Customer Reviews

Purcell - The Fairy Queen / English National Opera

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

 

 

Purcell has for a long time been one of my favorite composers and I have always found it sad that his musical plays are not more frequently staged. However, this production bears out the statement of an opera singer friend that too often contemporary directors ruin good operas. Musically and vocally this production is very good, but the visual production is very distracting. It is perhaps inevitable that, given the fact that the action is largely in the form of the masque, there would be a very large dance component. This in itself is not problematic. However, when one of the principal singing characters (Oberon) seems to have been chosen more for his athletic/dance capabilities than for his vocal ones, one has to question the agenda. Also, sets and business were frequently incomprehensible. And, although as others have said, there does appear to be a particular social agenda being pushed, much of it was just simply silly and rather stupid.

After seeing this production, I wish even more strongly for a production that would be fearless enough to do this work in an antiquarian style, so that we might have an idea of what Purcell's original audiences saw. A beautiful example of such a production is one of the 2002 production of Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo" under the direction of Jordi Savall from the BBC. Let's hope that Purcell will eventually get a similar treatment.

I must say - I read the predominately hostile reviews here with some surprise.

Henry Purcell has long been regarded as England's greatest composer. His range was broad - from music of great majesty and solemnity at one extreme to bawdy drinking songs at the other. The masques, such as THE FAIRY QUEEN, THE INDIAN QUEEN and KING ARTHUR are firmly placed at the lighter end of the scale.

Note; I'm not saying that the masques are necessarily trivial or uninspired. There are beautiful things in them all. But they were first and foremost designed as entertainments.

It made perfect sense, then, for David Pountney to stage THE FAIRY QUEEN in an essentially playful manner. The set designs, the costumes, the choreography, the cross-casting all conform to this lets-have-fun approach.

As I say in the summary, perhaps you have to be English to appreciate it. There is a long tradition in the English theatre of whimsy, of gender confusion and a particular kind of melancholy which matches the English character.

But - and it's a big but - this production, while it has all kinds of fun with the staging, treats the music with the respect it deserves. The singing and playing are both fine and the sound remarkably good considering that this is a taping of a live performance. Titania's Plaint is especially fine with the beautiful oboe playing setting off the lyrics to perfection.

Please - this is not Grand Opera. It's meant to be enjoyed on a less formal basis than that, and this DVD succeeds in communicating that enjoyment to the viewer.

Technically, the sound (LPCM in the UK) on this DVD is fine and the visuals (transferred from 16:9 HDTV) reasonable considering the circumstances under which it was taped.

ANOTHER VIEW OF MICHAEL CHANCE- CAN YOU BELIEVE IT???!!!!

I recently purchased this DVD and watched it last evening and I'm still reacting to it in a very positive way! It was a glorious mixture of art and dance and singing and comedy.

Based on an incident in Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,it is held together with some of the most inspired and beautiful arias penned for the English language. At first one attempts to be logical and follow the "story" which is really not obvious or important. It consists of 9 Masques portraying various scenarios interwoven with the beautiful songs of Purcell sung with much skill and enthusiasm by the chorus as well as the many soloists.

I was delighted by Michael Chance's intermittent roles which fortunately included his uniquely lovely voice. The duet at the beginning of part two featuring Chance (Mopsa) and Jonathan Best (the drunken poet) is absolutely priceless humour. Having followed Chance's career for 20 years I was amazed to see him in a comedy role, and I liked it!

Thomas Randle in the role of Oberon was memorable in his singing as well as his facility to move with grace and ease. Yvonne Kenny as the tyranical Titania was marvelously domineering over a somewhat 'hen-pecked'Oberon. Puck (played by Simon Rice)was very convincing as the chief mischief maker.

I think the entire Opera is great!!!! BUT do not expect to enjoy it unless you have a well-developed sense of humor; for it is tongue-in-cheek humour that is reflected in the scenery, the costuming; even the dance itself; and the music of Purcell suits it very well.The entire production brings alive the splendour of the Baroque for a modern audience.

One of the chief reasons I ordered this was because of Henry Purcell's music. I have listened to excerpts of this piece practically all my life. Sometimes it's best to let sleeping dogs lie, but not in this case. Without having any knowledge of the Fairy Queen, I set the DVD menu to digital Dolby 5.1 and pressed play. After watching the first ten minutes of the bare-propped stage and all the dancing performers, I was beginning to think the Fairy Queen was a modern ballet, and not an opera! It's actually a play, which makes sense in that the story is based on an incident from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. I also initially thought this was going to be like another Peter Sellars contemporary interpretation of a classic work, but was soon proven wrong. This is a "fairy tale" - set to a fusion of fabulous baroque music with arias and chorus, dance and comedy. As quoted from the NY Times . . . "It's exhilarating, funny, romantic, sexy, and enormously invigorating". And, it incorporates superb audio and video! Essential criteria for me! This is presented in a 1:78:1 aspect ratio which works extremely well for the majority of standard screens, and is enhanced for 16:9 TVs. Buy it! You'll love it,...

