. The winds are not in the same level, but are ok;
The inclusion of the Marcelina's Aria, which is sometimes cut off from the opera, but in this case, is very important for the plot, cause explains what women are feeling there.
Harnocourt know how to conduct one good orchestra and he does it very well here. Some reviewers said he is too slow here, but this is part of the make up.
The Finale in the fourth act is great and combines with the DARK air in the whole Opera.

Scenario and Filming are amazing. The "Cupid" is also a very enjoyable additional.

On the other hand, there are bad things: The choreography is ugly. If they tried a realistic Opera, why to use these ugly dances?
In the wedding I got disappointed, the scene does not work. The women's choir is terrible. They turned a beautiful girls' crew into a German female army.
Don Bartolo is not well played here. The first scene of him, in a wheelchair causes anguish.
I didn't like d'Arcangelo like Figaro. You cannot notice him in the stage. His voice, on the other hand, is nice and his Italian is perfect (off course) .

I hope to have helped and I rated it 5 stars cause it is in most, really beautiful and new. Nevertheless, I would never change my "Ópera Buffa" Figaro by this one.

I have collected so many different recordings of this most wonderful opera. It is so full of fun and life to make me feel so good. Some of my favorite recordings are conducted by Bohm (I have four with him and all are wonderful), Walter, Giulini and Rosbaud. Bohm had a tendency to be a little slow but that didn't matter much because everything made sense and was in harmony, and was so much fun in addition.
I had heard a couple of excerpts of this recording, which is also available on CD, and I knew it was slow but I had no idea until after I bought it just how slowly it was conducted. The slow tempi were so annoying and many times, especially in the recitatives, everything stopped. The harmony of the music were so many times simply destroyed by Harnoncourt because of the his changes from really slow tempo to even slower and to yet even slower tempo. The whole opera became almost depressing to listen to because of the extreme seriousness that was created because of the tempi. The playful and wonderfully melodic music of Mozart was gone! Bohm could be slow but you could feel that his tempi made sense and the fun of the piece was not sacrificed because of this.
Even though I have listened to the opera so many times the forth act finale always gets me. The fun when Figaro pretends that Susanna is the Countessa when he is making love to her in front the Count and seeing his reaction, and the wonderfully tender and forgiving music when the Count asks the Countess for forgiveness. All of this is simply not there in this recording by Harnoncourt. I personally feel that a good recording of Le Nozze di Figaro should be both funny and elegant. This one is neither.
Another fact that irritated me was that a harpsichord was used instead of a fortepiano (or a piano) in the recitatives in addition to that the recitatives were seldom accompanied by the harpsichord. It was just there to punctuate the sentences.

On to the solists. Anna Netrebko and Ildebrando d'Arcangelo, as Susanna and Figaro, were really excellent. The two of them were so good together to almost merit buying this DVD, almost. Bo Skovhus, as the Count, was not good at all. He really struggled all the time to keep a good tone. He was really wobbly. Dorothea Roschmann, as the Countess, sang well but dramatically she was even worse than Skovhus. She was definitely not a noble woman in her singing. She sounded much too common for a Countess. Christine Schafer, as Cherobino, was ok but nothing more.

Last but not least were the really horrible staging. Everything was staged around a giant staircase. The color palette that was used just added to the depressing view of the whole opera. This goes for the costumes as well. THE most annoying thing about the whole production was the addition of the cherub who just danced around and interacted with the solists without interacted with the characters. When d'Arcangelo was singing his first aria in act 1 the cherub was blindfolding him. When Skovhus sang his act 3 aria the cherub was sitting on one of Skovhus' shoulders which added even more stress on his voice because he had to carry the actor in addition to holding his balance and singing at the same time.

The addition of the cherub was just an annoyance and just made me like the whole performance was bad along with the really bad and inconsistent conducting. I realize that Harnoncourt has another view of the opera and score than what is generally performed, but this is well beyond just another view. When all the charm, fun, harmony and elegance of the whole piece is gone because of this view I would say that he should stay away from this opera. And when he says that everyone before him has conducted the opera wrongly I just say "What arrogance!!!".

