Most Helpful Customer Reviews
48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Great Performance From TDK!, August 14, 2004
This review is from: Offenbach - Les Contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) / Shicoff, Swenson, Terfel, Rancatore, Mentzer, Uria-Monzon, Senechal, Gubisch, Lopez Cobos, Paris Opera (DVD)
Jacques Offenbach was the composer of many operettas that satirized life in 19th century France, many of which are still popular. "Tales of Hoffman" was his last work and his only "serious" opera, and Offenbach died before completing it. This has lead to several "final" versions which is of interest primarily to musicologists.
What should interest a potential buyer of the DVD is the quality of the performance and of the disc. Happily, both are excellent.
"Tales" is a hugely melodic work, with one good melody following another. It is also a work where singing actors have the opportunity to breathe life into what can be rather wooden characters. In the case of this performance, this is exactly what happens.
The plot follows the "unhappy in love" poet Hoffman through three disasterous relationships, protected by his muse, who takes the form of his travelling companion, Nicklausse. He is beset with villainous activities from an evil guy who takes the characters of Lindorf, Copprlius, Dr. Miracle and Dapertutto, but is always the same evil presence.
Neil Shicoff plays Hoffman. He was out of mainstream opera for a while for health reasons, but sings with intensity and fine spinto tone. Although the role is vocally demanding, there is no sign of fatigue. The muse/Nicklausse is played by mezzo Susanne Mentzer, who sings beautifully and acts superbly. The villains are played by Bryn Terfel, who is simply awesome, both vocally and in acting. Hoffman's three lady friends are sung by Disiree Rancatore (Olympia B-), Ruth Ann Swenson (Antonia A+) and Beatrice Uria-Monzon (Giulietta B+). All three ladies do a good job bringing life to their roles.
The performance is truly French, being staged at the Opera National de Paris. It is a modern approach to staging that works quite well, overall. Jesus Lopez-Cobos conducts with authority and sensitivity.
The sound (DTS) and picture are simply excellent. With "Manon" (TDK) and "Romeo et Juliette" (Kultur) the basics of French opera are covered, except for "Faust". Is anyone out there listening?
If you like good opera, well performed, this disc is hard to beat.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Another case of director-ego-tripping but not all that bad, September 30, 2004
This review is from: Offenbach - Les Contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) / Shicoff, Swenson, Terfel, Rancatore, Mentzer, Uria-Monzon, Senechal, Gubisch, Lopez Cobos, Paris Opera (DVD)
Two problems. (1) There is an excellent and traditionally staged performance of Jacques Offenbach's "Les Contes d'Hoffmann" on the Kultur label. (2) I am sick to death of operas costumed in modern dress with all the men wearing rumpled suits and overcoats. But I have just seen the 2002 production of this work on the TDK label (DVUS-OPLCDH) given at the Opera National de Paris, Bastille, conducted by Jesus Lopez-Cobos, and I like it enough to bring it to your attention as a second version for your collection.
For starters, it incorporates a good deal of music discovered among Offenbach's effects long after the shorter version had become traditional. (The original Opera Comique version with spoken dialogue is almost never done; but you can hear it on a Decca recording with Joan Sutherland in the four soprano roles.) This TDK version gives the mezzo singing the Muse and Nicklausse much more to sing and tells us a lot more about Hoffmann himself.
Whether or not Offenbach intended the four female characters to be played by one singer is beside the point. In this production, we have Desiree Rancatore as the robot Olympia, made up to look like and mimic Madonna (another kind of modern day robot), whose aria brings down the house; Ruth Ann Swenson as a sweet voiced but colorlessly characterized Antonia, forced to wear an overcoat over her nightie; Beatrice Uria-Monzon as a sexy Guilietta, palpably stage-managed by her evil genius; and a silent actress as the Eternal Feminine Stella.
Basso Bryn Terfel takes on all four villains, but with absolutely no differentiation among them. Nor does the actor-singer Michele Senechal make much of each of his comic servants.
Tenor Neil Shicoff really knocks himself out as a mostly drunken Hoffmann; but he looks nowhere as noble as a sympathetic hero should look. However, his singing is passionate and believable.
The concept behind the production is Theatre. So the Prologue and Epilogue take place at the bar in the lobby of a theater in which "Don Giovanni" is being given with Stella as the star (in which role, we are not told). The Olympia sequence takes place backstage; the Antonia in an empty orchestra pit (with the orchestra relocated somewhere) and on the apron of the real stage; the Guilietta in rows of theater seats that rock with the strains of the Barcarole. Very clever, but hardly conducive to having us look upon the characters as real people with real problems.
Still I have seen a lot worse in the way of "Director is more important than Composer" opera presentations. I think you will enjoy this one considerably, but please give the Kultur version a good look afterwards.
The running time is 173 minutes, the picture in 16:9 widescreen ratio, bonus features none. The subtitles are in English, French, and Italian.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Tales of a EuroTrash Hoffman, October 28, 2004
This review is from: Offenbach - Les Contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) / Shicoff, Swenson, Terfel, Rancatore, Mentzer, Uria-Monzon, Senechal, Gubisch, Lopez Cobos, Paris Opera (DVD)
I'm all for directors taking a classic oepra and trying to put their own unique "spin" on the staging. I've seen some crazy ideas that have actually worked (check out the MEFISTOFELE on DVD from San Francisco...It's crazy, but good!)..My biggest gripe, however, is when the directors completely ignore the libretto, as they have done here with this HOFFMAN from 2002. When in the third act one is expecting the Barcarolle to be sung on canals of Venice, we instead get an orgy of sorts happening in a movie theatre....That is, in my honest opinion, crossing the line....
This is not to say that the director didn't have a "clever idea" with this production. There are moments when the crazy staging works quite well, but sadly, they are just too few and far between....Check out how uneasy and embarassed a veteran like Michel Senechal looks on-stage with a ridiculous wig on his head!
This is a pity, because this is probably the finest sung HOFFMAN commercially available. The main draw here is Neil Shicoff's protagonist. True, he may be a bit past his prime vocally, but his conviction and dedication for this role is amazing. He truly throws himself into the many different emotions of the character. Having seen him sing it at the MET five years ago, it's great now to be able to watch it from the comforts of my living room.
Also at the MET from that cold night in January of 2000 was the great Bryn Terfel, who is featured here as well. Some of the high-notes find him struggling, but all in all his performance is equally impressive and his stage presence is striking and commanding as always.
The three heroines are all equally well-sung; Beatrice Uria-Monzon's appropriately sultry and alluring Giulietta is a true highlight.
Jesus Lopez-Cobos, a master of conducting French opera, does an excellent job of keeping everything together.
If you can get used to or simply get past this bizarre staging, there is much to appreciate in this weird take on a classic opera.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