The music and singing are beautiful (it's Purcell after all) but the production is a freak show, full of repulsive characters, ugly (as opposed to graceful) modern dancing and lots of silly and meaningless stage business. There is no attempt to recreate the beauty of the masques or relate the action to the musical themes. It is modern updating at its worst! See Minkowski's Platee for a successful update of a Rameau classic. If you like Purcell, get the CD and avoid this nightmare.

This is a lively production of a musical form that, if seen as 1st done, would baffle, insult [How can they do this to Shakespeare?!] and bore a modern audience to tears. For this disjointed, vaguely attached to "Midsummer" romp, the wisely chosen way to go is a modern dream: a dream on the Shakespearian subject one might have this very evening.

The music is the star. Purcell is divine in this reading. The ditties are catchy and rare, fun and tinged with melancholy, simple and complex...all at once. The imagery doesn't try too hard to make sense of the tableaux... just enough for it all to hold up more than what it originally was... which was a parade of allegorical characters "Night", "Secrecy", the 4 Seasons, Hyman, Phoebes... This version is not unlike a string of music videos that have a thin thread to hold them together.

Because this is a modern dream, the costumes and scenery are modern in their look and symbolism. The dance is perfect for the 20th century feel, it's not Swan Lake, y'know. The dance is remarkably balanced with the dramatic and comic action. Again, the music is the catalyst and whole reason for anything. It is well worth the time to watch. But it never goes over the top, really. There is an English reserve about it. Duh!

Another opera that has a similar type of approach .... though it does go over the top and is more period... is Les Arts Florissants and the Opera National de Paris's production of Rameau's "Les Indes Galantes". Be sure to check it out!

Both these productions give us a taste we can savor of a type of theatre long gone out of fashion... by putting it in a modern style that recaptures the flavor of the old style without copying it.

Harpsichord should be replaced with a organ and one or more theorbo. It is highly in doubt that Henry Purcell ever used 8'/4' choired type harpsichord to support continuo part for his trumpet composition. There are indeed Virginal (small & relatively inexpensive version of harpsichord) but these loud type harpsichords here were non existent throughout the époque of Sir William Byrd, Sir John Dowland, Sir John Blow, Sir Edward Stafford, Henry Purcell and his two brothers Sir.Thomas and Sir.Daniel Purcell, all held a royal positions in France, Denmark and England one or more times in their lives. I Suggest that the conductor resign from his post and should give up all harpsichord parts and get advises from Sir John Elliott Gardiner, William Christie, David Taylor, Konrad Junghanell and like to redo the work of Purcell. Those true gentlemen have great deal of knowledge
about Purcell's work.

This production is brilliant and imaginative from every point of view.

Playing and singing are a delight from beginning to end.

Highly recommended.

Something fresh,something sagacious.Whereas Purcell's music was performed in genuine style by Nicholas Kok and his fine musicians,David Pourtney burts routine and obviousness in this charming,clever production.That modern drag queens(Titania's fairies)just rescues ancient traditions on male actors performing female characters.Statesmen,drunk guys,political satire...A whole human being panorama was there.Truly,I can fell all Shakespeare's tale spirit on costumes by Dunya Ramikova.Of course,many listeners will prefer a better singer to Oberon.Nonetheless,we have Titania by Yvonne Kenny,her outstanding "O,Let me Weep",that delicious Yvonne Barclay soprano voice (Caroline),that so funny countertenor duet leading by Michael Chance on Part two,...Jonathan Best!What a triumphal actor and singer(The Drunken Poet)!Listen me,all of you;don't deprive yourselves of this optimistic,cheerful DVD just because some people become impervious to new ideas.

I've only listened to excerpts from 'The Fairy Queen' before this so I don't know its original form. I've always understood it to be a masque in which spoken word and music were combined much like German singspiel. This performance is through-sung in the usual operatic manner alternating aria with recitative. I have no objection to this or to the musical performance. The visual part however is a disaster. Whoever was responsible for it took a lame and obvious turn on the word 'fairy' and presented the fairies as the more flamboyant elements of the gay and lesbian sub-culture. The mortals, again obviously, are corporate types in gray suits except for a drunken poet. I suppose there was a plot to follow, but it was too obscure to bother with. The performance is messy, the costumes are messy, and the sets are messy, and they all have little relation to the music's Baroque formality.