Much appreciation to Susan Eisenberg, Toni Bernhart, and I.H. Gaulard all of whom are obviously knowledgeable and sophisticated opera buffs. Because I am addicted to Anna Netrebko, I bought the set anyway. Alas it was as disappointing as described in the three reviews: the sets were sparce and ugly - Act One looked like a great prison cell. The characters were so much in black: wrong color for a comedy. There was hardly a smile anywhere. Where in the world did they come up with the feathered, mute, cherub dancing around the screen? The whole effect was as sombre as a Mass.

Poor Countess! For her entry she is all in black; severe; plain as a shoe; and also without any sparkle or smile. No wonder the Count's eye was wandering - not that he was any maiden's dream: he looked totally dissolute, dull and boring.

Of course, this has little to do with the voices. D'Arcangelo, Netrebko and Roschmann sang beautifully. Skovhus sang passably but not memorably. But, so what? The orchestra was dull, slow, and often with loose ensemble (The Vienna Philharmonic, no less!)

Over the years, I have often been disappointed with Nicholas Harnoncourt - even in "the old days" when he concentrated on distorting the baroque. There have been a few good recordings, but this is a real ringer.

Even if you are a Netrebko enthusiast, this is pretty much a waste of your money.

So, I'm a mere 20 minutes into this Salzburg "Figaro," and I can already tell this will be one of the all-time worst productions of any opera I wil ever see anywhere, live or on film. In this latest example of the (Euro)trashing of the classic repertory, Strindberg meets Mozart in what can only be described as the stuff of opera parody. By the time that poor Ildebrando d'Arcangelo has to carry the dead black bird across the stage in slow, stylistic Robert Wilson-esque movement, I didn't know whether to howl with laughter or rage. What a waste of an extraordinary cast, each of whom looks palpably uncomfortable as he or she tries in vain to make sense of directorial misteps that really have to be seen to be believed. (Or not.) And to compound the stunning idiocies of the staging (including a cavorting winged figure representing -- oh, God knows whom), Harnoncourt's turgid tempi completely suck the air out of this most glorious of scores. Pity the poor audience that actually had to sit through this performance live; I at least can turn off the DVD mid-note. Which, if you'll excuse me, is what I'm going to do right now.

One cannot say that the majority of the reviews here are wrong, but that they--like this one--are merely opinions. Interestingly, many of the reasons they give for not liking the production and conducting are the same reasons I would give for it being quite overwhelming. As usual, when Harnoncourt reverses expections, it produces shcoked reactions. This, surely, will gain the reputation as THE Figaro production that shows up the superficialities of most other producitions: the one that all the others will have to take into account.
Harnoncourt has always argued (rather than merely believed) that the tempi adopted in most productions of Figaro are usually taken too fast, especially taken in relation to the other two da Ponte operas. Not only that, but that most productions ignore the specific relations of tempi within this particular opera and arbitrarily decide the tempo of each piece without taking into account the tempi of all the other pieces in the work.
Harnoncourt has also pointed that NONE of the da Ponte operas end happily; rather they open up chasms in the intertwined relationships between the characters that will hardly disappear after the curtain falls at the end. Desparate (in the sense of despair) is his word for it.
This production takes these ideas to heart and provides the antidote to all those productions that think of Figaro as a proto-Rossini comic opera.
Translating these ideas into theatrical terms, Guth's production comes over, in fact, as visually very beautiful. The characters are more like ghosts haunting this deserted oversized empty house, and who constantly play out the "desparate" relationship games that da Ponte and Mozart and Guth and Harnoncourt have designed for them. They are frozen in time at the beginning, and at the end Cherubino, the Count's doppelganger who just wants to love but who is the catalyst for exposing the emotional chasms both within and between the charaters, falls down dead.
The music is directed with such intensity and, indeed, with a much greater variety of tempi than usual so that every moment counts. As usual with Harnoncourt the lines are very cleanly articualted and he brings out elements of the orchestration largely ignored heretofore. All five leads are among the best of contemporary singers, and deliver their performances--both musically and theatrically--accordingly. And the Vienna Philharmonic is, of course, sans pareil.

This is one of several recently released DVD's from the 2006 Salzburg Festival at which all of Mozart's operas were performed. They've been dubbed the Salzburg M22's. Regrettably, I've yet to see one that I can recommend.

This production has so many fine performers in it. Unfortunately, you have to buy a bunch of other DVD's to hear those performers at their best: Anna Netrebko as Violetta in "La Traviata" and as Adina in "L'Elisir D'Amore"; Ildebrando D'Arcangelo as Leporello in two different productions of "Don Giovanni"; Dorothea Roschmann as Fiordiligi in "Cosi Fan Tutte" and as Pamina in "The Magic Flute"; Christine Schafer as Gilda in "Rigoletto." I've gone to the trouble to list these other operas because these four performers deserve the recognition. They are as good in those productions as they are disappointing in this one.

Much of the fault lies with the tempo set by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. The extremely slow pace he insists on results in the comedic feel being sucked right out of the opera. Many of the scenes that make me laugh-out-loud in "Marriage of Figaro" drag on interminably here. The slow tempo affects all of the comic performances.

For example, I know that Anna Netrebko can be playful onstage and even use her dark-toned voice to comic effect because I've see it in her portrayal of Adina in "L'Elisir D'Amore." But here, as Susanna, she's grim most of the time; there's no sparkle to her performance. Ildebrando D'Arcangelo is a rich and expressive baritone (he's my favorite Leporello), but here, he's too heavy-handed as Figaro.

Christine Schafer seems miscast as Cherubino. The role sounds better when performed by a mezzo-soprano because otherwise there's no contrast in sound with the other two sopranos. Dorothea Roschmann, one of my favorite sopranos, is also disappointing as Rosina. She brings no decorum or nobility to the role (this may reflect the director's instructions to her). She's so "common" in demeanor that it's hard to believe she's a Countess. As a result, the opera's satire based on the different social classes of the Count/Countess and Figaro/Susanna is sorely lacking, even though it's an essential theme of Da Ponte's libretto.

Mozart's music is brilliant even when poorly executed (thus, two stars) but I like to watch "Marriage of Figaro" when my spirits need lifting or I just feel like having fun; next time, it won't be this production I reach for. For a great time at the opera with "Marriage of Figaro," try these DVD's: Theatre du Chatelet 1993 (Gardiner conducting); Glyndebourne 1994 (Haitink conducting); Opera National de Lyon 1994 (Olmi conducting).

If you like your Figaros in the tradition of sunny and funny--a kind of age of enlightenment sitcom--run don't walk away from this DVD. You will not like the way they messed with your beloved opera and will be inspired to write a review of outrage right here in this very spot. But if you don't mind being challenged, Harnoncourt's Figaro is definitely worth your while. My first reaction was: "What the?!" There's silent character not written by Da Ponte, Cherubim (Cupid perhaps?), who invisibly yet literally pulls, pushes and manipulates the characters through a feverish, hellacious day in thrall of love. I disliked him at the outset, but he proved to create an apt kind of symbolism for this opera. (It's a delightful moment when he encounters Don Basilio and literally bounces off of him. The man is love-proof.) After a while I entered into the spirit of this production and came to respect and admire it. I mean, when you think about it, Figaro has darkness at its heart. Sexual abuse. Betrayal. Duplicity. Class warfare. Child abduction. Absolutely nobody is happy, except momentarily. Even at the end of the opera, do you really believe the Count will stay true to the Countess? Pull the other one. (He's an oligarch, and oligarchs--as we know well these days--leave destruction in their wakes.) One aspect of this production that I can remember encountering only once before--in Otto Klemperer's unique EMI recording of the late 60s--is its powerful subtext of revolution. When Beaumarchais's play premiered, it was a thunder stroke. The servants smarter than the masters? No great European piece of art had ever dared say such a thing. Harnoncourt's rendition has that quality in spades, and I deeply admire it for that reason. The slow tempos are one of the things that give it that kind of social and human gravity. There are plenty of laugh lines, of course, but this is serious stuff. I certainly wouldn't want to be without lighter, more traditional Figaros. But--as with Shakespeare--there's plenty of room for contrary approaches. And no other Figaros that I'm aware of have been as contrary as this one.

After reading some of the critical comments about this performance, I was prepared for really really slow music. But those who hesitate buying the DVD because they fear Harnoncourt conducts in slow motion can relax. It's a fine performance with a wonderful cast and a conductor who makes a strong case for a somewhat darker approach. He is not treating it as a light comedy. It's on the slow side, but nowhere near what you might guess after reading some reviews from people listening with a stopwatch in their hand. And the slower (not slow!) pace has its merits. You will hear things you have never heard before because they usually fall by the wayside. If you don't like the director's concept or the conductor's approach, buy one of the other 50 Nozze-DVDs out there. I am sure there is one for every taste by now...